{"id":1657894,"date":"2022-09-26T07:47:51","date_gmt":"2022-09-26T11:47:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1657894"},"modified":"2022-09-26T09:44:43","modified_gmt":"2022-09-26T13:44:43","slug":"special-counsel-durhams-protect-the-establishment-approach-is-destroying-the-country","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/special-counsel-durhams-protect-the-establishment-approach-is-destroying-the-country\/","title":{"rendered":"Special Counsel Durham\u2019s Protect-The-Establishment Approach Is Destroying The Country"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fspecial-counsel-durhams-protect-the-establishment-approach-is-destroying-the-country%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1657894&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><\/div>\n<p>Special Counsel John Durham continues to ignore the FBI\u2019s malfeasance in the Crossfire Hurricane targeting of Donald Trump, a Friday court filing by prosecutors in the criminal case against Igor Danchenko confirms. While that approach may have been prudent and in the country\u2019s best interests three and a half years ago, when then-Attorney General Bill Barr tasked Durham to investigate the origins of the Russia collusion hoax, it is no longer judicious.<\/p>\n<p>The special counsel\u2019s failure to appreciate this reality threatens the government\u2019s case against Danchenko, but more significantly has spurred the Biden administration, the D.C. deep state, and partisan state officials to further weaponize the criminal justice system against their political enemies.<\/p>\n<p>Since May of 2019, when the public first <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/doj-declines-to-prosecute-andrew-mccabe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">learned<\/a> that Barr had tasked Durham \u2014 who at the time was the U.S. attorney for Connecticut \u2014 to investigate the origins of Crossfire Hurricane, there have been only three criminal prosecutions. In August of 2020, Durham obtained a conviction of former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith, after Clinesmith <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/fbi-lawyer-kevin-clinesmith-sentenced-john-durham-probe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">pleaded<\/a> guilty to making a false statement to the government. Clinesmith\u2019s crime consisted of him altering an email about former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page to falsely indicate Page had not served as a source for the CIA. For his offense, Clinesmith received a sentence of 12 months of probation and 400 hours of community service.<\/p>\n<p>In September of 2021, Durham, who by then had been appointed a special prosecutor, initiated a second prosecution when he indicted former Clinton campaign attorney Michael Sussmann with one count of lying to former FBI General Counsel James Baker. That indictment alleged that Sussmann lied when he provided Baker with data and three \u201cwhite papers\u201d purporting to establish a secret communication channel between the Trump organization and the Russia-based Alfa Bank, telling the former FBI general counsel that he was sharing the information on his own, when, in fact, according to the indictment, Sussmann represented the Clinton campaign and tech executive Rodney Joffe. A D.C. jury acquitted Sussmann in May of 2022.<\/p>\n<p>Next month, the third criminal case related to the Russia collusion hoax goes to trial in a federal court in Virginia when Durham seeks to convict Russian-national Danchenko on five counts of lying to the FBI. The special counsel charged Danchenko late last year with lying to the FBI concerning his role as Christopher Steele\u2019s primary sub-source. Earlier this month, Danchenko asked the court to dismiss the charges against him, claiming his supposed lies to the FBI were not \u201cmaterial\u201d to the government\u2019s investigation. \u201cCrossfire Hurricane agents never intended to drop their investigation of Donald Trump, and therefore any lies he told the FBI did not affect their decision-making,\u201d Danchenko <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/09\/06\/special-counsel-must-choose-risk-a-russia-hoaxers-second-acquittal-or-expose-more-deep-state-dirt\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">argued<\/a> in his motion to dismiss.