Barr: Timetable of John Durham review unrestrained by
2020 election
by Jerry Dunleavy
April 22, 2020 04:08 PM
"The nation’s top law enforcement officer said the 2020 election will have no bearing on the Justice Department’s review of the Russia investigation.
Attorney General William Barr, in an interview on Hugh Hewitt’s radio show on Tuesday, also said U.S. Attorney John Durham’s inquiry into the origins of the Crossfire Hurricane operation and into the conduct of associated law enforcement officers and intelligence officials is proceeding full speed ahead amid the coronavirus pandemic but stressed indictments are not imminent.
Hewitt said there are DOJ guidelines related to announcing either indictments or the end of an investigation close to an election because of the impact it might have on who wins, noting these rules factored into then-FBI Director James Comey’s statement in July 2016 declaring that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had been “extremely careless” in her handling of classified information on her private email server but that “no reasonable prosecutor” would bring an indictment against her. Hewitt pressed Barr on what Durham’s deadline was and whether any political considerations were being made.
Barr said Election Day was not going to be a factor for when Durham releases his likely report or for when he may press charges.
“As far as I’m aware, none of the key people that, whose actions are being reviewed at this point by Durham, are running for president,” Barr said.
"I think, in its core, the idea is, you don’t go after candidates," he added. "You don’t indict candidates or perhaps someone that’s sufficiently close to a candidate, that it’s essentially the same, you know, within a certain number of days before an election. But, you know, as I say, I don’t think any of the people whose actions are under review by Durham fall into that category.”
There has been some debate about whether Durham should avoid making any significant moves or announcements close to the presidential election, which is shaping up to be a contest between President Trump and presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden.
Andrew McCarthy, a former chief assistant U.S. attorney in New York and senior fellow at the National Review Institute, recently said, "The closer it gets to Election Day, the more any charges he brought would be framed by the media as kind of a Trump campaign stunt." The former federal prosecutor also warned the investigation will go "down the memory hole" if Trump does not win reelection in November.
With the review about a year in, Hewitt asked Barr if he was “shocked” by anything Durham had briefed him on so far, to which Barr said he "wouldn’t use the word shocked,” though he said he was “very troubled” by some of what he learned.
“I think the reason that we have this investigation is because there are a lot of things that are unexplained,” Barr said. “And I think we’re getting deeply into the situation, and we’ll be able to sort out exactly what happened.”"
moar:
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/barr-timetable-of-john-durham-review-unrestrained-by-2020-election
a friendly reminder for new eyes