Will We See More Indictments in Durham's Probe?

U.S. Attorney John Durham (L) (Department of Justice) and Attorney General William Barr. (R) (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Commentary

In a recent interview with Pete Williams of NBC News, U.S. Attorney General William Barr was asked to provide an update on the ongoing investigation by U.S. Attorney John Durham, who has been looking into the origins of the Spygate scandal.

Specifically, Durham has been tasked to investigate if any crimes were committed by federal officials abusing their federal powers as they launched an unprecedented investigation targeting the Trump presidential campaign.

It has subsequently been revealed through numerous declassifications of key documents over the past year that these Obama-era officials perpetrated a massive fraud upon the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance (FISA) Court to get approval for this highly unusual and historic spying operation.

To date, Durham has publicly revealed one federal crime committed by former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith, who pleaded guilty in August to altering evidence to get a FISA surveillance warrant renewed.

When Williams tried to pressure Barr into saying there wouldn’t be any further indictments coming from Durham, Barr strongly rebuffed him.

Mr. Williams: “Would you say it’s unlikely that there’ll be further criminal charges?” Mr. Barr: “No, I wouldn’t say that at all, no.” Mr. Williams: “So there could be?” Mr. Barr: “Yeah, there could be.”

It's a longstanding Department of Justice (DOJ) policy not to discuss the material details of ongoing investigations before they conclude and the results are announced—if they ever are.

Why DOJ Investigations Can’t Be Transparent

Sometimes people are investigated, but it turns out no chargeable crimes can be proven. For this reason, the DOJ often doesn't announce they're targeting certain individuals for criminal investigations.

Only if the investigation finds evidence that crimes were committed are the results publicly announced. If the U.S. attorney can't find the evidence to sustain a federal charge, the matter is dropped; this often happens without the public ever knowing the target was investigated by the federal government.

This protects the civil rights of the targets of federal investigations. A lot of people don’t seem to grasp this, especially those working in the news media—who really should know better.

Carter Page, a former Trump campaign official who was the target of the FISA warrant, has written a book, “Abuse and Power,” in which he goes into detail about how his entire life was turned upside down due to leaks to the media about his being the target of a federal investigation.

Being accused in the media of being a traitor to his country based on illegal leaks of classified information that revealed he was the target of a federal surveillance warrant instantly sabotaged Page’s international business as an energy consultant. He literally became radioactive overnight.

So the DOJ doesn't have just theoretical reasons for secrecy when it comes to the investigations it pursues. There's a highly irresponsible news media that's all too happy to hang targets on the backs of people such as Page and Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn through strategic leaking campaigns of often out-of-context classified information.

Moving the Durham Goalposts

For months as Durham investigated, it was stated in some circles that no one would ever be indicted for this attempted coup against a sitting president.

The goalposts then effortlessly shifted after the Clinesmith indictment was announced. Now, we’re confidently assured that Clinesmith shall be the lone FBI fall guy, or that if any more indictments are coming, they will only be of other low-level people, and they certainly won’t be unsealed before the election.

We’re confidently assured that the deep state is still in firm control of the DOJ, and both Barr and Durham are part of a massive cover-up.

Well, if the deep state had the powers the conspiracy theorists attribute to it, none of the extensive evidence that has surfaced over the past several years would ever have seen the light of day.

The theory that, after declassifying and exposing to the public just about everything the Spygate plotters did, the plan is to let them all walk away is absurd on its face, because there would be nothing left of the DOJ’s and the FBI’s reputation but a smoking crater if that were to happen.

More than three years of promises about the "rule of law" and "equal justice under the law" and "getting rid of a two-tiered justice system" would be revealed to be just empty hot air by a bunch of lying bluffers.

And the two chief lying bluffers would be named President Donald J. Trump and Barr.

These men don't want to go down in history as lying gasbags full of hot air who, after all the evidence came out about this massive Spygate plot, passively sat back and watched the guilty parties walk away free.

Nobody knows better than Trump what will happen to him and his family if he loses this coming election and returns to private life with opponents hot on his trail eager for revenge.

Far from looking like a desperate and hunted man, the president on the campaign trail looks like he’s having the time of his life. He keeps saying, “We caught them,” or, “We have it all,” and, “Let’s see what happens.”

History Is Repeating Itself

Beginning in December 2018 and stretching all the way through March 2019, news kept breaking every other week of top people such as Andrew Weissmann leaving special counsel Robert Mueller's team.

Then, acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker confirmed in a press conference in late January 2019 that Mueller was wrapping up soon. Although he certainly was in a position to know what he was talking about, he was instantly dubbed either a liar or a fool.

More than a few network analysts and political pundits continued to insist these departures meant exactly nothing, and it was inconceivable that Mueller would end his investigation before the 2020 election occurred.

So it doesn't surprise me that the same people who pontificated that there was simply no way the Mueller special counsel’s office was wrapping up in early 2019 are the same ones now claiming the Durham investigation is nothing more than a massive coverup.

They were wrong then and they’re wrong now.

Durham isn't running a politicized investigation, no matter how many fake news people or politicized activists on the right insist he is. There's no evidence of that.

Durham’s probe is 180-degrees different from the Mueller investigation, which is in the process of being revealed as having been exactly what Trump often claimed it was: a political witch hunt based on faked evidence.

No matter how many times Barr states politics and the election are playing no role in the Durham investigation, either in how it's being conducted, who's being targeted, or when it's ending, many simply don't believe him.

I believe Barr. And so should you.

Brian Cates is a writer based in South Texas and the author of “Nobody Asked For My Opinion ... But Here It Is Anyway!” He can be reached on Twitter @drawandstrike.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.