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Barr appoints special counsel to continue investigating origins of Russia probe

01 December 2020
Dan Ackermann

Attorney General Bill Barr told the AP on Tuesday he appointed veteran prosecutor John Durham as a special counsel on Oct. 19 to continue investigating the origins of the FBI's 2016 probe into possible coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia.

Why it matters: It's an extra layer of protection for Durham to continue investigating possible misconduct by Obama-era intelligence officials past Joe Biden's inauguration as president.

The big picture: President Trump and his allies have long predicted that Durham's investigation would lead to the indictments of high-level Obama administration officials, who they claim orchestrated the Russia investigation as a political hit job.

  • Thus far, Durham's sweeping investigation has only netted one criminal charge — a low-level FBI lawyer who pleaded guilty to altering a surveillance application for Trump campaign aide Carter Page.
  • In October, Barr informed Republicans in Congress that Durham would not release a report or file any more charges before the election — infuriating Trump and his allies.

Details: Durham's appointment as special counsel authorizes him “to investigate whether any federal official, employee or any person or entity violated the law in connection with the intelligence, counter-intelligence or law enforcement activities” directed at the 2016 presidential campaigns, anyone associated with the campaigns or the Trump administration, according to the order released by the Justice Department.

What they're saying: “I decided the best thing to do would be to appoint them under the same regulation that covered Bob Muller, to provide Durham and his team some assurance that they’d be able to complete their work regardless of the outcome of the election," Barr told the AP in an interview.

  • He added that the Durham investigation, a criminal probe, has “narrowed considerably” and now “really is focused on the activities of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation within the FBI" — which probed ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.

Timing: The special counsel order is dated Oct. 19, but Barr did not notify the House and Senate Judiciary committees of the move until Tuesday, Dec. 1.

Read the ordervia DocumentCloud.

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.