<\/p>\n<p>As I <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/09\/06\/special-counsel-must-choose-risk-a-russia-hoaxers-second-acquittal-or-expose-more-deep-state-dirt\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">explained<\/a> at the time, Danchenko\u2019s argument is wrong as a matter of law because for a lie to be \u201cmaterial,\u201d \u201cthe falsehood need not actually influence the agency\u2019s decision-making process, but merely needs to be \u2018capable\u2019 of doing so. Thus, legally speaking, that the Crossfire Hurricane team, and later Special Counsel Robert Mueller\u2019s office, seemed unconcerned with what Danchenko said \u2026 is irrelevant. The question is whether the lie was capable of influencing how a hypothetically \u2018objective\u2019 government official would have acted had they known the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The reality remains, however, that the jurors will be unlikely to believe the government\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/09\/06\/special-counsel-must-choose-risk-a-russia-hoaxers-second-acquittal-or-expose-more-deep-state-dirt\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">argument<\/a> that Danchenko\u2019s alleged falsehoods \u201cwere capable of influencing several decisions of the FBI agents,\u201d unless Durham \u201ctells the jury that Danchenko\u2019s alleged lies did not actually influence the government\u2019s investigation because the agents were out to get Trump.\u201d But additional pre-trial court <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ProfMJCleveland\/status\/1573461150733303820\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">filings<\/a> from the last 10 days <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ProfMJCleveland\/status\/1570829726234873861\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">indicate<\/a> the special counsel\u2019s office has no intention of taking that tack, and will instead argue to the jury \u201cthe fact that the FBI apparently did not identify or address\u201d inconsistencies in Danchenko\u2019s stories or follow up with his contradiction of the Steele dossier.<\/p>\n<p>This approach seems destined to fail, doubly so given the recent revelation that the FBI made Danchenko a paid confidential human source (CHS) in March 2017 \u2014 a designation Danchenko held until October of 2020. The FBI cleared Danchenko as a CHS even though he had been a subject of an FBI counterintelligence investigation from 2009 to 2011, based on <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/09\/14\/the-fbi-paid-for-russian-disinformation-to-frame-trump-and-7-other-takeaways-from-durhams-latest-court-filing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">claims<\/a> that he had \u201cengaged two fellow employees about whether one of the employees might be willing or able in the future to provide classified information in exchange for money.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That the FBI hired Danchenko as a CHS for years will further bolster Danchenko\u2019s forthcoming argument to the jury that his supposed lies could not possibly have been material to the government, especially since neither the FBI nor Special Counsel Robert Mueller believed Danchenko had committed a crime.<\/p>\n<p>Why then does Durham appear poised to refuse to reveal to the jury the real reason his predecessors ignored Danchenko\u2019s apparent lies? Why also is Durham\u2019s case against Danchenko only the third criminal case from his multi-year investigation, when evidence suggests several other <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/07\/21\/justice-wont-be-served-in-spygate-without-john-durham-investigating-more-confidential-human-sources\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">players<\/a>, either within the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/brithume\/status\/1157269045940555778?ref_src=twsrc%255Etfw%257Ctwcamp%255Etweetembed%257Ctwterm%255E1157269045940555778%257Ctwgr%255E341aee5c99c67a02899c1822dd48a84e9dc77a31%257Ctwcon%255Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%253A%252F%252Ftwitchy.com%252Fgregp-3534%252F2019%252F08%252F02%252Fbrit-hume-shares-a-very-smart-thread-on-why-james-comey-was-not-charged%252F\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">government<\/a> or working with the government, engaged in potentially criminal activity? For that matter, why did Barr <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/doj-declines-to-prosecute-andrew-mccabe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">refuse<\/a> to prosecute former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe for allegedly lying to investigators when he claimed he had not authorized a media leak about an investigation into the Clinton Foundation?<\/p>\n<h2>A Once-Defensible Mindset<\/h2>\n<p>While some critics on the right frame Barr and Durham\u2019s failure to prosecute more broadly as proof that their goal has always been to protect the establishment and cover up wrongdoing, an honest assessment of the former attorney general\u2019s words and conduct suggests a different answer \u2014 one that was reasonable and prudent at the time but can no longer be justified.