Conservative commentator Mark Levin says the Justice Department should investigate three former National Security Council staffers.

One former staffer filed a complaint that spurred House impeachment proceedings and two others were recruited by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff.

Levin, who was Attorney General Edwin Meese's chief of staff during the Reagan administration, appeared on Fox News host Sean Hannity's show last week and discussed how the National Security Council has been exposed as a "rat's nest" in President Trump's White House.

He said Attorney General William Barr and U.S. Attorney John Durham, who is conducting a criminal inquiry into the genesis of the Russia investigation, should also open up a related investigation into the origins of what is now the Democrats' impeachment proceedings.

"I think U.S. Attorney Durham and the attorney general of the United States ought to have an investigation of these three National Security Council former staffers," Levin said. "What role, if any, did they have in the Ukraine 2016 matter interfering with the election? What role did they have pushing the Russia collusion matter? Were they leakers? I think the criminal investigation — the hell with Schiff — they ought to get into these three and find out exactly what they did, and there may be more of them."

GOP lawmakers have groused about Schiff after it was revealed the whistleblower met with a House Intelligence Committee aide seeking guidance before filing a complaint about Trump's Ukraine communications with the Intelligence Community inspector general, and Schiff knew about it but did not immediately inform his Republican colleagues on his panel. They have also accused the California Democrat of "coaching" witnesses.

The whistleblower was an NSC official — a career CIA analyst with Ukraine expertise — who worked with former Vice President Joe Biden and who has expertise in Ukraine, the Washington Examiner has reported.

The Washington Examiner has also reported that two ex-NSC staffers are now under employment by Schiff. Abigail Grace, who worked at the NSC until 2018, was hired in February, while Sean Misko, an NSC aide until 2017, joined Schiff's committee staff in August, the same month the whistleblower submitted his complaint.