Why was the investigation closed? Three years later, the team led by the special counsel, John H. Durham, on Monday will open the first trial in a case their investigation developed, bringing before a jury the claims and counterclaims that surrounded the 2016 presidential campaign. We now know that the so-called dossier compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele was a Clinton campaign production. This case represents the opposite of everything the Department of Justice is supposed to stand for. We invite you to become a WeLoveTrump insider. The press-shy Connecticut prosecutor was tapped by Attorney General Eric Holder on Aug. 24 to. The attorneys also said that Sussmann never billed the Clinton campaign for the February meeting with the CIA, nor could he have because the campaign had effectively ceased to exist. is something that was inconsistent with what they would have wanted before there was any press, Mr. Berkowitz said. A registered Republican, though he's worked under both parties and associates say he keeps politics out of his work. Trump-era special counsel John Durham faces first test in trial of Click into each one of those videos that shows up and you will find the same thing in each one. Read our full Disclosure. Yet, far from alerting the FISC judges that there was significant reason to disbelieve the information from Steele about Trump who was by then the incumbent president the FBI continued to rely on that suspect information in sworn surveillance applications in April and June 2017, based on which the FISC granted additional spying warrants. There is no indication anything came of this, but upon being tipped off, the bureau did some digging and learned that Danchenko had been in contact with people it was investigating as possible Russian intelligence officers. The Trump-era special prosecutor begins his first trial this week, but the verdict hardly matters. Did Steven DAntuono Make It Easier for Trump to Steal 47 Classified Documents? Is this all John Durham has? John H. Durham is the special counsel the Trump administration assigned in 2019 to scour the Russia investigation for any wrongdoing. On Thursday, January 20, 2021, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. That was detailed in yet another Durham court filing last week, in the Virginia federal court where Danchenko is soon scheduled to be tried. Perhaps most notable among the twists and turns of the investigation was the conservative media frenzy that followed a peculiar filing by Durhams team in February. Yet they kept him on board, kept paying him. Is this all John Durham has? | CNN Politics He just made a video to say hes real!. What they're saying: "While we are disappointed in the outcome, we respect the jury's decision and thank them for their service," Durham said in a statement. All rights reserved. "You have Bull Durham, who is supposed to be the toughest," Trump said over the telephone during the show. Reverse the situation. Mr. Berkowitz noted that Mr. Sussmann had told Mr. Baker that he believed The New York Times planned to publish an article on the Alfa Bank suspicions, which was why he was reaching out. The photos from above show the man giving press conferences, so where is the video? The FY 2022 budget estimate is, In a line-item breakout of costs for FY 2022 attached to the memo, DOJ has now released figures indicating that total income paid to Full Time Permanent personnel, including benefits, was, Tom Fitton's Judicial Watch Weekly Update. Durham was also acting U.S. attorney for Connecticut during the Clinton administration and acting U.S. attorney and then U.S. attorney during the Trump administration, leaving office last year. In the original indictment, the FBI was presented as the victim of a crime, not the Trump campaign. That way, an audio file can be archived with the 302, so that when conflicts occasionally arise about what was actually said, theres a tape of what was actually said. No, not the fact that he resigned. . What Durham Is Investigating and Why It Poses a Danger to US John Durham investigation: Michael Sussmann acquitted of lying to FBI Then returned to Connecticut to join the State's Attorney's office. John Durham speaks to reporters on the steps of U.S. District Court in New Haven, Conn., on April 25, 2006. I continue to find that extremely strange! The Alfa Bank issue traces back to the spring of 2016, when it came to light that Russia had hacked Democrats. A spokesperson for special counsel Durhams office said the office declines to comment beyond the court filings and any response will be in future filings with the court. It accuses a researcher for the so-called Steele dossier a since-discredited compendium of opposition research about purported links between Mr. Trump and Russia of lying to the F.B.I. CORRECTION(Feb. 15, 2022, 7:21 p.m. The J. Edgar Hoover FBI Building in Washington, D.C. Photo: Matt McClain/The Washington Post via Getty