Barr: Mueller did not look into origins of Trump-Russia investigation
Attorney General William Barr made it clear that special counsel Robert Mueller did not review how the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation was handled by the Justice Department and the FBI. During a Fox News interview that aired Friday, Barr said “no one has really looked at it” and pointed out that Mueller was focused just on investigating Russian election interference and the possible involvement of President Trump's 2016 campaign. “The fact of the matter is Bob Mueller did not look at the government's activities,” Barr said in an interview that aired Friday. “He was looking at whether or not the Trump campaign had conspired with the Russians. He was not going back and looking at the counter intelligence program.”
The FBI launched its original counterintelligence investigation, called Crossfire Hurricane, in July 2016. It was prompted by Australian diplomat Alexander Downer informing the FBI that Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos told him Russia had damaging information on Hillary Clinton, Trump's Democratic rival in the 2016 election. That counterintelligence investigation was wrapped into Mueller's effort after he was appointed in May 2017. Mueller concluded that Russia used cyberattacks and social media disinformation campaigns to interfere in 2016, but he did not establish any sort of criminal conspiracy between the Russians and the Trump campaign. Republicans have long alleged that the launching of the investigation into Trump in 2016 was influenced by politics and that the probe itself was rife with misconduct.
Barr said that “there is a misconception out there that we know a lot about what happened.” Barr said that there were “a number of investigations underway that touch upon it”, including DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s investigation into possible Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act abuse, but so far “no one has really looked across the whole waterfront.” Barr has also tasked U.S. Attorney John Durham to review the origins of the federal Russia investigation. Barr said his first step is to “find out exactly what happened” which he plans to do by “getting all the relevant information from the various agencies and starting to talk to some of the people that have information.” “If we’re worried about foreign influence, for the very same reason, we should be worried about whether government officials abused their power and put their thumb on the scale," Barr said.
Barr also pointed out that the handling of the Trump-Russia investigation was unusual in a number of ways, especially the fact that it was being managed at the highest levels of the DOJ and FBI. “It wasn't handled in the ordinary way that investigations or counter intelligence activities are conducted,” Barr said. “It was sort of an ad hoc small group. Most of these people are no longer with the FBI or the CIA or the other agencies involved.”
James Comey, the head of the FBI at the time, was fired by Trump in May 2017. Andrew McCabe, the former deputy director, was fired by then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions in March 2018. Peter Strzok, the FBI’s former Counterespionage Section chief, was fired by FBI Deputy Director David Bowdich in August 2018. James Baker, the former FBI general counsel, was reassigned and eventually left the bureau. The FBI’s handling of the dossier compiled by British ex-spy Christopher Steele has come under increased scrutiny in recent weeks. The Steele dossier, filled with salacious and unverified allegations, was used in FISA applications to justify surveillance against former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. Both Comey and Baker have defended their handling of the dossier in recent days.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/barr-mueller-did-not-look-into-origins-of-trump-russia-investigation