Big news breaking in the investigation of the Russia probe by U.S. Attorney John Durham.

We’ve reported that the Durham probe had expanded, was now likely a criminal investigation and that Durham wanted to talk to both former CIA head John Brennan and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.

Now comes the word about what caused that expansion of the investigation from Fox News’ Catherine Herridge.

Herridge explained it was expanded because of “new evidence” that was discovered during their investigations in Rome, Italy.

Herridge reports that the Italian prime minister confirmed to his parliament that he did let Attorney General William Barr meet with Italian intelligence agents on the subject of the Russia investigation, that this was the “correct decision” and had been arranged through proper diplomatic channels. The meetings occurred August 15 and September 27 in Rome. During one of the trips, Barr and Durham discovered the “new evidence” and according to Herridge’s contacts, Durham is “very interested” to question Clapper as well as Brennan.

Fox reported some information about the meeting.

In Italy, Barr reportedly told embassy officials he “needed a conference room to meet high-level Italian security agents where he could be sure no one was listening in.”

A source in the Italian Ministry of Justice told The Daily Beast earlier this month that Barr and Durham were played a taped deposition made by Joseph Mifsud, the professor who allegedly told ex-Trump aide George Papadopoulos that the Russians had “dirt” on Hillary Clinton. Mifsud reportedly was explaining to authorities in the deposition why people would want to harm him, and why he needed police protection.

Papadopoulos has suggested he was connected with Mifsud as part of a setup orchestrated by intelligence agencies.

There are also reports that Durham now has Mifsud’s Blackberrys

Papadopoulos was allegedly the reason for opening the Russia investigation.

If there was a set-up and that’s been exposed, then it would have been a tainted effort of entrapment to start. That might explain why Brennan has been melting down of late and why he’s so upset that Durham wants to question him.

As we reported, Brennan apparently was already notified he is to be questioned. Brennan claimed he didn’t “understand the predication” for such an investigation into the Russia probe.

Meanwhile Brennan has a history of improper spying. He was not only caught spying on the Senate, but lying about it as well to Congress. Yet he never faced any consequences.

And that’s not the only question being raised about Brennan’s actions in the Russia probe.

Former Chair of the House Intelligence Committee, Trey Gowdy, has indicated that Brennan may have some legitimate reason for concern about his own actions, according to the Washington Examiner.

Republicans believe the impending declassification of Russia investigation documents will show an email exchange between Brennan and former FBI Director James Comey discussing the use of British ex-spy Christopher Steele’s unverified dossier in the U.S. intelligence community’s assessment on Russian interference in the 2016 election. Former South Carolina Rep. Trey Gowdy, who claims to have seen the classified material, said this puts Brennan in jeopardy more than it does Comey.

Also in another story from the Examiner:

There have been reports, including by veteran journalist Bob Woodward, that the dossier was included in an early draft of the assessment. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said in March he was told Brennan “insisted” the dossier be included in the report. “BREAKING: A high-level source tells me it was Brennan who insisted that the unverified and fake Steele dossier be included in the Intelligence Report … Brennan should be asked to testify under oath in Congress ASAP,” Paul tweeted.