In terrifying news for Democrats, key witnesses who previously refused to participate in Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz’s investigation into the possible abuse of government surveillance against the Trump campaign have finally come forward, according to a report from Fox News.
As the basis for its report, Fox News cites “sources familiar with the matter.” According to these unidentified individuals, everything changed after Attorney General William Barr came along.
Upon taking office, remember that it was Barr who ordered an “investigation into the investigation,” if you will. To this end, he selected U.S. Attorney John Durham to look into the “origins” of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russian probe.
It was then, Fox reports, that “at least one witness outside the Justice Department and FBI started cooperating.”
Delays
For some time now, word has been circling that Horowitz’s investigation, or at least its investigative phase, is over; that we are simply waiting for his report.
After all, it was Barr himself who told the public that he expected the report to be in May or June. But now it appears that, with these witnesses coming forward, things have been delayed.
Why? Because “the sources said recent developments required some witnesses to be reinterviewed.”
Tom Dupree, a former senior Department of Justice official, put it this way: “Like any investigation, you talk to one person, something that person tells you sends you back … to the first person, so it can be a very extensive, exhaustive process, because you are constantly picking up leads, interviewing former sources and navigating complex questions of classified information.”
What now?
Of course, the thing that everyone wants to know is who these witnesses are? What did Horowitz originally want to interview them about? Why did they refuse? What information do they have? etc.
But such questions have not been answered, and probably will not be until we get the inspector general’s report.
Fox journalists Catherine Herridge and Cyd Upson finished the report by speculating on a new release date, based on a similar incident that occurred in a previous investigation by Horowitz — the one about Hillary Clinton’s used of a private email server for confidential communication.
“If that same guidance holds,” they wrote, “the window for completion would begin this month, though it remains unclear how much the DOJ/FBI review and the additional interviews could delay the process.”
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