Criminal Investigation Opened Into Mueller's Russia Inquiry

Move likely to raise alarms that the U.S. President is going after his perceived enemies

- Katie Benner Adam Goldman

For more than two years, President Donald Trump has repeatedly attacked the Russia investigation, portraying it as a hoax and illegal even months after the special counsel Robert Mueller closed it. Now, Mr. Trump’s own Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into how it all began.

Justice Department officials have shifted an administrative review of the Russia investigation closely overseen by Attorney General William Barr to a criminal inquiry, according to two people familiar with the matter.