President Donald Trump is fed up with hearing about all the foot dragging at the Department of Injustice, so he just handed Special Counsel John Durham some serious authority in the Obamagate probe. The prosecutor now has the ability to allow his grand jury panel to see classified documents.
Durham granted sweeping power
The Obamagate prosecutor doesn’t need to ask anyone for permission. John Durham can show any document to his special grand jury that he wants, classified or not.
Nobody can stop him and he won’t get in any trouble. Also, he has that authority “indefinitely for the remainder of his investigation.”
William Barr, while serving as Attorney General, appointed Durham as special counsel to dig deep into the origins of the Obamagate conspiracy. The public already knows that the FBI and DOJ illegally conspired to mislead the FISA court into granting wiretap warrants to spy on the Trump campaign.
For some reason the DOJ is afraid to prosecute anyone for it. They dragged the investigation out and kept everything tightly under wraps so that it wouldn’t adversely affect Joe Biden’s chances to steal the election.
Durham is supposed to be conducting a criminal investigation but nobody can figure out how independent reporters keep digging up more evidence every day while the FBI and DOJ can’t seem to find their own backsides with both hands and a flashlight.
One good thing that Barr did on his way out the door in disgrace is upgrade Durham’s investigation to the status of “special counsel.”
#SpecialCounselDurham New POTUS MEMO authorizing use classified info in criminal Durham probe, “In addition, the AG is authorized to use classified information as he deems necessary in connection with his review, including in a GRAND JURY or other PROCEEDING”@CBSNews pic.twitter.com/t4TKh0Pyku
— Catherine Herridge (@CBS_Herridge) December 22, 2020
Jail is a different story
Just like Robert Mueller, Durham will have broad powers which a speculative “Biden administration” would not be able to squash. Some day, there will be a report.
Whether it actually manages to find anyone responsible for the crimes which Americans are already aware of is a totally different story.
On Tuesday, the administration released a memo making public the new authority to reveal classified information.
It was addressed to the heads of multiple agencies including State, Treasury, Defense, Energy, Homeland Security, and National Intelligence. They’re all placed on notice that Durham can reveal any of their secrets he feels necessary whether they like it or not.
As laid out in President Trump’s memo, AG Barr had the authority to order the investigation into the “intelligence activities relating to the campaigns in the 2016 Presidential election and certain related matters.”
On May 13, 2019, Barr “directed John Durham to conduct that review, which subsequently developed into a criminal investigation.” He got even more power in October. when Barr made it official that he was “to conduct that investigation pursuant to the powers and independence afforded by the Special Counsel regulations of the Department of Justice.”