WASHINGTON — Former U.S. Attorney General William P. Barr on Wednesday stood by his 2019 appointment of prosecutor John H. Durham to investigate the origins of the inquiry into the 2016 Trump presidential campaign’s connections to Russia, and defended his close interactions with Durham during the probe.
Barr’s comments marked the first time he has spoken to the media since The New York Times reported last week that he pressured Durham to find flaws in the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election conducted by Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III. Barr spoke to a Times reporter after a speech at the California News Publishers Association meeting in Sacramento.
“The idea that there was a thin basis for doing it doesn’t hold water,” Barr said of his decision to appoint Durham. “Because it wasn’t started as a criminal investigation. One of the duties of the attorney general is to protect against the abuse of criminal and intelligence powers, that they’re not abused to impinge on political activity, so I felt it was my duty to find out what happened there.”