Images. Allegedly, he was on the team of prosecutors for the Whitey Bulger case, yet, you will not find his name mentioned anywhere from 2013 when the case was prosecuted. Durhams office originally indicted Sussmann in September. Under international law, this bilateral executive agreement obligated the U.S. to protect the information. Prosecutors have alleged that Sussmann lied to then-FBI General Counsel James Baker at a meeting between the two men on Sept. 19, 2016 during which Sussmann provided several white papers and data to Baker concerning a possible link between computers in Trump Tower and Russias Alfa Bank by stating falsely that he was not acting on behalf of any client when, in fact, he was supposedly doing so on behalf of both the Clinton campaign and a technology industry executive named Rodney Joffe who hoped to obtain a position in the Clinton administration. If you love what we do, please consider a $1/month donation to keep us live! And Durham is gearing up for his last trial: the prosecution of Igor Danchenko, the principal source for the discredited Steele dossier. I think all citizens, FBI agents or not, should be recording their interactions just in case. No, I'm talking about why a man with such a storied and PUBLIC career does not have a single video existing . Attorney General Merrick Garland is said to anticipate receiving his final report by the end of the year. In fact, Durham came nowhere close to making this claim. Attorney General William Barr: John Durham - Washington Examiner But the prosecutors curiously portrayed the FBI as the victim of Sussmanns machinations when the proof suggested that the bureau was not fooled at all and seemed more like a willing participant in building the Trump/Russia political narrative. Durham is a longtime federal prosecutor in Connecticut known for leading organized crime and public corruption cases. Id love to see it, just so I can prove the man actually exists. Thank you! And they have suggested that despite his initial statement, Mr. Sussmann was open about having a client in subsequent communications. Ive been asking for 3 days and so far no one has risen to the challenge. In setting up the meeting, Mr. Sussmann had told an F.B.I. 33.6k views. This may seem counterintuitive, since the judges decision to prevent him from airing his ambitious theory of a Clinton-orchestrated conspiracy should have diminished confidence in his work and in his various assertions. The big picture: So far, the only criminal conviction produced by Durham's investigation was against a low-level former FBI lawyer, who was sentenced to 12 months' probation after pleading guilty to altering an email used to obtain a surveillance warrant on Trump campaign aide Carter Page. Copyright 2019 emptywheel. Wes Durham, Jordan Cornette . John Durham, Special Counsel - February 2021 (Wine Cellar) - YouTube 0:00 / 0:35 John Durham, Special Counsel - February 2021 (Wine Cellar) 79,164 views Mar 1, 2021 Like Dislike Share. Progressives' hateful push for hard-left New York Court of A university finally stands up to woke virtue signaling, Biden's WHO pandemic treaty would kill Americans in the name of 'equity', Canadian teacher with size-Z prosthetic breasts placed on paid leave, What's next for Buster Murdaugh after dad's murder conviction, life sentence, Murdaugh son collapsed outside court after sitting stone-faced through dad's 6-week murder trial: source, Kellyanne Conway and George Conway to divorce. Last year, Durham indicted him on five counts of lying to the FBI. [Emphasis supplied for previously redacted numbers], Special Counsel Durham has spent millions in tax dollars to investigate the worst government corruption scandal in American history the abuse of Trump to little good end, said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. The Last Trusted Prosecutor in Washington | National Review IE 11 is not supported. But he suggested that the defense would contend that Mr. Sussmann did not believe he was taking the matter to the F.B.I. JUST IN - John Durham to resign from the U.S. Attorney's Office effective at midnight on February 28. Legal. When it comes to perpetuating that narrative, whether or not the jury ultimately rules in his favor, Durham has effectively already won. A message to you, How you get a rude and a reckless? Statement of U.S. Attorney John H. Durham to share the material, Mr. Sussmann reached out to James A. Baker, then the agencys top lawyer. Non-reimbursable costs totaled $2,334,911, for costs such as travel ($457,207), rent ($306,350), and Other Contractual Services ($1,297,054). Liberal heads exploding everywhere right now just thinking about it!]