Whether James Comey, John Brennan, and James Clapper will face criminal indictments no longer appears to be a matter of wishful speculation.
Now that Attorney General Bill Barr’s investigation of the Russia hoax is a criminal probe, the question appears to be not whether charges will be filed, but when and against whom. The probe, which is being led by U.S. Attorney John Durham, appears to have rattled the iron triangle of Democrats, the media, and the so-called “intelligence community.”
“You do not impanel a grand jury at this point unless you are going to indict,” a source familiar with the investigation told Fox News. “Durham is at a point where he knows he has crimes and now the question is how many people were involved and they have a pretty good idea of that group of people and what the charges can be and whether or not they can get some cooperators.”
Sword of Damocles hangs over Comey, Brennan, Clapper
For months, supporters of President Donald Trump have anxiously awaited accountability for what Trump has called an attempted “coup” by members of former President Barack Obama’s intelligence community. But while the left is eager to move on from Russiagate and its disappointing hero, special counsel Robert Mueller, and instead pin Trump over his phone call with a country directly to Russia’s west, Durham’s probe of the Russia hoax has reached a new level of seriousness.
While it’s not clear exactly what or who he is investigating, Durham is “very interested” in talking to Brennan and Clapper, Fox reported. The New York Times reported that Durham is looking into whether the CIA, led by Brennan, tricked the FBI into opening its counter-intelligence investigation of the Trump campaign in 2016.
Such inter-agency clashing is not unheard of: earlier this year, the CIA blamed the FBI for pushing the infamous Russia dossier at the basis of the hoax, as speculation mounted over whether Brennan or Comey played a bigger role in advocating the dossier’s inclusion in the Intelligence Community’s assessment of Russian activities in 2017. Durham’s probe has reportedly prompted CIA analysts to hire criminal defense lawyers.
Durham has also been probing anti-Trump bias at the FBI, particularly allegations that top brass at the bureau signed off on FISA warrants to spy on ex-Trump campaign aide Carter Page that cited the discredited dossier. Comey, who signed three of those FISA applications, has admitted to leaking memos of his conversations with Trump to the media — successfully — to spark an investigation of him.
Durham considers it a “necessity” to interview officials including Comey, Andrew McCabe, and Rod Rosenstein. Peter Strzok, the lead investigator on the original Trump-Russia probe, could also come into Durham’s crosshairs. Strzok has been criticized over his infamous anti-Trump text messages, as well as newly unearthed evidence that FBI agents manipulated their interview files on Michael Flynn, Trump’s former national security adviser, who had his life turned upside down after pleading guilty to making false statements in the Russia probe.
The storm ahead
If indictments are on the horizon, then Barr and Durham must be prepared for a storm of media-driven defamation like no other. The mainstream media has been preparing a propaganda campaign to quash this investigation for months now, and they’re prepared to go all out against Barr for supposedly “weaponizing” the Justice Department.
Barr has long faced hostility from the left for affirming Trump’s grievances about being “spied on” by Obama’s intelligence community, and when Barr first appointed Durham in May, the mainstream media planted the seeds of the narrative that Barr had compromised his integrity to pursue Trump’s political vendetta against the Deep State. The news that Barr has recently sought the help of Italy, the United Kingdom and Australia in his probe prompted the media to attack him for chasing “conspiracy theories” around the globe.
Comey, Brennan and Clapper, the media and the Democrats have all attacked the criminal investigation in robotic unison, calling it illegitimate and political. At Politicon last weekend, Comey insisted that Barr’s probe would find no evidence of wrongdoing, and he appeared to threaten Durham, saying that he hopes he “will do everything possible to protect his reputation from being damaged by those in leadership.”
Brennan has called the probe “bizarre” and Clapper has insinuated that Trump is seeking the investigation as a distraction from impeachment. But Barr, who has faced the media’s calumnies with unflappable composure, defended his probe in an interview Monday while hitting back at Comey’s “failure of leadership.” “[Durham] is in charge of the investigation, I’m not doing the investigation,” Barr said. “We’ll let the chips fall where they may.”
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