A former director of the Department of Justice’s public relations office under the Obama administration is attacking John Durham, arguing that Attorney Merrick Garland should have the last word on the Durham report before it is released to the American public.

According to the Washington Examiner, Matthew Miller made remarks that downplayed Durham and exalted Garland, and he stated that another high-ranking officer inside the agency should evaluate the report before it is released with Americans.

“His cases are over. I think it’s clear that he’s not going to bring any more charges in this investigation, but one of the requirements for special counsels under the regulations is that they write a confidential report and submit it to the attorney general, and the attorney general then makes a decision whether to release that report to the public,” he said on “Alex Wagner Tonight.”

“He said that the report should be handled the way former Attorney general Bill Barr handled the information in the report of former Special Counsel Robert Mueller,” Carmine Sabia reported for Conservative Brief.

“I think Merrick Garland will be under a lot of pressure from Republicans to release that report, but I have to say, this circumstance is very different from the Mueller investigation, where, obviously, the attorney general, Bill Barr, did release that report,” the former spokesman said.

“It’s different because in that case, the subject of that investigation could not be charged, and so it was appropriate for the department to make its findings public, so Congress could decide whether to impeach and convict the then-sitting president,” he said. “That is not the case here, so to release a report in this instance — given what we know about the way that Durham has behaved, some of his inappropriate public statements during this investigation, the poor judgments he has made in bringing these charges — to release a report publicly and let him have the final word I think probably unfairly tarnish some people at the FBI that we know he holds ill will to based on some of the things he said in this most recent trial.”He said that if Republicans win the majority in the House, Senate or both, it would be tougher for Barr to wait to show the report.

“He can ignore the pressure if he wants to ignore it. What he wouldn’t be able to ignore is a subpoena from Congress. So if the House does change hands, and the Republicans control a committee, they will undoubtedly send a subpoena for this report, and he would eventually have to turn it over,” he said.

“But it does not have to be the last word. Lots of times in the past — there’s ample precedent for this — when reports like this have been written by the Justice Department, the leadership decides whether that actually reflects their view,” he said. “John Durham does not get to be the final arbiter of what the Justice Department believes, so it would be appropriate for Merrick Garland to either review it and come up with his conclusions or, maybe more appropriately, refer it to the senior career official as has been done in the past and let that individual review it and decide whether he believes the conclusions John Durham has drawn, conclusions which we know at least in two public cases have been rejected by juries, are the conclusions that the Justice Department in its considered wisdom actually agrees with and wants to let stand before the public.”

More on this story via The Republic Brief:

Government watchdog group Judicial Watch filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the Department of Justice for “records of communication between Special Counsel John Durham and Attorney General Merrick Garland.” CONTINUE READING…