The Durham probe into the federal government's investigation of the 2016 Trump campaign's contacts with Russian agents is ending with a whimper.
The New York Times reports that the grand jury convened by prosecutor John Durham to hear evidence has expired, and sources tell the paper that there are no plans to convene another.
Durham and his attorneys are preparing a final report into their inquiry, which lost the only case that it brought to trial when former Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann was acquitted on charges of lying to the FBI.
As the Times notes, the end of Durham's probe is sure to disappoint former President Donald Trump.
"When John H. Durham was assigned by the Justice Department in 2019 to examine the origins of the investigation into the 2016 Trump campaign's ties to Russia, President Donald J. Trump and his supporters expressed a belief that the inquiry would prove that a 'deep state' conspiracy including top Obama-era officials had worked to sabotage him," the paper writes. "Now Mr. Durham appears to be winding down his three-year inquiry without anything close to the results Mr. Trump was seeking."
Former Attorney General Bill Barr picked Durham to lead a probe into the Russia investigation that eventually led to the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller, who did not establish a criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia, but who nonetheless found multiple potential instances of criminal obstruction of justice committed by the former president.
