House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) criticized Attorney General William Barr and John Durham in response to reports their investigation into the origins of the Russia probe has turned into a criminal investigation.
Schiff has previously expressed concern that "Attorney General William Barr’s Justice Department has become a vehicle for President Trump’s political revenge."
"If these reports are correct and Bill Barr’s Justice Department is doing a criminal investigation of people who properly looked into Russian interference in our election, in the FBI or intelligence agencies, it means that Bill Barr, on the president’s behalf, is weaponizing the Justice Department to go after the president’s enemies," Schiff said Sunday on "This Week With George Stephanopoulos."
"I served for years, I don’t anymore, on a commission that would help emerging democracies and we would inform the parliamentarians that when you win an election you don’t seek to prosecute the losing side, but this is what Bill Barr is seeking to do," he said. "He is demonstrating once again that he is merely a tool of the president, the president’s hand, not the representative of the American people."
Host Martha Raddatz then said to Schiff how Durham, who is leading the investigation, is well-respected and asked if he would accept the results of their probe.
"I was going to say you can assign good people to do an illegitimate investigation," Schiff replied. "You can assign good people to investigate the president’s political rivals. It doesn’t mean that the investigation is any less tainted. This is tainted because of the motivation which is a political one to serve the president’s political interests."