Attorney General William Barr on Monday said he does not expect U.S. attorney John Durham’s probe into the origins of the Russia investigation to lead to a criminal investigation of either Joe Biden or Barack Obama.

“As for President Obama and Vice President Biden, whatever their level of involvement based on what I know, I don’t expect Durham’s work will lead to a criminal investigation of either man,” Barr told reporters at a press conference. “Our concern of potential criminality is focused on others.”

Barr said he will “determine if there were any federal laws broken, and if there were, those who broke the laws will be held to account.” The attorney general also warned against the intrusion of politics into the Durham probe.

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“The criminal justice system will not be used for partisan, political ends,” Barr said. “We cannot allow this process to be hijacked by efforts to drum up criminal investigations of either candidate.”

Barr’s comments follow the Justice Department’s dismissal of charges against former national-security adviser Michael Flynn, who initially pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI but rescinded his plea in January 2020. Barr concluded that FBI agents had drawn Flynn into a “perjury trap.”

President Trump and allies have alleged that former president Barack Obama and members of his administration sought to hobble Trump by launching investigations into possible collusion between incoming Trump officials and Russian operatives.

“Not every abuse of power, no matter how outrageous, is necessarily a federal crime,” Barr commented on Monday.

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