Attorney General William P. Barr on Tuesday announced that he had given special counsel status to the prosecutor investigating the origins of the Russia collusion …
Attorney General William P. Barr on Tuesday announced that he had given special counsel status to the prosecutor investigating the origins of the Russia collusion probe, assuring the investigation can’t be squashed by presumptive President-elect Joseph R. Biden. The move gave U.S. Attorney John Durham, who has been conducting his investigation for more than a year, the same powers that special counsel Robert Mueller enjoyed in pursuing the allegations of Trump-Russia collusion that have since been debunked. In a letter to Capitol Hill leaders, Mr. Barr said that he had designated Mr. Durham as a special counsel in October and was now making his status public. The attorney general stressed that the appointment of a special counsel pre-dated, and was not tied to, the election outcome. “Although I had expected Mr. Durham to complete his work by the summer of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as additional information he uncovered, prevented him from doing so,” wrote Mr. Barr. “In advance of the presidential election, I decided to appoint Mr. Durham as a Special Counsel to provide him and his team with the assurance that they could complete their work, without regard to the outcome of the election.
