Attorney General William Barr said on Monday that he does not expect U.S. Attorney John Durham’s probe into the origins of FBI’s Russia investigation will …
Attorney General William Barr said on Monday that he does not expect U. S. Attorney John Durham’s probe into the origins of FBI’s Russia investigation will result in criminal investigations into former President Barrack Obama and former Vice President Joe Biden.
Barr made the remarks during an unrelated press conference where he revealed Obama and Biden will unlikely be investigated by the Justice Department as part of Durham’s investigation based on the information he currently possesses.
“As to President Obama and Vice President Biden, whatever their level of involvement based on the information I have today, I don’t expect Mr. Durham’s work will lead to a criminal investigation of either man,” Barr said. “Our concern over potential criminality is focused on others.”
This comes as Obama and Biden are facing increasing scrutiny from Republican lawmakers for potential misconduct during the FBI’s 2016 counterintelligence investigation into Trump campaign’s alleged ties with Russia. President Donald Trump has repeatedly alleged, without naming specific crimes, that Obama and certain members of his administration were involved in a scheme to target Trump’s former national security adviser Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn and other associates of the president during 2016 and 2017.
The president revived his accusations in his hashtag “Obamagate” after a number of revelations in recent weeks. Documents released earlier this month indicated that Obama was aware of details from phone calls made by Flynn with then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. Meanwhile, a declassified list of Obama administration officials who requested the unmasking of Flynn in intelligence reports, which was recently given to Congress, revealed that Biden and Obama’s then-chief of staff Denis McDonough were involved in the requests.
