Report: Durham exploring charges against low-level FBI officials and tipsters

The special counsel appointed by former Attorney General William Barr is presenting grand jury evidence and preparing a report on his two-year-long review of the FBI's investigation into Russian activities in the 2016 election, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

Former U.S. Attorney John Durham, whom Barr officially designated as special counsel last year, is reportedly exploring criminal charges against lower-level FBI officials and tipsters who may have provided false leads to the bureau in the 2016 investigation.

The Journal also reported that Durham had aimed to submit a report on his review to the Justice Department by the end of the summer but that it would likely be delayed.

The Trump administration in 2019 tasked Durham, then the U.S. attorney for the District of Connecticut, with reviewing the FBI's probe as former President Trump railed against it as a politically motivated "witch hunt" against him.