BREAKING: DOJ Probe into Russian Investigation Turns Into Criminal Investigation

WATCH: BREAKING: The Russia Origins Probe Is Now A Criminal Investigation

2019 seems like it’s becoming the year of just deserts, big and small. But the biggest story has, of course, been the investigation of Donald Trump re: collusion with Russia re: the 2016 election. Remember in March when the Mueller report found no evidence thereof? And then the Department of Justice decided to look into the origins of said investigation. Well, it’s now a full-blown criminal investigation.

John Durham and Bill Barr’s recent trip to Italy provided the evidence required to take this step, which means Durham may now subpoena witnesses, file charges, and impanel fact-finding grand juries.

BIG. OOF. to about half of Congress and the main stream media. Spin your way out of that one, CNN.

Fox News reports,

A source in the Italian Ministry of Justice told The Daily Beast earlier this month that Barr and Durham were played a taped deposition made by Joseph Mifsud, the professor who allegedly told ex-Trump aide George Papadopoulos that the Russians had “dirt” on Hillary Clinton. Mifsud reportedly was explaining to investigators in the deposition why people would want to harm him, and why he needed police protection.

Papadopoulos has suggested he was connected with Mifsud as part of a setup orchestrated by intelligence agencies.

Sources told Fox News that Durham was “very interested” to question former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and former CIA Director John Brennan, an anti-Trump critic who recently dismissed the idea. The New York Times reported Thursday that Durham’s criminal review has prompted some CIA officials to obtain criminal legal counsel in anticipation of being interviewed.

What a huge win for lovers of truth and justice. And also irony: How many times did we hear the phrase “no one is above the law” wielded as an anti-Trump call-to-arms? Only the REAL lesson was about liberal-leaning FBI officials, which, in my opinion, is a much stronger message, considering all the bullsh*t they’ve gotten away with under the auspices of super secretive secrets.

Brennan and Clapper were at the helm not only when Mifsud spoke to Papadopoulos, but also when an unverified and largely discredited dossier, written by British ex-spy Christopher Steele and funded by the Hillary Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee, was used to help justify a secret surveillance warrant against former Trump adviser Carter Page in the run-up to the 2016 election. (The Times’ reporting on Thursday, which overtly framed Durham’s probe as politically tainted without evidence, did not mention the Steele dossier at all.)

The FBI apparently obscured the fact that the Clinton campaign and DNC funded the dossier in its warrant application, telling the secret court only that the dossier was prepared at the behest of an unidentified presidential campaign.

Good one, NYT.

I’m no expert, but I don’t think this is going to go very well for Brennan and Clapper. There’s some pretty serious charges to be made here, and it’s encouraging that we’re seeing steps made to make said charges.

What’s less encouraging, of course, is the left’s response.

Nevertheless, in responding to the expanded Durham probe, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., and House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff, D-Calif., followed the Times’ framing and accused the Trump administration of misconduct.

“These reports, if true, raise profound new concerns that the Department of Justice under Attorney General William Barr has lost its independence and become a vehicle for President Trump’s political revenge,” they said. “If the Department of Justice may be used as a tool of political retribution, or to help the President with a political narrative for the next election, the rule of law will suffer new and irreparable damage.”

…. Right. A criminal investigation of potential criminals is a political stunt. Unlike accusing your opponent of a political stunt when you find the potential criminals on your side under criminal investigation, which is objectively the right thing to do. That makes perfect sense.

It might almost be worth tuning into CNN, MSNBC, et. al today just to watch them spin this in their favor. It’s a pretty impossible task, but won’t it be fun to see them try?