Special Counsel John Durham 'expands team' investigating origins of Russia probe and 'is making excellent progress'
U.S. attorney John Durham has brought additional prosecutors onto his months-long probe of alleged FBI misconduct, it was revealed Monday.
Attorney General Bill Barr before the election designated Barr as a special counsel in a move that would provide it protections into the Biden Administration.
With just over a month left before President Trump leaves office, there are new signs Durham is ramping up his efforts.
It was not immediately clear who the prosecutors are that Durham was adding to his team of investigators, Fox News reported.
U.S. Attorney John Durham
The probe already featured one high-profile departure. Top prosecutor Nora Dannehy left amid concerns about political pressure in the run-up to the election.
The Durham probe 'is definitely still happening,' a source told the network.
Weeks after the Nov. 3 elections, Barr revealed that weeks prior he had designated Durham as special counsel. Although this would not prevent a future president from firing him, under DOJ rules the president would have to provide just cause for doing so.
'On May 13, 2019, I directed John Durham, U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut, to investigate certain intelligence and law-enforcement activities surrounding the 2016 presidential election,' he wrote the Judiciary Committees in both chambers of Congress December 1.
'Although I had expected Mr. Durham to complete his work by the summer of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as additional information he uncovered, prevented him from doing so,' he said.
'In advance of the presidential election, I decided to appoint Mr. Durham as a Special Counsel to provide him and his team with the assurance that they could complete their work, without regard to the outcome of the election,' he added.
Attorney General Bill Barr designated John Durham a special counsel
President Trump demanded arrests and indictments before the election
It was also revealed Monday that Barr intervened to try to keep an investigation of Hunter Biden from becoming public
FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith is the only person charged to date in Durham's investigation
He did so on Oct. 19, he revealed.
Just days earlier, on Oct. 8, Trump had demanded Durham bring charges.
'Unless Bill Barr indicts these people for crimes — the greatest political crime in the history of our country — then we'll get little satisfaction, unless I win,' Trump said on Fox Business Network. 'Because I won't forget it. But these people should be indicted. These are people who spied on my campaign. And we have everything. And I say, Bill, we've got plenty, you don't need anymore. We've got so much,' he said in reference to Barr.
A day earlier, Trump tweeted a meme and called on Barr to 'arrest somebody!'
He also wrote: 'DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS, THE BIGGEST OF ALL POLITICAL SCANDALS (IN HISTORY)!!! BIDEN, OBAMA AND CROOKED HILLARY LED THIS TREASONOUS PLOT!!! BIDEN SHOULDN'T BE ALLOWED TO RUN - GOT CAUGHT!!!'
FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith is the only person charged to date in Durham's investigation.