Fox News analyst Joe DiGenova is predicting a Russiagate reckoning.
The former U.S. attorney said that he is “100 percent certain” that Attorney General William Barr will investigate high-ranking officials in the FBI, DOJ, and CIA who perpetrated the Russia hoax. DiGenova told Bill O’Reilly that he believes Barr will pursue the Deep State actors, like James Comey, who allegedly played a role in spying on president Trump’s campaign and getting the Russia investigation off the ground to restore the tarnished reputation of the intelligence community.
DiGenova confident in Barr
DiGenova, a frequent critic of the FBI, DOJ and Mueller’s investigation, is among those calling for a reckoning after Mueller’s investigation into alleged collusion came up empty. Many allies of the president, and Trump himself, are saying that the “Deep State” agents who played high-level roles in the Russia investigation, and preceding spying, must be held to account.
“Barr knows that the only way to have accountability and to restore the credibility of the FBI, the [DOJ], the CIA, and the intelligence community is to have a full-scale federal criminal investigation.”
Barr has said that he believes Trump’s campaign was spied on, and he has said that he will review alleged misconduct by individuals involved in the Russia investigation. Democrats have accused Barr of helping to promote a Republican conspiracy theory which alleges that president Trump was the target of a failed coup attempt by senior intelligence officials who prosecuted a baseless, political investigation to thwart his candidacy and presidency.
The DOJ’s Inspector General Michael Horowitz is conducting a separate review of alleged bias at the FBI and DOJ. DiGenova confidently projected that Horowitz would make criminal referrals to Barr for high-level Deep State agents involved in the alleged coup.
“I believe he will begin with the Horowitz report, which he will use as a fulcrum. The revelations in the Horowitz report are going to be awful. They’re going to be condemning of senior DOJ, FBI….Horowitz is going to recommend criminal referrals,” he said, adding he is “100 percent” certain.
Barr has also said that he will look into criminal referrals from Republican Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), who has alleged crimes were committed by officials involved in the investigation.
Time for accountability
DiGenova has unflinchingly criticized the intelligence officials, Democrats and media who promoted the Russia hoax since Mueller concluded his investigation, and he has even compared Trump to Alfred Dreyfus, a French Jew who was famously and wrongly accused of spying for the Germans in the late 19th century, but who was ultimately exonerated.
Mueller’s report, released in redacted form on Thursday, has further underscored how little Mueller actually found. The report bears out what Barr wrote in a brief summary of its contents last month when Mueller finished the probe: that the special counsel did not find that Trump colluded with Russia.
President Trump claimed “total exoneration” from Mueller’s report and came down with fury on those involved in the “illegal takeover” that failed, as Republican allies have ramped up calls to investigate the investigators.
Democrats balk while Republicans stand firm
Those calls for a reckoning have faced stiff — and predictable — resistance from Democrats, who have embarked on a smear campaign to malign Barr as Trump’s toady. Barr’s factual statement that “spying did occur” was met with a frenzy of gaslighting among Democrats, who accused him of stoking conspiracy theories. It would appear that Democrats are at least as eager as senior intelligence officials to deny any wrongdoing. Senior officials have downplayed insinuations of foul play by the Obama DOJ, with Comey questioning Barr’s use of the term “spying.”
The possibility of a counter-investigation has many wondering whether high-level intelligence officials who allegedly played a role in the “coup” will face indictments. Senior intelligence officials including former FBI director Comey and former CIA chief John Brennan played a prominent, public role in promoting the collusion hoax in media appearances, and questions linger about what role they may have played in disseminating the infamous Christopher Steele dossier, which Republicans say formed the basis of the entire investigation.
Comey admitted shortly after Trump fired him in May of 2017 to leaking a memo of private conversation he had with Trump to the media to spark the appointment of a special counsel. Comey has said that he fears any counter-investigation into Russiagate’s origins, not “personally” but “as a citizen,” saying it would set a dangerous precedent.
Several lawmakers such as Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) have said it is time to investigate the origins of the Russia probe and the Obama DOJ’s spying, with the focus now shifting from Trump to Comey, Brennan, and other high-ranking officials.
Meanwhile, other Republicans including Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) have expressed that they share DiGenova’s expectation of criminal referrals from Horwitz’s report, which is slated for release in May or June.
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