On Thursday, over 40 Republican senators sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland to demand he share an update on the status of Special Counsel John Durham’s probe into the Crossfire Hurricane Investigation and ensure the investigation is seen to completion and released to the public.
Durham's inquiry began under Garland's predecessor, Attorney General William Barr, in 2019 to "conduct a review of the origins of the FBI's investigation into Russian collusion in the 2016 United States presidential election," the letter reads. Previously, Durham served as United States attorney for the District of Connecticut.
“We write to request an update on the status of Special Counsel John Durham’s inquiry into the Crossfire Hurricane Investigation,” the letter states. “The Special Counsel’s ongoing work is important to many Americans who were disturbed that government agents subverted lawful process to conduct inappropriate surveillance for political purposes. The truth pursued by this investigation is necessary to ensure transparency in our intelligence agencies and restore faith in our civil liberties. Thus, it is essential that the Special Counsel’s ongoing review should be allowed to continue unimpeded and without undue limitations.”
The letter was led by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN). Since the government's fiscal year concludes on September 30, it is unknown if the probe will continue past that date.
“Attorney General Merrick Garland must pledge to publicly release the full report and allow Special Counsel Durham to continue his investigation uninhibited past September 2021,” Blackburn said in a statement. “We are over two years into the investigation of how the Obama-Biden FBI spied on an incoming president, and we still do not have answers. America’s national security apparatus was weaponized to take down President Trump, and the American people deserve to know how this occurred.”