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI love the Department of Justice, I love the FBI, I think it\u2019s important that we not, in this period of intense partisan feeling, destroy our institutions,\u201d Barr said in explaining why he did not regret serving as Trump\u2019s AG. \u201cFrom my perspective,\u201d Barr added, \u201cthe idea of resisting a democratically elected president and basically throwing everything at him and, you know, really changing the norms on the grounds that we have to stop this president, that is where the shredding of our norms and our institutions is occurring.\u201d So, seeing that our \u201ccountry was headed toward a constitutional crisis,\u201d and that the Russiagate narrative was \u201cbeing used to cripple his administration and drive him from office,\u201d Barr accepted the position, believing the president \u201cneeded an attorney general who could stabilize the situation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Barr rightly noted in explaining his decision to probe the Crossfire Hurricane and Mueller investigations that foreign interference in our elections is bad, but stressed that \u201cit\u2019s just as dangerous to the continuation of self-government and our republican system \u2026 that we not allow government power, law enforcement, or intelligence power to \u2026 intrude into politics, and affect elections.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe use of foreign intelligence capabilities and counterintelligence capabilities against an American political campaign,\u201d Barr added, \u201cis unprecedented and it\u2019s a serious red line that\u2019s been crossed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As AG, Barr faced the constant wrath of the corrupt media and congressional Democrats, who falsely portrayed him as Trump\u2019s patsy. When Mueller failed to redact the Special Counsel report as promised, Barr issued a letter summarizing the conclusions and then ignored the firestorm that ensued, accusing him of misleading Americans about Mueller\u2019s findings. And when Mueller inexplicably refused to reach a decision on whether obstruction charges against Trump were appropriate, Barr declared prosecution would not be appropriate. Barr later called \u201cMueller\u2019s stewardship of the investigation \u2026 outrageous,\u201d and Mueller\u2019s hiring of \u201ca lot of partisan Democrats, headhunters\u201d inexcusable.<\/p>\n<p>Barr also directed outside U.S. attorneys to investigate the prosecution of Michael Flynn and directed the dismissal of the criminal case against Trump\u2019s former national security adviser. Barr also intervened when a rogue U.S. attorney\u2019s office recommended an excessive sentence for Roger Stone. And then, of course, Barr\u2019s tasking of Durham to investigate Crossfire Hurricane and the Mueller investigation and his later stealth appointment of Durham to continue the investigation under the protection of a special counsel designation speak not of a man desiring a cover-up to protect the establishment.<\/p>\n<p>Barr\u2019s goal instead appeared to be to return the DOJ and FBI to their proper role, where everything is \u201cabout the law, and the facts and the substance,\u201d and \u201cto make sure that government power is not abused and that the right of Americans are not transgressed by abusive government power.\u201d But Barr also considered the \u201cpathology of our age\u201d to be the belief that \u201csimply because circumstances suggest wrongdoing, some set of people should go to prison for a crime.\u201d \u201cNot all censurable conduct is criminal,\u201d Barr stressed in his memoir, adding that \u201cthe current tendency to conflate the foolish with the legally culpable causes more harm than good.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As AG, Barr also made clear that he would not take creative license with the federal criminal code \u201cto gin up allegations of criminality by one\u2019s political opponents based on the flimsiest of legal theories.\u201d Using the criminal justice system for partisan political ends \u201cis not a good development\u201d and \u201cis not good for our political life. And \u201cthe only way to stop this vicious cycle, the only way to break away from a dual system of justice, is to make sure that we scrupulously apply the single and proper standard of justice for everybody,\u201d Barr stressed, promising justice \u201cwill not be a tit-for-tat exercise.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This perspective explains the dearth of criminal cases resulting from the Russia collusion hoax before Barr resigned. And given that Barr personally tapped Durham to oversee the investigation into the Crossfire Hurricane and Mueller probes, Durham presumably shares his former boss\u2019s views. But a prudent exercise of prosecutorial discretion does not equate to a cover-up of misconduct, and Durham\u2019s speaking indictments in the Sussmann and Danchenko cases establish that the special counsel will expose the malfeasance of the DOJ and FBI and their complicity with the Clinton campaign and other politically motivated actors.