How many laws did former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign break when the FBI illegally surveilled Donald Trump’s campaign?
After a long investigation into the origin of the now-debunked Russian probe that led to a wiretap of Trump’s presidential campaign, the American people may finally find out.
And it could be soon.
In a Sunday interview on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures,” Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe said he was optimistic he could start declassifying documents related to U.S. Attorney John Durham’s investigation soon.
This means that behind-the-scenes, Durham’s investigation seems to have taken another major step forward.
“I pledged to a bipartisan group of senators that I would look at all of the underlying intelligence surrounding the intelligence community’s assessment of Russia’s interference and this idea of Trump-Russia collusion,” Ratcliffe said.” “But I’m not going to prejudice John Durham’s work in connection with that, so we’ve had to coordinate with his office about the timing of that. But I’m optimistic that I’ll be declassifying additional documents soon.”
This came just one week after former CIA Director John Brennan was interviewed by Durham’s team as part of its inquiry into the investigators and intelligence officials inside former President Barack Obama’s administration — and their potential ties to the Clinton campaign.
The interview took place at CIA headquarters and lasted for eight hours, said Nick Shapiro, Brennan’s former deputy chief of staff and senior adviser.
“Brennan was informed by Mr. Durham that he is not a subject or a target of a criminal investigation and that he is only a witness to events that are under review,” Shapiro said in a statement.
Durham’s interest in speaking with Brennan underscores the extent to which he and his team are continuing to examine how U.S. intelligence officials came to monitor the Trump campaign.
Brennan appeared voluntarily for the interview. He previously said he welcomed the chance to be questioned and felt he had nothing to hide.
“And so I look forward to the day when the truth is going to come out and the individuals who have mischaracterized what has happened in the past will be shown to have deceived the American people,” Brennan said in a May interview on MSNBC.
A spokesman for Durham’s investigation team declined to comment on an open investigation.
Attorney General William Barr last year appointed Durham, the U.S. attorney for Connecticut, to examine the decisions that were made by government officials as they investigated rumors of ties between the Trump campaign and Russian intelligence.
Special counsel Robert Mueller concluded after two years, and a bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee investigation concluded after three, that there was no evidence of collusion between the Trump 2016 presidential campaign and Russia.
Brennan, who has emerged as a vocal critic of Trump, testified before Congress in 2017 that he had personally warned Russia against interfering in the election and that he was so concerned about Russia’s contacts with people involved in Trump’s campaign that he convened top counterintelligence officials to focus on the issue.
Durham brought his first criminal charge last month against a former Obama-era FBI lawyer accused of altering evidence related to the secret surveillance of former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.
The attorney, Kevin Clinesmith, pleaded guilty to a false statement charge.
The Associated Press contributed to this article