A month ago, rumors were that John Durham was closing up shop on his inquiry into the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation. Those rumors appear to have been false Since then, we’ve learned that Durham was appointed as a special counsel to continue his work even into a possible Joe Biden administration.

Now, Durham is ramping things up further and looks to be setting in for the long haul. He’s growing his team, including bringing on new prosecutors.

This comes from Fox News’ reporter on the DOJ.

US Attorney John Durham, who AG Bill Barr tapped to investigate the origins of the Trump Russia probe, is expanding his team by adding additional prosecutors, and is making, “excellent progress,” according to a federal law enforcement official familiar with the situation

— Jake Gibson (@JakeBGibson) December 14, 2020

You’ll probably remember that Robert Mueller took this same path, adding almost 20 prosecutors to his team (many, if not all of them Democrat partisans) as he moved into the meat of his investigation. Durham is said to be making “excellent progress,” indicating that he may have indeed found something to pursue here past the formalities of a report. With Bill Barr likely not being Attorney General starting late next month, Durham seems to be insulating himself and getting ready to see this investigation to fruition despite what will loud outcries from the left.

The real question will be how far Durham pushes this. Will he stick to a narrow slice of investigation? Or will he pull a Robert Mueller and start dipping his toe into a range of issues, possibly including the Hunter Biden situation? Will he go after figures like John Brennan, James Comey, and James Clapper? I certainly still have my doubts given he’s passed on prosecuting Comey before. But it is good to at least see things appearing to move forward.

As I’ve opined many times, it is absolutely vital that Durham delivers here, not for partisan reasons, but to restore faith in the DOJ and the FBI. If the people who propagated the Russia collusion hoax get away with it, it will be a green light to simply do it again the next time they face a Republican in a presidential race. These people need to be slapped down, and slapped down so hard that it sends a message to everyone else in the department, bureau, and agency that no one will ever get away with something like this in the future. In other words, if they can’t pull this off against a figure as despised by the beltway as Donald Trump, they can’t pull it off against anyone.

Yet, until I see some results, you can still put me in the camp of the skeptical. We’ll see.

(Please follow me on Twitter! @bonchieredstate)