. Barr said during a press conference that neither Obama . in September 2016, when he relayed suspicions about possible cyberconnections between Mr. Trump and Russia. Although the Special Counsel implies that in Mr. Sussmanns February 9, 2017 meeting, he provided Agency-2 with EOP data from after Mr. Trump took office, said the attorney, the Special Counsel is well aware that the data provided to Agency-2 pertained only to the period of time before Mr. Trump took office, when Barack Obama was President.. Michael Sussmann, a lawyer whose firm represented the Hillary Clinton campaign in 2016, was acquitted of a felony charge of lying to the FBI on Tuesday. (Boston Globe, January 7, 2008), "He's such a decent guy you can't hate him. U.S. Attorney John Durham resigns; led prosecution of mobsters, drug He also told Mr. Elias about it, and Clinton campaign officials were apparently aware that he was trying to get reporters to write about it. Simply put, its this: have you ever actually seen a video of John Durham speaking? Since Durhams appointment, however, a clear dynamic has dominated his investigation namely, a palpable desire among right-wing operatives, commentators and media outlets to use Durhams work, no matter how thin or nebulous the underlying evidence may be, to try to vindicate the theory that Trump was grievously victimized by the Democratic Party in an effort to defeat him and later hobble his presidency. At its core, the Special Counsel is bringing a false statement charge based on an oral statement allegedly made five years ago to a single witness that is unrecorded and unobserved by anyone else. Go do your own research, spend 5, 10, 30, 60 minutes trying to find a video of this man and then come back and vote in my poll.. The annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) made one thing especially clear this week: This is former President Trump's convention. 23d. [Emphasis supplied for previously redacted numbers], In a line-item breakout of costs for FY 2022 attached to the memo, DOJ has now released figures indicating that total income paid to Full Time Permanent personnel, including benefits, was $1,874,193. The filing doesnot specify whether any of the data collection occurred while Trump was in office. Working with Rodney Joffe, a technology executive and cybersecurity expert, they theorized that it might be a covert communications channel. Upon identifying DNS queries from Russian-made Yota phones in proximity to the Trump campaign and the EOP, respected cyber-security researchers were deeply concerned about the anomalies they found in the data and prepared a report of their findings, which was subsequently shared with the CIA.. The Alfa Bank allegations and the Steele dossier were largely tangential to the official investigation into whether there was collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign. Notes of a March 2017 F.B.I. Judicial Watch On Issue: The Battle for Election Integrity, Judicial Watch On Issue: Leading the Battle Against Illegal Immigration, Al Qaeda Plans Plane Attacks Using New Techniques and Tactics as Air Marshals Keep Getting Sent to Mexican Border, Biden staying at St. Croix villa of wealthy donors who got state dinner invite. Durham released an official announcement saying he would resign effective at midnight Sunday. Never spoke to him. Sign up for our free email newsletter, and we'll make sure to keep you in the loop. The same restrictions pertain to a U.S. president. The Justice Management Division has completed its review under 28 C.F.R. NATIONAL POLL: Do You Believe John Durham Exists And Is A Real Person? Judicial Watch: Fighting for Clean Elections. "), (Read "Officials Defend CIA's Use of Contractors. Tap below and Follow @DailyNoahNewsthats me! Rudie cant fail (no, no) John Durham, appointed by then-Attorney General William Barr in 2020 to probe the origins of the FBIs investigation of Russian election interference, said Tech Executive-1, not named in the filing but first identified by The New York Times as Rodney Joffe, used his access to domain name system, or DNS, data to compile information about which computers and servers the White House servers were communicating with. Judicial Watch, Inc. is a conservative, non-partisan educational foundation, which promotes transparency, accountability and integrity in government, politics and the law. Two of the men were released, and later won a $100 million civil judgment against the government. Something potentially much more interesting. And yet, despite all those photos, I cant find a single video of the man actually speaking. All rights reserved. Read our full Disclosure. Judicial Watch Victories: Courts Declare California Quota Laws Unconstituti BEST OF: Top Anti-Corruption Victories in 2022. BEST OF: Left Targets Elon Musk, FBI Investigated Fauci Agency, CA Court Vi BEST OF: Twitter Changed Rules to Ban Trump! But Mr. Durhams team obtained law firm billing records showing that Mr. Sussmann had logged time working on the Alfa Bank suspicions to the Clinton campaign. In 1999 he was selected by Attorney General Janet Reno to probe law-enforcement corruption in Boston. While as President, Trump is free to abrogate the bilateral agreement, there is no indication that this was his