By Ethan Fry – ctpost.com – May 13, 2019

Connecticut’s top federal prosecutor has been tapped by Attorney General William P. Barr to look into the origins of the investigation of Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election, The New York Times reported Monday.

The Times said U.S. Attorney John Durham’s investigation is “a move that President Trump has long called for but that could anger law enforcement officials who insist that scrutiny of the Trump campaign was lawful.”

The president has called for officials to “investigate the investigators” who focused on his campaign’s possible ties to Russian election meddling — calls which have intensified since the partial release of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s findings last month.

Critics have dismissed the “spygate” as a conspiracy theory the president is using to bolster his reelection campaign. FBI officials have defended the investigation, saying it would have been irresponsible not to look into possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia. Others point to the dozens of convictions that have come about as a result of Mueller’s investigation.

A spokesman for Durham’s office declined to comment to the Times, which reported his inquiry “is the third known investigation focused on the opening of an F.B.I. counterintelligence investigation during the 2016 presidential campaign into possible ties between Russia’s election interference and Trump associates.”

Durham “has a history of serving as a special prosecutor investigating potential wrongdoing among national security officials, including the F.B.I.’s ties to a crime boss in Boston and accusations of C.I.A. abuses of detainees.”

He was sworn in as the state’s top federal prosecutor last February, after being nominated to the post by Trump in 2017.

Prior to his appointment, Durham served as an assistant U.S. attorney in the state for more than three decades.

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Source: Report: CT U.S. Attorney investigating Russia probe – Connecticut Post