As journalists began trying to make sense of the phone call between Trump and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky following the release Wednesday morning of the transcript, other bits and pieces began to reveal themselves if one was paying attention.

Wall Street Journal columnist Kimberley Strassel, for example, pointed out something that — to my mind anyway — is at least one of the reasons the screeching for impeachment has begun anew: Attorney General William Barr has apparently asked U.S. Attorney John Durham to include Ukraine and its potential role in the Russia collusion investigation in his own investigation into the origins of Russia collusion (just writing that gave me a brain twisting headache).

3)(Indeed, this is a big enough issue that we find out this morning that U.S. Attorney John Durham is looking at what role the Ukraine played in the FBI investigation.)

— Kimberley Strassel (@KimStrassel) September 25, 2019

What Strassel is referring to is a statement released by the DOJ Wednesday around the same time the transcript was released that indicated the DOJ was expanding their investigation into the origins of the Russia collusion investigation into Ukraine and other countries.

Trump and congressional Republicans have clamored for more information about the origins of the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, claiming it was rooted in political bias. [Justice Department spokesperson Kerri] Kupec said in a statement Wednesday that US Attorney John Durham is leading a DOJ team that “is separately exploring the extent to which a number of countries, including Ukraine, played a role in the counterintelligence investigation directed at the Trump campaign during the 2016 election.”

If I were a betting woman, I’d wager a chunk that this decision by the DOJ — along with the mention of Crowdstrike in the phone call — was what sparked this “whistleblower” into action. And then it became about obfuscation and misdirection, with Democrats on a mission to point everyone’s attention toward comments about Biden and the timing of holding aid so they could start the fireworks show of impeachment in the hopes Ukraine and Crowdstrike would get lost in the noise. None of which happens, it must be noted, without the media’s help.

This should all seem familiar by now. It fits a pattern of what Democrats have been doing since Trump won and their Russia collusion “insurance policy” was found out.

Incidentally, the DOJ was smart in that same Wednesday statement to point out that no conversations have occurred between Barr or any DOJ official with any Ukrainian official regarding any Biden. Not because the president was wrong to ask Ukraine to look back at potential corruption that might have occurred. I don’t believe he was out of line there at all.

But simply because they Democrats are desperately trying to find something to hold on to. And desperate people make desperate decisions, and it’s best to protect yourselves whenever and wherever you can.