Most conservatives I know have all but given up on the hope that the special counsel investigation underway by John Durham will ever result in prosecution of the miscreants who used the intelligence apparatus to spy on the Trump administration under cover of the Russiagate hoax.  The shockingly light penalty in the plea deal exacted on the FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith, who lied to the FISA Court on warrant applications seemed to indicate that Durham is not serious about punishing serious wrongdoing.

But there is still the possibility that Clinesmith revealed some secrets that implicate higher-ups, even though the fruits of such possible cooperation with prosecutors have not been evident yet.

Friday, the disgraced and fired former number two at the FBI, Andrew McCabe, used some interesting language about the Durham investigation in a segment broadcast on CNN, where he now works as a contributor.  It came in a segment that was supposed to be attacking Trump (of course, this characterizes most CNN reports that are not weather forecasts).  Daniel Chaitin of the Washington Examiner writes:

The wave of investigations stemming from the Justice Department under the Trump administration is "relentless," said a former top FBI official dogged by these inquiries.

One such pursuit is special counsel John Durham's criminal inquiry into the Russia investigation, which fired FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe brought up as he appeared alongside CNN anchor Pamela Brown on Friday to comment on the revelation that the Trump-era Justice Department seized data from at least two House Intelligence Committee Democrats and reporters as part of a leak investigation — a matter which is now under review by the DOJ inspector general. (snip)

McCabe talked about his personal experience, casting himself as being the victim of an unprecedented retaliatory campaign. That's when he mentioned Durham's review.

"It's the relentless pursuit of these cases despite no factual results, right? Despite unproductive investigations. And look, that's been my own experience. I've been under investigation since January of 2017, right? It's one investigation after another. I guess if you count John Durham, then maybe I still am," he said.

"It is the relentless pursuit of retaliation against perceived enemies, and I don't think we've seen anything like that from the Justice Department or any part of this government prior to the Trump administration," McCabe added.

I sure hope Durham's long, long investigation — his report is now about a year overdue — is "relentless."  We know that the secrecy around the effort has been strict, but a potential target like McCabe would know what he has been questioned about and what evidence he has been forced to provide.

It's a ray of hope, nothing more.  Until I see indictments, there will be no excitement.

But the idea of Andrew McCabe squirming is entertaining.

Photo credit: CBS screen grab (cropped).

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