<\/p>\n<p>The Sussmann trial likewise <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/06\/06\/9-big-things-we-learned-from-the-michael-sussmann-prosecution\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">exposed<\/a> many significant details related to the Russia collusion hoax, and the upcoming Danchenko trial seems sure to as well, especially with the special counsel <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ProfMJCleveland\/status\/1573447571309465601\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">revealing<\/a> on Friday that Danchenko\u2019s handler will testify. The breadth of DOJ, FBI, and intelligence agencies\u2019 malfeasance, however, extends much beyond these cases and the earlier Clinesmith guilty plea, indicating the special counsel\u2019s office always intended to issue a final report censuring those responsible for the abuse of government power and the political targeting of Trump and others connected to him.<\/p>\n<p>But Barr and Durham\u2019s high-minded approach to prosecutorial discretion did not stop the vicious cycle. On the contrary, the tepid approach to prosecuting those who abuse government power to target political enemies emboldened the DOJ, FBI, and intelligence community\u2019s intrusion into politics and its interference in elections.<\/p>\n<h2>Things Got Much Worse<\/h2>\n<p>Crossfire Hurricane looks like child\u2019s play compared to the FBI\u2019s direct interference in the 2020 election, as recently <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/08\/30\/zuckerbergs-admission-of-fbi-meddling-in-2020-election-is-even-bigger-than-it-seems\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">revealed<\/a> by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg: The FBI lied to tech giant Facebook, and presumably also Twitter and others, that the about-to-drop Hunter Biden laptop story was Russian disinformation, causing the \u201cfree press\u201d to censor a story damaging to the politically favored Democrat candidate.<\/p>\n<p>Barr and Durham\u2019s restraint likewise did not teach the DOJ and FBI to \u201cscrupulously apply the single and proper standard of justice for everybody.\u201d Sussmann\u2019s trial revealed this on a small scale when former FBI General Counsel Baker proved himself a grudging witness against his friend, so much so that Baker didn\u2019t reveal Sussmann\u2019s damning \u201cI\u2019m coming on my own\u2014not on behalf of a client or company\u2014want to help the Bureau,\u201d text message until after the statute of limitations expired for any charge related to that apparent falsehood.<\/p>\n<p>Baker would later <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/06\/06\/9-big-things-we-learned-from-the-michael-sussmann-prosecution\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">confirm his reluctance<\/a> to assist the special counsel. The DOJ\u2019s Office of Inspector General also <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/01\/31\/special-counsel-clarification-reveals-the-dojs-inspector-general-is-not-a-team-player\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">resisted<\/a> Durham\u2019s efforts to convict Sussmann, keeping quiet about several cell phones it had taken possession of and failing to disclose that Sussmann had met with the inspector general on behalf of Joffe as well.<\/p>\n<p>The lack of prosecutions and Clinesmith\u2019s slap on the wrist, coupled with the media\u2019s nonchalance over the DOJ\u2019s political weaponization, instead convinced the bad actors that they own the DOJ and FBI. Thus Mueller\u2019s pit bull Andrew Weissmann, fired FBI Director James Comey, and Crossfire Hurricane lead-hoaxer Peter Strzok unabashedly take to Twitter to <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ProfMJCleveland\/status\/1304571208759992320\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">cast<\/a> Barr and <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ProfMJCleveland\/status\/1374563031431184385\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Durham<\/a> as the corrupt ones or to <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Comey\/status\/1337780979356872704\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ignore<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/petestrzok\/status\/1558860801771020288\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">laugh<\/a> about what they did to the country and Trump. Worse yet, when Durham announced that Sergei Millian, an innocent American Danchenko framed as a source for the Steele dossier, refused to testify at Danchenko\u2019s trial because he feared for his family\u2019s safety and worried rogue FBI agents may attempt to arrest him, Strzok <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ProfMJCleveland\/status\/1570155022520053760\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">posted<\/a> a thread suggesting Millian was \u201ca Russian intelligence officer or co-optee.