Barr says he does not expect criminal investigation of Obama or Biden as result of Durham probe
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/barr-durham-probe
Attorney General Bill Barr said Monday he does not expect U.S. Attorney John Durham’s review into the origins of the Russia probe will lead to a “criminal investigation” of either former President Barack Obama or former Vice President Joe Biden -- while noting that their concern of “potential criminality” in the conduct of that probe is “focused on others.”
Barr, during a press conference otherwise focused on the December 2019 shooting at Naval Air Station Pensacola, spoke at length about the Durham investigation. He said he has a “general idea” of how the investigation is going and confirmed that “some aspects are being investigated as potential crimes.”
TRUMP WEIGHS IN ON UNMASKING
Barr did say, however, that “not every abuse of power, no matter how outrageous, is necessarily a federal crime.”
“As for President Obama and Vice President Biden, whatever their level of involvement based on what I know, I don’t expect Durham’s work will lead to a criminal investigation of either man,” Barr said. “Our concern of potential criminality is focused on others.”
This comes after both Obama and Biden -- the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee -- have faced heightened criticism from Republicans for any potential role in the early stages of the probe. Trump last week even called for Obama to be summoned to testify before Congress.
The politically explosive environment -- bringing the country into uncharted territory, with a former president accused by critics of presiding over a political probe into his eventual successor, and the sitting president now essentially calling for retribution against his predecessor -- has built ever since the DOJ moved to dismiss its case against Michael Flynn.
Barr and the DOJ cited problems with the FBI's interview with the Trump national security adviser in deciding to back away from the prosecution on the charge of lying to investigators. New documents, meanwhile, indicated Obama was at least aware of the details of Flynn's intercepted December 2016 phone calls with then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, that were a subject of that fateful interview. Then, a list was released of Obama-era officials involved in seeking to "unmask" what turned out to be Flynn's name in intelligence reports.
Both Biden and Obama's chief of staff were among the officials involved in those requests.
Trump last week insisted Obama was involved in an unspecified "crime," and continued to rail against the Obama administration in interviews.
But Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham was later reluctant to go along with Trump's demand that Obama be called to testify.
"As to the Judiciary Committee, both presidents are welcome to come before the committee and share their concerns about each other. If nothing else it would make for great television. However, I have great doubts about whether it would be wise for the country,” he said in a statement last week.
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[–] Ronin3000 ago
President Trump will have a lot of pissed off people if nothing is done to them.