But what was truly surprising to some veterans of the Robert F. Kennedy building and the DC bar was the reaction from Attorney General William Barr and U.S. Attorney for Connecticut John Durham, who Barr tapped to run a parallel investigation of Crossfire Hurricane and related investigations. Both issued statements throwing significant shade at Horowitz’s report, though, technically, Barr is Horowitz’s boss. “I’ve never seen such an internal DOJ effort to challenge and undermine the IG’s findings,” Harry Litman, a former U.S. attorney, told me Monday. “It is not what the Department of Justice does.”…

Given the reality that Durham’s investigation, which is reportedly criminal in nature, remains ongoing made his decision to speak out even more perplexing. “I am surprised that Durham announced now that he does not agree with certain of the inspector general’s findings, rather than waiting until his own work is complete,” Eric Columbus, a former senior counsel to the deputy attorney general, said. And Jeffress echoed his criticism of Barr regarding Durham, telling me his statement, “encourages the belief that he is not acting as a professional prosecutor but is only doing the partisan bidding of his boss.”