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Twitter trolling over their misconduct proves minor, though, compared to the internalizing of the we-own-the-DOJ-and-FBI lesson Democrats learned. FBI whistleblowers revealed this reality when they told Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley: \u201cWashington Field Office assistant special agent in charge Timothy Thibault and other FBI officials \u2026 \u2018falsely portray[ed] as disinformation evidence acquired from multiple sources that provided the FBI derogatory information related to Hunter Biden\u2019s financial and foreign business activities, even though some of that information had already been or could be verified.\u2019\u201d The whistleblowers also told Grassley that \u201cin August of 2020, FBI supervisory intelligence analyst Brian Auten opened an assessment, which was used by a team of agents at FBI headquarters to improperly discredit and falsely claim that derogatory information about Biden\u2019s activities was disinformation, causing investigative activity and sourcing to be shut down.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Since then, and following Biden\u2019s election, the DOJ and FBI have gone nuclear in political targeting, with the Biden administration <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/08\/15\/from-bureaucrat-hack-to-grand-jury-witch-hunt-the-dojs-trump-raid-smells-like-spygate\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">running<\/a> a <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/08\/17\/in-latest-anti-trump-operation-doj-and-media-deploy-same-old-russiagate-tricks\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">redo<\/a> of the Russia collusion hoax to raid Trump\u2019s Mar-a-Lago home. Yet even after personally seeing the DOJ and FBI\u2019s deceit, Barr <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/09\/07\/has-the-trump-raid-made-bill-barr-forget-all-about-deep-state-deceit\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">believes<\/a> the narrative peddled to justify the search and only hopes his successor, Attorney General Merrick Garland, will act prudentially, keeping in mind that \u201cthis is a former president.\u201d Prudence has no place in the calculus, however, because the latest targeting of Trump appears as political as every former get-Trump effort.<\/p>\n<p>The political weaponization of the DOJ and FBI extends much beyond Trump, though, with the federal government targeting those in the former president\u2019s orbit, seizing their cell phones, and likely seeming interested in prosecuting some of his closest advisers or supporters such as Rudy Giuliani, Jeff Clark, and Mike Lindell. And while Biden attempts to portray Trump and \u201cMAGA\u201d \u2014 which alone is half the country \u2014 as the only enemies of the state, the DOJ\u2019s political targeting extends much further, such as framing parents who protest school board decisions as potential terrorists. The DOJ is also <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/09\/08\/these-subpoenas-targeting-opponents-of-chemical-castration-prove-biden-is-the-real-culture-war-villain\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">going after<\/a> nonprofits that lobby states to pass legislation to protect children from chemical and surgical castration.<\/p>\n<p>Friday saw a further escalation in the Biden administration\u2019s fight against political enemies when the FBI <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lifesitenews.com\/news\/fbi-raids-home-of-catholic-pro-life-speaker-author-with-guns-drawn-as-his-terrified-kids-watch\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reportedly<\/a> dispatched 20-some SWAT agents, with guns drawn, to arrest Mark Houck in his house, terrifying his wife and seven children. Houck\u2019s alleged crime? Supposedly violating the federal access to clinics law when he pushed someone connected to the clinic after the individual allegedly continued to harass Houck\u2019s 7-year-old son. Yet Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray have left unmolested those protesting illegally outside the home of conservative Supreme Court justices and seem unconcerned with the destruction of pregnancy and family resource centers.<\/p>\n<p>State attorneys general and prosecutors have likewise learned the lesson \u2014 that the targeting of conservatives will be tolerated \u2014 as seen last week when New York\u2019s Democrat AG Letitia James <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/media\/ny-attorney-general-accuses-trump-civil-fraud-under-cloud-partisanship\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">filed<\/a> suit against Trump and his children, Don Jr., Eric, and Ivanka, alleging in a sprawling 200-plus-page complaint that \u201cthe Trump Organization committed all kinds of fraud in inflating real estate assets to get more favorable loans.