Report: Durham expands investigation of Russia probe

FPI / October 9, 2019

U.S. Attorney John Durham has expanded his investigation into the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation, senior Trump administration officials told Fox News.

Durham has added agents and resources and is looking into a wider timeline than previously known, reviewing the days leading up to the 2016 election through the spring of 2017 when Robert Mueller was named special counsel, according to the Oct. 8 report.

Attorney General William Barr and Durham traveled to Italy recently to talk to law enforcement officials there about the investigation and have also had conversations with officials in Great Britain and Australia, sources familiar with the meetings told Fox News.

Durham "is gathering information from numerous sources, including a number of foreign countries. At Attorney General Barr’s request, the president has contacted other countries to ask them to introduce the attorney general and Mr. Durham to appropriate officials," Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said last month.

As the investigation of the investigators has gained steam, Democrats increasingly have tried to discredit Barr. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said late last month that Barr had "gone rogue," alleging an attempted "cover-up" of the whistleblower complaint that has led to a formal impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump.

The White House, in an Oct. 8 letter to Pelosi, said it would not be cooperating with the Democrats’ impeachment inquiry.

Pelosi and her Democrat colleagues were "seeking to overturn the results of the 2016 election," White House counsel Pat Cipollone wrote in the letter, adding that Trump and members of his administration "cannot participate in your partisan and unconstitutional inquiry under these circumstances."

Meanwhile, former Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy has reportedly signed on to serve as outside counsel to Trump in the president’s efforts to fight the Democrats’ impeachment inquiry.

An unnamed administration official confirmed to the Associated Press on Oct. 8 that Gowdy was joining Trump’s legal team.

Gowdy, who retired from Congress last year, represented South Carolina’s 4th Congressional District for eight years.

Free Press International