This means Durham will receive the evidence that the teams working under DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz and U.S. Attorney for Utah John Huber have been collecting for more than a year and a half.
So despite what you may be hearing from some media commentators, Durham won’t be starting an investigation from scratch with nothing. While some continue to insist that nothing was happening until 10 minutes ago when Barr arrived, the truth is quite different.
Remembering Huber’s Role
A lot of media commentary I’ve seen during the past two days completely misses the point about why then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions tapped Huber and a team of prosecutors to assist Horowitz in his Spygate investigations.
In that letter, Sessions stated the following:
“As noted in Assistant Attorney General Stephen E. Boyd’s November 13, 2017, letter to the House Committee on the Judiciary, I already have directed senior federal prosecutors to evaluate certain issues raised by the Committee.”
Sessions then wrote, “Specifically, I asked United States Attorney John W. Huber to lead this effort.”
So an unknown number of senior federal prosecutors were placed under Huber’s leadership, forming a team. To do what, exactly?
Sessions spells that out as he continues:
“Mr. Huber is conducting his work from outside the Washington D.C. Area and in cooperation with the Inspector General. The additional matters raised in your March 6, 2018, letter fall within the scope of his mandate, and I am confident that Mr. Huber’s review will include a full, complete, and objective evaluation of these matters in a manner that is consistent with the law and the facts.
“I receive regular updates from Mr. Huber and upon the conclusion of his review, will receive his recommendations as to whether any matters not currently under investigation should be opened, whether any matters currently under investigation require further resources, or whether any matters merit the appointment of a Special Counsel.”
As the inspector general for the DOJ, Horowitz has limited authority outside of the department. He has no ability to pursue people who are no longer there, such as former DOJ and FBI employees who were fired or who saw the handwriting on the wall and quickly resigned and left starting in early 2017. That might have put them outside of Horowitz’s reach, but not Huber’s.
While Horowitz could dig deeply into the activities of those who were involved in the Trump–Russia related investigations inside the DOJ and at the FBI during the 2016 election and beyond, he had extremely limited ability when it came to investigating other federal departments and agencies such as the CIA or the State Department, both of whom had officials there play key roles in this scandal.
It must also be remembered that several nongovernment entities played crucial roles in Spygate, including private contractors such as Fusion GPS.
While Horowitz couldn’t subpoena any witnesses or records outside of the DOJ, Huber could, which is exactly why Sessions formed this team of senior prosecutors and then put Huber in charge of it.
While many assume an investigation being run out of the DOJ should wrap up in just a few months, that’s often not the case. Some investigations can take years.
Those involved in the Spygate plot to spy on a presidential campaign and then attempted to orchestrate a coup against an incoming presidential administration got to take their best shot at Trump first. Comey got the special counsel he wanted to be appointed, and for two years, they were led to believe they had Trump on the ropes.
Now the plotters are the ones who are going to be investigated. They'd better gird their loins.
