Attorney General William Barr assigned a federal prosecutor to examine the origins of the Russia investigation, The New York Times reports. John Durham, the U.S. attorney in Connecticut, was reportedly tapped to look into how the probe—which culminated in the release of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report—started in the first place. President Trump has called for this investigation, claiming the probe was an “illegal takedown that failed” and proclaiming that “somebody’s going to be looking at the other side.” A spokesman for Durham and the Justice Department declined to comment. Durham has conducted special investigations for both sides of the aisle in years past. According to the Times, he looked into the FBI’s handling of informant Whitey Bulger in 1999 and investigated the CIA’s destruction of tapes showing the torture of terror suspects in 2005. Durham’s probe will be the third investigation into the Russia investigation’s origins, which Mueller claimed in his report was instigated on legitimate grounds.
