‘I think what happened to him was one of the greatest travesties in American history…’
(Ben Sellers, Liberty Headlines) Attorney General William Barr offered strong indications that the Justice Department’s criminal investigation of the events surrounding the FBI’s Russia collusion conspiracy could be wrapping up, with indictments possibly on the way.
During an interview last week with Fox News’s Laura Ingraham, Barr acknowledged that Trump had every right to be upset over the falsely concocted scandal that marred much of his early presidency.
“I think what happened to him was one of the greatest travesties in American history,” Barr said.
“Without any basis they started this investigation of his campaign,” Barr continued. “And even more concerning, actually is what happened after the campaign—a whole pattern of events while he was president to sabotage … or at least have the effect of sabotaging the presidency.”
According to an analysis by The Hill, Barr’s statement could go even far than what he actually said.
His use of strong terms like “travesty” and “sabotage” hinted that the lawman likely has the evidence to support it.
“Attorney General Barr communicates in a clear, understandable, calm-as-a-summer-evening manner uncommon in Washington,” wrote Hill contributor Kevin R. Brock. “He undoubtedly did not get to his current position without being a skilled litigator, whose first rule is never make a statement to the court that you can’t back up.”
The website Just the News likewise supported Brock’s suspicion in an article highlighting 13 recent revelations that the FBI investigation was a hoax.
Chief among them was the recently declassified footnotes that had been redacted in Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz‘s report on the FBI’s mishandling of the Russia hoax.
The report, released in December, found at least 17 critical flaws in the process through which agents received warrant approval from the secretive FISA court to spy on Trump campaign staffers.
Nonetheless, Horowitz seemed to suggest—based only on interviews with those involved in the conspiracy—that the FBI had a justifiable cause for initiating the “Crossfire Hurricane” sting into allegations that Trump was working with the Kremlin.
But the newly unmasked footnotes revealed that agents were aware, prior to launching the investigation, with their primary—and possibly only—source, the discredited Steele Dossier, which was commissioned by the Hillary Clinton campaign.
The FBI relied on the back-channel husband-and-wife duo of Bruce and Nellie Ohr to obtain the supposed research from fervently anti-Trump former British spy Christopher Steele.
Horowitz determined that the FBI should have realized after follow-up interview that the research was unreliable. However, new indications are that they should never have launched it to begin with.
Barr’s criminal investigation, being led by special prosecutor John Durham, is more expansive in its scope than the independently run Horowitz probe.
While the inspector general was limited only to the FBI’s role, Durham has the authority to empanel a grand jury and issue indictments, much like the Mueller investigation did in its probe of Trump officials.
It is known that the probe has traveled to Europe to interview some of the original sources of the allegations, and it also has interviewed former non-FBI officials like Obama-era CIA chief John Brennan and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.
“It is a safe bet that Mr. Durham is collecting evidence beyond the self-serving statements of the FBI principals involved,” wrote Brock. “It also is now a safe bet that his findings will respectfully disagree with Mr. Horowitz’s.”
The inspector general’s reports have not exonerated corrupt officials like former FBI Director James Comey, Deputy Director Andrew McCabe and counterespionage agent Peter Strzok, but they have stopped short of recommending them for prosecution.
But unlike Horowitz’s findings, Barr assured viewers that the Durham conclusions would result in consequences for those found to have committed wrongdoing.
“[I]f people broke the law, and we can establish that with the evidence, they will be prosecuted,” he said.
The Russia hoax is one of many sagas that have lent themselves to a deep mistrust in institutions including the federal bureaucracy and the mainstream media—a fact made all the more apparent during the fearmongering and sweeping authoritarian demands of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Conservative-leaning pollster Scott Rasmussen revealed on Monday that 65 percent of Americans believe that the FBI may be illegally spying on them without probable cause.
As Brock said in light of Barr’s recent statements, a lot now rests on the conclusion of the Durham report—as well as what follows it.
“These are incredibly hopeful words to many Americans who have come to believe—after the 2008 Wall Street-driven financial collapse, after the numerous Clinton family schemes and scandals, and after the wasteful Mueller ‘investigation‘—that the powerful are never held accountable,” he wrote.