If you’re baffled by the U.S. Justice Department’s new investigation of its old investigation of Russia election meddling, you’re not alone.Many Americans can’t help but wonder exactly what it is that federal investigators are probing months after special counsel Robert Mueller concluded his inquiry into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election.The new investigation grew out of an internal Justice Department review of the Russia probe ordered by Attorney General William Barr and came after President Donald Trump and his Republicans allies, assailing the investigation as a “witch hunt,” repeatedly asked that the department “investigate the investigators.”Barr set things in motion during his January Senate confirmation hearings when he said he had questions about the probe and wanted to examine events surrounding its origins.FILE – John Durham speaks to reporters at the U.S. District Court in New Haven, Conn., April 25, 2006.In May, he appointed veteran federal prosecutor John Durham to lead what grew into a criminal investigation. Justice Department officials have said little to shed light on the contours of the investigation, which was revealed this week.Here are some questions that the launch of the new investigation has raised:Didn’t the Mueller probe get to the bottom of Russian interference in the 2016 election?The Mueller probe, which started in July 2016 as an FBI counterintelligence investigation into suspicious contacts between Trump campaign advisers and Russia, concluded in March 2019.In his final report to the attorney general, Mueller concluded that while there wasn’t enough evidence of a criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia, he couldn’t determine whether Trump had criminally obstructed his 22-month-long investigation.Barr subsequently determined that there was no obstruction of justice.The decision was met with predictably partisan reaction. While Democrats slammed the attorney general for letting Trump off the hook, the president claimed total vindication even as he blasted the investigation by the Justice Department as politically motivated, rekindling calls for probing the probers.FILE – Carter Page, a foreign policy adviser to Donald Trump, speaks, Nov. 2, 2017, with reporters following a day of questions from the House Intelligence Committee, on Capitol Hill in Washington.What about the Inspector General’s investigation of FBI surveillance of former Trump adviser Carter Page?In March 2018, the Justice Department’s inspector general, Michael Horowitz, under mounting pressure from congressional Republicans, launched an investigation into allegations that the FBI had inappropriately obtained a warrant to conduct secret surveillance of Page in 2016 and 2017.The allegations stemmed from the FBI’s use of a widely discredited report, known as the Steele Dossier, in its warrant application. Justice Department officials have denied the charge, saying the dossier, prepared by a former British intelligence agent, formed only a small part of the application.Horowitz recently completed his investigation, informing congressional leaders this week that the process of declassifying the report is “nearing completion.” He has not disclosed his findings.Why is the Justice Department investigating itself?Justice Department officials have been mum about the target of Durham’s investigation, although Barr has said that among questions he wants examined is whether “spying” directed at the Trump campaign in 2016 was “adequately predicated,” meaning based on probable cause.While insisting that he was not opening an investigation of the FBI, Barr told lawmakers in April that senior intelligence officials might have been at fault during the Russia probe.“I think there was probably a failure among a group of leaders there, at the upper echelon,” Barr testified.FILE – Former FBI Director James Comey begins a book tour for ‘A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership,’ April 19, 2019.Trump and his Republicans have criticized former FBI Director James Comey, former Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe and former CIA Director John Brennan for their roles in investigating his campaign.Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said last month that the Durham investigation was examining the extent to which several countries, including Ukraine, played a role in the Trump campaign investigation.The original inquiry was launched after the Australian government informed the FBI in July 2016 that then-Trump foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos had claimed that Russia had “dirt” on the Clinton campaign.Papadopoulos had received the tip from a London-based Maltese academic named Joseph Mifsud and relayed it to Australia’s ambassador to the U.K.Papadopoulos later claimed that Mifsud was an “Italian intelligence asset,” stoking a conspiracy theory that several intelligence agencies, including the CIA, were involved in an effort to undermine the Trump campaign by getting the FBI to investigate it.Durham is believed to have interviewed dozens of witnesses in connection with how FBI officials handled the Russia investigation from the outset. With the elevation of the review to an investigation, he can now subpoena witnesses and documents.FILE – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks to media in Kyiv, Ukraine, Oct. 1, 2019.What connection does the new investigation have to the congressional impeachment inquiry?Although not directly tied to the investigation, the congressional impeachment inquiry stemmed in part from efforts by the Justice Department and the White House to seek foreign help for Durham’s investigation of the Mueller probe.During a July 25 call at the center of the impeachment inquiry, Trump repeatedly asked the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to help Barr with his investigation. At the time, Barr was ramping up his review and had asked Trump to call foreign leaders for help.
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