(Conservative Brief) Government watchdog group Judicial Watch has filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the Department of Justice for “records of communication between Special Counsel John Durham and Attorney General Merrick Garland.”
In a press release, the lawsuit was filed after the DOJ failed to respond to an August 23, 2021, FOIA request.
Judicial Watch is requesting the following from the DOJ:
1. All records of communication, including emails and text messages, between Special Counsel John Durham and Attorney General Merrick Garland.
2. All budget records related to the operations of the office of Special Counsel John Durham.
The U.S. Department of Justice suggested that when Durham finishes his investigation into the origins of the Trump-Russia probe, his report will likely be made public.
Republican Sens. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland demanding answers about Durham’s investigation.
Deputy Assistant Attorney General Joe Gaeta sent a letter back saying that he could not comment on Durham’s ongoing investigation or its status.
However, that’s not all.
The GOP Senators stated in their letter that back in October 2020, then-Attorney General Bill Barr wrote that: “The Special Counsel, to the maximum extent possible and consistent with the law and policies and practices of the Department of Justice, shall submit to the Attorney General a final report, and such interim reports as he deems appropriate, in a form that will permit public dissemination.”
In his response letter, Gaeta wrote, “The Department agrees with this statement.”
There have been a few updates in recent weeks about Durham’s investigation.
Last week, GOP Rep. Devin Nunes, ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, said that he expects Durham to release a “damaging report” on the FBI’s failed investigation into Trump’s alleged ties with Russia.
Nunes said he thinks prison sentences could fall on a number of former senior Obama officials.
“Nunes is one of the few members of the Republican Party that still believe justice will be served. He laid out his reasons on The Sara Carter Show and said he hasn’t given up faith in Durham’s investigation despite the enormous speculation that the Durham investigation will fail to deliver justice,” wrote Carter.
Durham was appointed last October by Barr to serve as special counsel to look into the origins of the FBI’s since-tarnished investigation into Trump.
During the course of the DOJ probe, numerous FBI officials who worked under President Obama were fired or resigned from their positions.
“As you know, the Republican conference has asked me to investigate this,” Nunes told the journalist.
“You know, I’d like to get back to the days when I was just dealing with foreign threats, and looking at what’s happening in Cuba, looking at what Putin’s doing, looking at what the Chinese are doing. But I’m always getting rolled back into this because the Democrats in this country have weaponized our institutions over the last five, six years,” Nunes added.
Nunes responded by saying that he expects the report to be delivered and fully expects those responsible for the probe to be charged.
“I just have to have faith ultimately, that there’s that, you know, there was a special counsel created, Durham does have the power, we’re fully expecting him to deliver the report,” said Nunes.
He added: “It may not be as broad as we want it to be. But look, there are some major perpetrators. I think as you and everybody else know, we’ve made over 14 criminal referrals. That doesn’t mean 14 individuals, that means 14 different criminal referrals involving multiple individuals… And this is one of the challenges.”