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In Michigan, the target is Trump-endorsed AG candidate Matthew DePerno, whom his Democrat opponent, Dana Nessel, made the <a href=\"https:\/\/d.docs.live.net\/6dbbdd74c074a2aa\/mis\/Documents\/Those%2520steps%2520include%2520requesting%2520a%2520special%2520prosecutor%2520to%2520look%2520into%2520the%2520election%2520breaches,%2520according%2520to%2520a%2520letter%2520from%2520the%2520attorney%2520general%2520advising%2520the%2520secretary%2520of%2520state%2520of%2520the%2520request.%2520The%2520request%2520was%2520sent%2520to%2520the%2520Prosecuting%2520Attorneys%2520Coordinating\">subject<\/a> of a special prosecutor investigation based on DePerno\u2019s role in challenging the outcome of the 2020 election. Targeting of Republicans by Fulton County prosecutor Fani Willis proves even more widespread, with the Georgia prosecutor <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/08\/09\/georgia-prosecutor-targeting-trump-bases-court-filing-on-fake-news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">launching<\/a> a \u201cspecial grand jury\u201d investigation into the 2020 election and subpoenaing several big-name Republicans, including Sen. Lindsey Graham; Trump\u2019s election lawyers, Giuliani, John Eastman, Jenna Ellis, and Cleta Mitchell; and many state-level Republicans.<\/p>\n<p>When Barr joined the Trump administration as AG in 2019, his apparent approach to righting the DOJ and FBI appeared eminently <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/2020\/05\/attorney-general-barr-remarks-on-obama-and-biden-make-an-important-point\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reasonable<\/a>: Expose and remove those engaged in misconduct; reestablish the criminal process as sacrosanct, ensuring there is no political interference; and prove to the public, political appointees, and career employees that the DOJ will not be \u201cused as a political football\u201d by exercising prosecutorial discretion cautiously and by sparingly resorting to the criminal process to obtain justice. Durham\u2019s similar approach to probing Crossfire Hurricane and Mueller\u2019s investigation likewise rested within the realm of \u201creasonableness.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But what was judicious nearly three and a half years ago proves foolhardy today because Barr and Durham\u2019s discretion taught the left only one lesson: There will be no consequences to those who abuse the justice system to attack conservatives.<\/p>\n<p>While it may be too late now to reverse course, with the statute of limitations likely expired on several of the crimes, if Durham is debating a broader conspiracy charge, prudence now compels a course change with every plausible charge filed against everyone complicit in the hoax and investigation. Nothing less will save the DOJ and FBI \u2014 and our country.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<p>Margot Cleveland is The Federalist&#8217;s senior legal correspondent. She is also a contributor to National Review Online, the Washington Examiner, Aleteia, and Townhall.com, and has been published in the Wall Street Journal and USA Today.<\/p>\n<p>Cleveland is a lawyer and a graduate of the Notre Dame Law School, where she earned the Hoynes Prize\u2014the law school\u2019s highest honor. She later served for nearly 25 years as a permanent law clerk for a federal appellate judge on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Cleveland is a former full-time university faculty member and now teaches as an adjunct from time to time.<\/p>\n<p>As a stay-at-home homeschooling mom of a young son with cystic fibrosis, Cleveland frequently writes on cultural issues related to parenting and special-needs children. Cleveland is on Twitter at @ProfMJCleveland. The views expressed here are those of Cleveland in her private capacity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Special Counsel John Durham continues to ignore the FBI\u2019s malfeasance in the Crossfire Hurricane targeting of Donald Trump, a Friday court filing by prosecutors in the criminal case against Igor<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":499,"featured_media":1657896,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1657894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1657894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/499"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1657894"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1657894\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1657896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1657894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1657894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1657894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}