intent. Mr. Durhams team is expected to object to any such constraint. Unbelievably, Durham now explains that the counterintelligence investigation was closed because the FBI incorrectly believed that [Danchenko] had left the country.. Against that backdrop, much of the pretrial jostling has centered on how far afield prosecutors may roam from the core accusation. (Washington, DC) Judicial Watch announced today that after 16 months, it has finally received 3 pages of budget records from the U.S Department of Justice (DOJ) concerning the operations of the Office of Special Counsel John Durham that show its fiscal year 2022 budget was over $8.5 million. Bob Child/Associated Press At the same hearing, a defense. SIGN THE PETITION: We Need National Voter ID! He was famous way before Trump and Barr, as the man who reportedly took down Whitey Bulger. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, at a news conference in Washington, D.C., on July 21. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivered remarks at the 2022 New York State Democratic Convention in New York City amid the Special Counsel John Durham probe controversy. looked into the matter, which involved a server for the Kremlin-linked Alfa Bank, and decided it was unsubstantiated. In fact, most photos you see are designed to make you think hes talking and giving press conferences. Monday, December 9, 2019 Statement of U.S. Attorney John H. Durham "I have the utmost respect for the mission of the Office of Inspector General and the comprehensive work that went into the report prepared by Mr. Horowitz and his staff. You have some people who are great people now patriotic people. AP Photo/Jon Elswick, The trial beginning this week was supposed to be the culmination of an otherwise spotty and languorous investigation, now entering its fourth year. I miss having bmaz or Rayne tear me a new one, but I had a case of news overload and just had to take a break for a while. The case against Sussmann was curious from the start, because it was apparent that Durhams team was less interested in a discrete misrepresentation to the FBI during a single meeting than it was in the broader and arguably unseemly opposition research work of the Clinton campaign, its lawyers and the investigative firm Fusion GPS. Well, no. As it is, the court seems to have conscientiously attempted to wade through a thicket of unusual and complex legal issues in order to focus the trial on what should be at issue based on the crime that Durham actually charged whether the alleged misrepresentation by Sussmann actually occurred and, if so, whether it had a material effect on the FBI, as Durham has claimed. Is It Possible John Durham Doesn't Exist? An Update! - We Love Trump Thank you! John Durham and the First Fight over a Doctored MemCon of Trump's John Durham, Special Counsel - February 2021 (Wine Cellar) Ive been covering a REALLY weird story about John Durham recently. Graduated from Colgate University in 1972 with a degree in political science. Ok, were talking John Durham right now but maybe not for the reason you think. Before I get to that, let me recap the story we broke here at WeLoveTrump about 3 weeks ago. Both companies denied a connection, and the FBI eventually closed the investigation. Why don't you write about the others. Press conference: Florida rapper arrested in man's death That can make it hard to get motivated." Prosecutors contended that Mr. Murdaugh had killed his son with a shotgun, then gunned down his wife with a rifle when she ran over to see what had happened. convene a press conference a mere 12 days before the November 7th presidential election to announce that "peace is at hand" in Vietnam. Married with four sons, one of whom is a federal prosecutor in Brooklyn, N.Y. Described by the Hartford Courant as frequently appearing "impatient, distracted and privately amused" in court. Thanks for contacting us. Chris Ruddy is insane. Ankush Khardori, an attorney and former federal prosecutor, is a Politico Magazine contributing editor. Theres more. If youre keeping score, that would be throughout (a) most of the FISC-authorized surveillance; (b) the Mueller investigation, which somehow failed to detect or at least to report that Danchenko misled the bureau; and (c) Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitzs investigations of the FBIs misconduct in the Trump investigation in the reports of which there is no indication that Horowitz was told Danchenko was on the bureau payroll and available to be interviewed. Polk County Sheriff's OfficeA "self-proclaimed" Florida rapper has been charged with murder after detectives tied him to a killing using his own lyrics and music video, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said Thursday, as he skewered the "stupid" singer at a press conference.La'Darion Chandler, 19, started "crying like a baby that lost his pacifier" when he got slapped with murder . Durhams conspiracy theory and I do not mean to use that term pejoratively, but that is what it is and will remain will not be tested in court anytime soon, but the notion is likely to live on among conservatives regardless. I was writing an article about John Durham and his missing "Durham Report". Because no one In fact, it kind of looks like its meant to be a serious take or to confuse people? Dr. Faucis "SHADY" Gain of Function Research! Last year he was named by Attorney General Michael Mukasey to head the ongoing investigation into the destruction of CIA interrogation videotapes. 