investigation. and sources telling cnn attorney general william barr's probe has now entered into a criminal phase, a criminal investigation. that move would allow investigators to begin issuing subpoenas. the probe has been driven by suspicions that some officials overseeing counterintelligence investigation of the 2016 trump campaign may have acted improperly. democrats arguing that the move simply shows the justice department is being exploited for political purposes. here with more is shimon. what are they expecting out of this criminal investigation? what's the purpose here? >> well, first we should note that this has been kind of an unusual probe, right? you have the current attorney general who is investigating the investigators. these are the people who were leading the russia investigation. and now, because the attorney general feels that there may have been some suspicious activity, something unusual here, he went ahead and launched this investigation into the investigators, and it's people like john brennan and james