McCarthy: Watch for indictments in Durham's probe of Trump-Russia investigation's origins
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Former U.S. Assistant Attorney Andy McCarthy said Friday that the American public should watch for potential indictments stemming from Connecticut U.S. Attorney John Durham's investigation.
Appearing on "America's Newsroom" with host Sandra Smith, McCarthy said that he believes Durham's jurisdiction is not as "cabined" as that of Inspector General Michael Horowitz. Therefore, he said, Durham can probably "look at the whole thing as a prosecutor without limitation" whereas Horowitz's "mandate is really to look at the Justice Department and the FBI."
In an interview with "The Story's" Martha MacCallum, Attorney General William Barr explained Thursday that Durham's scope was "much broader" and that he was "looking at all of the conduct" and not just the "FISA aspect of it."
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US ATTORNEY DURHAM OBJECTS TO IG FINDINGS ON RUSSIA PROBE ORIGINS IN STUNNING STATEMENT
According to the New York Times, Durham has begun an examination of the role of former CIA director John Brennan in how the intelligence community assessed Russia's 2016 election interference.
He reportedly has requested Mr. Brennan's communication from the CIA, and a person briefed on the inquiry said that Durham wants to learn what Brennan told other officials -- including former FBI director James Comey -- about his and the CIA's views of the notorious "Steele dossier" of assertions about Russia and Trump associates.
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McCarthy said that he believes the investigation "really goes back to the latter half of 2015 and that the FBI and the Justice Department were probably late players to the game."
"Most of this was fed, I thought, by intelligence streams -- maybe from foreign intelligence services -- coming into our CIA as a kind of a clearinghouse," he explained.
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"And, I think it's probably better to think of what we're going to get from Durham not so much as a report because the first thing that a prosecutor has to decide in a criminal investigation is whether there will be an indictment," McCarthy told Smith.
"So, there might be a report if there are not charges, ultimately," he added. "But that, I think, is the first thing. Are there criminal charges to be brought?"
The New York Times contributed to this report.