The Justice Department is opening a grand jury investigation into Obama administration officials over the Russia hoax.
Trump said he is "happy to hear" about the bombshell development, which was first reported by Fox News.
"They deserve it," Trump told Squawk Box Tuesday morning. "I was happy to hear it."
For years, Trump and his supporters have demanded justice over what many believe was an attempted coup against Trump by intelligence community insiders working with Democratic party operatives.
It is unclear who could face charges in the probe. But the names could possibly include former intelligence community heads like FBI director James Comey and CIA director John Brennan, who both played roles in amplifying the baseless Trump-Russia narrative that consumed much of Trump's first term.
As reported by Fox, attorney general Pam Bondi "personally ordered an unnamed federal prosecutor to initiate legal proceedings and the prosecutor is expected to present department evidence to a grand jury, which would allow the department to secure a potential indictment."
The grand jury's opening comes after intelligence director Tulsi Gabbard sent criminal referrals to the Justice Department, accusing Obama and his inner circle of a "treasonous conspiracy" to discredit Trump's 2016 election with false intelligence.
Gabbard revealed last month that Obama personally asked for a new assessment of Russian interference after Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election. Obama's intelligence community concluded that Russia actively favored Trump, a finding that helped stoke unfounded suspicions about Trump colluding with Russia.
Trump was eventually vindicated with the release of the Mueller report in 2019, which found no evidence of collusion. But no one has ever been held accountable over the alleged conspiracy, which cast a shadow over Trump's White House for more than half of his term.
This is not the first criminal investigation into the origins of the Russia hoax, but it is a marked escalation compared to Special Counsel John Durham's probe, which focused on the Clinton campaign and did not lead to charges against any prominent individuals.
The Durham investigation lasted over three years and ended with acquittals for a Clinton campaign lawyer and a Russian source of the infamous Christopher Steele dossier. An FBI lawyer was sentenced to probation for fabricating evidence that was used to spy on Trump campaign official Carter Page.
Durham did not uncover a criminal conspiracy, but he found "confirmation bias" at the FBI that worked against Trump and in favor of Clinton, who also faced FBI scrutiny over her private e-mail server, only to avoid charges.
The Trump administration recently declassified the annex of Durham's report, which contains evidence of an effort by the Clinton campaign to distract from Clinton's e-mail scandal by tying Trump with Russia. The FBI was apparently involved in the plan, which came from Clinton foreign policy adviser Julianne Smith.
“Julie [sic] says it will be a long-term affair to demonize Putin and Trump,” wrote Open Society senior vice president Leonard Benardo on July 25, 2016.
“Now it is good for a post-convention bounce. Later the FBI will put more oil into the fire.”
Obama's FBI did not scrutinize intelligence reports of the Clinton plan before opening the politically explosive investigation of Trump - and setting into motion one of the greatest scandals in American history.
