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Bull Durham at Justice
Kimberley A. Strassel May 16, 2019
Potomac Watch Podcast
Mr. Barr gets credit for not naming Mr. Durham a “special counsel.†Former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein succumbed to Democratic special-counsel demands two years ago this month, with all the predictable results. The rampaging investigation prosecuted Americans for everything other than the “collusion†it was supposed to uncover. It became a black hole, the subject of endless media speculation—and a cudgel for Democrats to use against the Trump presidency.
Special counsels are only supposed to be appointed when the Justice Department is clearly too conflicted to investigate a matter. No one doubts that the in-house Mr. Durham is capable of making an impartial assessment of the individuals and actions that launched the Trump-Russia probe. Then again, Justice also had the ability to investigate the original Trump-Russia story. It was just a matter of getting the right person to run the investigation.
Which is why Mr. Barr also gets credit for choosing Mr. Durham in particular. The Connecticut prosecutor is a straight arrow. Even Chris Murphy, Mr. Durham’s home state Democratic senator, praised him this week as “apolitical,†“serious,†and “fair.†In a 37-year tenure at the Justice Department, Mr. Durham has served six presidents. Federal records show he has never donated to a political candidate. He’s the antithesis of a showboater; he doesn’t do news conferences and he doesn’t do leaks.
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