Justice Department Briefs House Judiciary on Durham Review, ‘Certain Foreign Actors’ under Scrutiny

June 11, 2019 (EIRNS)—House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler had demanded the Department of Justice report on its plans to investigate the origins of the counter-intelligence operations carried out against the Trump campaign during the 2016 election. Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd’s response on the “Review,” contained in a letter delivered yesterday, confirmed what Nadler, Obama’s intelligence community plotters and the British initiators of that operation most fear: It is serious, systematic, and investigating the British role (“our foreign allies”) is front and center.

“The Review is broad in scope and multifaceted, and is intended to illuminate open questions regarding the activities of U.S. and foreign intelligence services as well as non-governmental organizations and individuals,” Boyd wrote.

“It is now well established that, in 2016, the U.S. government and others undertook certain intelligence-gathering and investigative steps directed at persons associated with the Trump Campaign. As the Attorney General has stated publicly at Congressional hearings and elsewhere, there remain open questions relating to the origins of this counter-intelligence investigation and the U.S. and foreign intelligence activities that took place prior to and during that investigation.”

To answer those questions, U.S. Attorney John Durham has been named to head the “Review Team,” and the President issued a memorandum directing the intelligence community to assist in the Review. “The Review is thus a collaborative, ongoing effort between the Department’s Review Team and the intelligence community as well as certain foreign actors,” Boyd reported.

“Certain intelligence community agencies” have been instructed to preserve relevant records, ensure pertinent witnesses be made available, and “begin identifying and assembling materials that may be relevant to the Review.” The Attorney General will use discretion in declassifying any such documents, to ensure the national security needs “of the U.S. and its foreign intelligence partners are adequately protected....

“The Attorney General looks forward to obtaining a better understanding of the critical period leading up to the 2016 presidential election,” especially as another election season is approaching, Boyd concluded.