Newly revealed Bill Barr meetings raise ‘serious questions’ about the prosecutor reviewing Mueller probe

Newly revealed documents show that Attorney General Bill Barr met secretly with U.S. Attorney John Durham "almost immediately" after special counsel Robert Mueller ended his probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, CNN is reporting.

According to CNN, "Barr met at least six times with... Durham over a 10-week period in spring 2019, including once during the critical days after Mueller submitted his report to the Department of Justice and before it was released to the public."

Barr subsequently appointed Durham to conduct a review of the Russia investigation, which Barr has hinted could result in criminal charges against some law enforcement officials involved in the probe.

Austin Evers, executive director of transparency organization American Oversight, tells CNN that the documents show that Barr has been out to undermine the findings of Mueller's Russia investigation since the beginning.

"Bill Barr had repeated meetings and calls with John Durham at critical moments linked to the Russia investigation, and that raises serious questions about the independence and credibility of whatever Durham produces," Evers said.

DOJ veteran Marshall Jarrett, meanwhile, told CNN that the meetings show that "it seems abundantly clear that Barr has a keen interest in the Durham investigation."