Washington, D.C. – Today, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) issued the following statement on Attorney General William Barr's appointment of U.S. Attorney John Durham as a special counsel: 

"This order only further erodes the credibility of the Justice Department under Attorney General Barr’s tenure.  On its face, this appointment appears to violate the Department’s own regulations—which stipulate, among other requirements, that  'the Special Counsel shall be selected from outside the United States Government.'  The sitting U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut is simply not eligible for the job.  In addition, the Attorney General has provided no real explanation for his decision to appoint a Special Counsel when he did, or for his decision to delay notification to Congress until today. 

"And we should not lose sight of the larger picture:  in the waning days of the Trump Administration, the Attorney General has once again used the powers of his office to settle old scores for the President.  This order is one more desperate attempt to feed President Trump’s fixation on events that have been investigated over and over again, including by the Department’s independent Inspector General.  It is a distraction to divert attention from the President’s failure to contain the COVID-19 pandemic and his resounding defeat in the presidential election.

"I have asked the Attorney General to call me and provide an explanation for this order without delay."