Judge Napolitano: Trump's vow to 'investigate the investigators' is finally going to happen

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Judge Napolitano on significance of Barr assigning US attorney to examine Russia probe

Attorney General Bill Barr assigns Trump-appointed Connecticut attorney John Durham to review the origins of the FBI's Russia probe. Fox News senior judicial analyst Andrew Napolitano reacts.

After news broke on Monday evening that Attorney General William Barr appointed U.S. attorney in Connecticut John Durham to investigate the origins of the Russia probe, Judge Napolitano argued that the move marks the concrete beginning of President Trump's call to "investigate the investigators."

During an appearance on "Fox & Friends" on Tuesday morning, Napolitano discussed the fact that Durham has prosecutorial abilities - which would theoretically allow him to indict individuals if his investigation found sufficient evidence.

"This is the investigation that the president has been calling for and that the president has promised," he said. "Who and how, and under what circumstances, did the whole thing get started?"

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Barr has alleged for some time that an investigation would be launched into the origins of special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and said during a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing last month that he believed "spying" took place on the Trump campaign on behalf of the FBI.

Napolitano said what comes next will be at Durham's discretion - he could find sufficient evidence that the FISA warrant which permitted the wire-tapping of Carter Page was predicated, or he could determine that it was not.

"In theory, he could also say this was a lie. This was falsified. This was perjury. This was fraud, this was deception. I'm going to indict all these people," Napolitano said.

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Should that be the case, Napolitano argued that a statute of limitations will also have to be taken into consideration. The statute of limitation for most federal crimes is five years, he said.

Regardless of the outcome, Napolitano said the investigation is in good hands.

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"This is finally coming together in one place at one time before a very experienced prosecutor who has been Washington's go-to guy when they need themselves, some aspect of the federal government, investigated," he concluded.