1:22-cv-00734)). An observant Catholic and avid Red Sox fan. Most of his videos are parodies or comic sketches. Could be. in part on behalf of the Clinton campaign. Legal experts said Sussmann could face additional legal exposure if he failed to disclose his relationship to Joffe. Yes, Im aware he resigned earlier today, effective February 28: JUST IN John Durham to resign from the U.S. Attorneys Office effective at midnight on February 28. By providing your phone number, you are consenting to receive calls and recurring SMS/MMS messages, including autodialed and automated calls and texts, to that number from the Judicial Watch. I have no idea what constitutes an open thread, so pardon the O/T re Giuliani & Covid (The Specials): Stop your messing around (ah-ah-ah) John Durham: Russiagate Special Counsel Is Not the One Spinning https://www.emptywheel.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Screen-Shot-2017-09-21-at-8.46.52-AM.png, https://www.emptywheel.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Logo-Web.png, John Durham and the First Fight over a Doctored MemCon of Trumps Meetings with Russia. John Durham's final act: exposing the FBI - nypost.com And second, it was to get law enforcement to investigate it; and perhaps third, your honor, to get the press to report on the fact that law enforcement was investigating it.. But instead, the notion that Durham has been improperly muzzled by a Democrat-appointed judge however fallacious it may be seems primed to have the opposite effect among many of his supporters. Heres another piece to the puzzle that starts to make this look even more strange. Almost five years to the day since the start of the Mueller investigation itself, the views of political observers concerning the 2016 election and the Trump-Russia investigation seem impervious to change. Assistant U.S. Attorney John Durham, left, is seen May 14, 2002, in this artist's drawing, during the questioning of convicted mob hitman Kevin J. (Despite much hype, Durhams prosecutors were eventually forced to concede that there was no indication that the lawyers misrepresentation actually affected the investigation, while the sentencing judge said that the lawyer was simply saving himself some work rather than trying to mislead the presiding surveillance court.). Within the U.S., we have elected to utilize the classification system to protect such shared information. about some of his sources. Thanks to all who remember me fondly! Judge Christopher Cooper of the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia, an Obama appointee, has imposed some limits on what Mr. Durhams team may present to the jury. We value your opinions, and would love to see you add to the discussion! is above the law! Michael Sussmann (right) is facing a single count of lying to the FBIs top lawyer in the run-up to the election in order to instigate a criminal investigation into Trump, but the investigation led by John Durham (left) has come to represent much more in the public imagination. While the charge against Mr. Sussmann is narrow, Mr. Durham has used it to release large amounts of information to insinuate that there was a broad conspiracy involving the Clinton campaign to essentially frame Mr. Trump for colluding with Russia. Andrew Harnik/AP. That insinuation also hangs over the other case Mr. Durham has developed, which is set to go to trial later this year. The document production comes in the March 2022 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), filed by Judicial Watch after the DOJ failed to respond to an August 2021, request for records of communication between Special Counsel John Durham and Attorney General Merrick Garland, and all budget records related to the operations of the office of Special Counsel (, Judicial Watch, Inc. v. U.S. Department of Justice. But the filing also contained a conspicuously vague allegation that Joffe had somehow exploited his companys access to data pertaining to the Executive Office of the President of the United States. Kash Patel, a one-time investigator for former congressman Devin Nunes and later a senior Trump official, claimed that the disclosure shows that the Hillary Clinton campaign directly funded and ordered its lawyers to orchestrate a criminal enterprise to fabricate a connection between President Trump and Russia. His comments ignited a brief firestorm among the likes of Fox News.