William Barr – Caricature by DonkeyHotey, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0/Original

The Associated Press is reporting that Attorney General William Barr has directed that John Durham, the US Attorney for Connecticut, investigate the origins of the Russia probe and determine if the spying upon the Trump campaign was “lawful and appropriate.”

This is and interesting choice and a serious one:

Mr. Durham, who was nominated by Mr. Trump in 2017 and has been a Justice Department lawyer since 1982, has conducted special investigations under administrations of both parties. Attorney General Janet Reno asked Mr. Durham in 1999 to investigate the F.B.I.’s handling of a notorious informant: the organized crime leader James (Whitey) Bulger.

In 2008, Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey assigned Mr. Durham to investigate the C.I.A.’s destruction of videotapes in 2005 showing the torture of terrorism suspects. A year later, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. expanded Mr. Durham’s mandate to also examine whether the agency broke any laws in its abuses of detainees in its custody.

In both cases, Durham produced reports that were anything but a cover-up.

This now makes three investigations into the investigation. John Huber, who is now featured on milk cartons across the nation, is investigating something. The DOJ IG, Michael Horowitz, has been looking at the actions of the FBI and Department of Justice for over a year and is due to report to Barr next month. And now this.

The left isn’t happy:

Mueller’s investigation found massive Russian interference in our elections and resulted in many criminal indictments. Barr’s decision to order an investigation of those who uncovered that Russian cyber attack on our country is, in a word, un-American. https://t.co/z0QsFAu9TM

— Glenn Kirschner (@glennkirschner2) May 14, 2019

I would like to hear someone at DOJ say what evidence of wrongdoing justifies this third probe. Such a gross politicization of the deparrment and a huge abuse of power by Barr. https://t.co/NDMZhaFfSq

— Matthew Miller (@matthewamiller) May 14, 2019

I don’t known why they have their panties wadded, innocent men should look forward to being investigated so the record can be set straight and their names cleared. At least that’s what I’ve been told for the past two years.

All in all,the depth and breadth of the investigation makes me a little more comfortable in the belief that we will eventually get to the bottom of this and what is found there will lead to a significant reform in the FISA courts and in some other practices such as unmasking of US citizens and the use of allied intelligence services as cutouts for domestic spying.