DURHAM MADE SPECIAL COUNSEL
Designation could leave prosecutor in place after transfer
Attorney General William Barr revealed on Tuesday that he had bestowed special counsel status on John Durham, the prosecutor he assigned to investigate the officials who conducted the Trump-Russia inquiry — setting the stage to leave him in place after the Biden administration takes over.
In a letter to Congress, Barr disclosed that he had secretly appointed Durham as a special counsel Oct. 19, before the election. The action gives Durham the same independence and protections against being fired that had been enjoyed by Robert Mueller, the former special counsel who eventually oversaw the Russia investigation.
“In advance of the presidential election, I decided to appoint Mr. Durham as a special counsel to provide him and his team with the assurance that they could complete their work, without regard to the outcome of the election,” Barr wrote.
The White House did not know about Durham’s appointment until Barr made his public comments Tuesday, an official said.
Durham never fulfilled President Donald Trump’s and his supporters’ expectations that he would bring to light some significant wrongdoing against the president before the election. But the step appeared likely to create a headache for whomever Biden appoints as attorney general, who would take over supervision of Durham’s continuing work.
Barr also empowered Durham to hunt for crimes not only during the early stages of the Trump-Russia investigation that began in July 2016, which has been his focus, but also during the period after Mueller took over that inquiry in May 2017 — making him, in effect, a special counsel for the special counsel.
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, defended the legitimacy of the Russia investigation and condemned Barr’s move as an abuse of the special counsel power “to continue a politically motivated investigation long after Barr leaves office.”
But Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, praised the move and issued a not-so-veiled warning that Republicans would paint any Biden administration attempt to close Durham’s investigation as hypocrisy after Democrats spent years defending Mueller from Trump’s open desire — and unsuccessful attempt — to fire him.
“I hope my Democrat colleagues will show Special Counsel Durham the same respect they showed Special Counsel Mueller,” Graham added. “This important investigation must be allowed to proceed free from political interference.”
A special counsel has essentially the same powers as a U.S. attorney and remains subject to an attorney general’s control, unlike past socalled independent counsels who, under a defunct law, investigated scandals like the Reagan administration’s Iran-Contra affair, and President Bill Clinton’s Whitewater land deal and his dalliance with Monica Lewinsky.
Still, Justice Department regulations give special counsels day-to-day independence as they pursue their assigned jobs, and they are protected from arbitrary firing.