Special Counsel John Durham Is ‘Adding Additional Prosecutors’ in Criminal Investigation of Russia Probe Origins | Eastern North Carolina Now

Publisher's Note: This post appears here courtesy of the The Daily Wire. The author of this post is Ryan Saavedra.

    Special Counsel John Durham is reportedly ramping up his criminal investigation into the origins of the FBI's counterintelligence investigation into the 2016 Trump campaign.

    Durham, a U.S. attorney who was recently tapped by Attorney General William Barr to be special counsel in the case, is reportedly adding more prosecutors to his team.

    Fox News anchor Bret Baier tweeted, "US Attorney John Durham, who AG Bill Barr tapped to investigate the origins of the Trump Russia probe, is expanding his team by adding additional prosecutors, and is making, 'excellent progress,' according to a federal law enforcement official familiar w/ the situation."

    This latest development in the case comes after Politico reported over the weekend that Durham has been zeroing in on former British spy Christopher Steele, whose anti-Trump dossier helped kick off the entire counterintelligence investigation into the Trump campaign.

    "In a previously unreported move, Durham enlisted a British law firm over the summer to take Steele to court in London, aiming to compel him to turn over notes he had taken of his meetings with the FBI in 2016, according to people with direct knowledge of the episode," Politico reported. "The underlying context for the request, the people said, is that Durham believes Steele's notes could contain evidence that FBI agents improperly disclosed classified information about Crossfire Hurricane, as the bureau dubbed its Russia probe, in the course of questioning Steele about his own findings regarding a potential conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia, the people said."

    Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe said last week that he thinks that Durham should release an interim report on the investigation because some Democrats have called for the investigation to end.

    "The special counsel regulations not only require a final report, they allow for interim reports, so I'd like to see an interim report that talks about this from the angle of someone that has not only the intelligence community documents that I have, but the law enforcement documents that show there was no proper predicate for Crossfire Hurricane because there certainly wasn't any given by the intelligence community to the FBI before this illegal spying began," Ratcliffe told Fox News. "[House Intelligence] Chairman [Adam] Schiff has indicated he thinks that the Durham investigation should end, which is exactly why an interim report would be appropriate."

    "It would show whether or not there's a good-faith basis to continue," he added. "It would protect the work that's been done. So I would encourage my colleagues over at the Department of Justice and at the FBI and, in particular, now Special Counsel Durham to consider doing that, so that the American people can get the full accounting that they deserve."

    Barr appointed Durham to be special counsel in October, writing in a scope order that Durham "is authorized to investigate whether any federal official, employee, or any other person or entity violated the law in connection with the intelligence, counter-intelligence, or law-enforcement activities directed at the 2016 presidential campaigns, individuals associated with those campaigns, and individuals associated with the administration of President Donald J. Trump, including but not limited to Crossfire Hurricane and the investigation of Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller, III."