Reps. Jerrold Nadler and Adam Schiff are condemning the transformation of John Durham’s investigation into the origins of the Russia probe into a criminal investigation.

When challenged, attack. The two issued a joint statement saying that the Justice Department has become a “vehicle for President Trump’s political retribution.”

Note that the congressmen are not talking about what Durham is investigating, only how he’s doing it.

Washington Times:

“These reports, if true, raise profound new concerns that the Department of Justice under AG [William P.] Barr has lost its independence and become a vehicle for President Trump’s political revenge,” the statement said. “If the Department of Justice may be used as a tool of political retribution, or to help the President with a political narrative for the next election, the rule of law will suffer new and irreparable damage,” it continued.

“Lost its independence”? There were no more partisan AGs than Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch. And as far as the “rule of law” goes, they must have forgotten the incident on the airport tarmac where Bill Clinton had a nice little chit chat with Lynch about “grand kids” and cookies. Of course, Hillary was on the verge of being indicted, but the subject somehow, someway never came up.

John Durham, the U.S. attorney for Connecticut, is conducting the review, which is being closely watched by Mr. Barr. It is not clear what prompted the change or what evidence of a potential crime Mr. Durham has uncovered. The change gives Mr. Durham power. He can now subpoena documents and witness testimony.

Texas Republican John Ratcliffe thinks he knows the answer to the question of why Durham would begin a criminal probe.

Washington Examiner:

Rep. John Ratcliffe said the criminal inquiry into the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation, revealed Thursday evening, may have been prompted by criminal referrals from the Justice Department inspector general. The Texas Republican said it is “not a coincidence” the shift in the inquiry follows the completion of Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s investigation into alleged Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act abuses. “I think that these two things are related. That the work done by Michael Horowitz could result in criminal referrals, even though the report hasn’t been released. The referrals could already have been made,” Ratcliffe said in a Friday morning interview on Fox News.

FISA abuses have been going on for years, long before Trump. When 99 percent of requests for warrantless surveillance are granted by a FISA judge, we know something is terribly wrong.

Specifically, in the Trump-Russia probe case, the FISA process was used to spy on the Trump campaign, using as justification a scurrilous document from an operative paid by the Clinton campaign. If that isn’t an abuse, it’s hard to imagine what is.

Time for high-ranking CIA and FBI officials to lawyer up.