Durham investigation (Update: Sussman acquitted) (14 Viewers)

[SaintForLife]

It looks like the first shoe has dropped with the Durham investigation with the Clinesmith plea deal. Clinesmith wasn't a low level FBI employee involved in the Crossfire Hurricane investigation.

He worked with Strzok to arrange sending an FBI agent into Trump-Flynn briefing, was on the Mueller team, he took part in the Papadopoulos interviews, and he participated in the FISA process.



From the NYT article:

Ex-F.B.I. Lawyer Expected to Plead Guilty in Review of Russia Inquiry (Published 2020)

Prosecutors did not reveal any evidence of the kind of broad anti-Trump conspiracy among law enforcement officials that the president has long alleged.

www.nytimes.com

I wonder who else knew about the lies?

 

[SaintForLife]

This is the first thing I've seen about any details of a Durham grand jury.

In recent weeks, scientists and others quoted in my story have been summoned to testify to a grand jury impanelled by John Durham, the U.S. attorney appointed by Attorney General William Barr to investigate potential criminal conduct in the Russia probe.

...The Alfa Bank case has also become an object of interest for federal agents working for John Durham, the prosecutor appointed by Barr. Durham’s agents have summoned some of the same computer scientists to testify before a grand jury, and are asking for the same material that Alfa Bank is seeking. (They’ve asked Jones, the investigator, to testify as well.) Some agents told scientists that they were exploring a potential criminal charge—presumably against Max and Tea Leaves—for giving false information to the government. A number of those called to testify are seeking to quash the subpoenas, and it’s not apparent that anyone has testified so far.

The Contested Afterlife of the Trump-Alfa Bank Story

Accusations of secret cyber links remain unproved, but both the Russian bank and the Justice Department are pursuing the case.

www.newyorker.com

More Russia investigation news:

After more than three years, Elizabeth Denham, the UK’s Information Commissioner, has closed her investigation into improper data handling by the SCL and Cambridge Analytica group.

At first glance her findings, which were released on Tuesday, dispel many of the accusations put forward by whistleblowers and digital rights campaigners over the course of 2018.

The most serious of these was that the digital marketing specialist had colluded with Russia to steer the results of the Brexit referendum and broken US campaign rules during the 2016 presidential election. Campaigners had also previously argued the company failed to delete contentious data sourced from Facebook without users’ permission when asked.

 

[LA - L.A.]

This is the first thing I've seen about any details of a Durham grand jury.

More Russia investigation news:

I'd like to focus my discussion with you on your thoughts, not on the thoughts of others. Please share your thoughts.

What specifically do you think has happened, why you think it's significant and if you want to, quote one source you think best supports your thinking that way?

If it's several things that you think happened. Then please list out each thing you think happened, why you think it's significant and if you want to, quote one source that you think best supports what you think about each thing.

 

[CoolBrees]

AP says Barr is feeling frustrated with Trump’s constant demands for action.

I wonder why they aren’t moving on anyone?

Oh yeah I know, it’s coming!

Trump, Barr at odds over slow pace of Durham investigation

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is increasingly at odds with Attorney General William Barr over the status of the Justice Department's investigation into the origin of the Russia probe, with the president increasingly critical about a lack of arrests and Barr frustrated by Trump's public pr

apnews.com

 

[bdb13]

Trump won't love this:

Attorney General Bill Barr has begun telling top Republicans that the Justice Department’s sweeping review into the origins of the Russia investigation will not be released before the election, a senior White House official and a congressional aide briefed on the conversations tell Axios.

Why it matters: Republicans had long hoped the report, led by U.S. Attorney John Durham, would be a bombshell containing revelations about what they allege were serious abuses by the Obama administration and intelligence community probing for connections between President Trump and Russia.

“This is the nightmare scenario. Essentially, the year and a half of arguably the number one issue for the Republican base is virtually meaningless if this doesn't happen before the election," a GOP congressional aide told Axios.
Barr has made clear that they should not expect any further indictments or a comprehensive report before Nov. 3, our sources say.

https://www.axios.com/barr-durham-r...utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=alerts_politics

 

[Saint by the Bay]

Trump won't love this:

https://www.axios.com/barr-durham-r...utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=alerts_politics

If Trump loses you can only imagine how he will run Barr's name through the mud during his lame-duck time. Barr should get on the phone with Jeff Sessions for some tips on what is about to happen.

 

[bdb13]

If Trump loses you can only imagine how he will run Barr's name through the mud during his lame-duck time. Barr should get on the phone with Jeff Sessions for some tips on what is about to happen.

Trump made me feel bad for Jeff Sessions... You know how hard that is to pull off?

 

[Saint by the Bay]

Trump made me feel bad for Jeff Sessions... You know how hard that is to pull off?

Same. He's made me feel sorry for a number of people I really don't like. Even if I disagree with you everyone deserves basic human dignity, which he loves to strip away. He knows he can do it with impunity because he's been surrounded by protection since he was 8 years old and has never had to face any consequences for his behavior.

I know we say it all the time, but how anyone can support that wretch of a human being...

 

[LA - L.A.]

If Trump loses you can only imagine how he will run Barr's name through the mud during his lame-duck time. Barr should get on the phone with Jeff Sessions for some tips on what is about to happen.

Trump will tweet that Barr needs to lock himself up.

 

[MT15]

They must really have nothing. Of course, this is what, the third iteration of an investigation? Everything that could be found has already been found.

Meanwhile, because Trump tweeted that he was declassifying everything related to the Russia investigation, we may now get to see the completely un-redacted Mueller report. I think Barr went overboard on his redactions, so that would be interesting.

 

[CoolBrees]

Third?!?
Amateurs.

wake me when they break 13, or as I like to call it the Benghazi dozen

 

[Saint by the Bay]

Not Durham specifically, but it looks like Bushwack Billy Barr couldn’t even make something out of nothing in this case, so he let it die a silent death.

Washington Post: Trump-hyped investigation into Obama officials concludes without charges

The US attorney tasked by Attorney General William Barr to review instances of "unmasking" -- the practice of releasing the names of American citizens who are caught up in National Security Agency foreign intelligence reports -- done around the 2016 election has completed the probe without...

www.cnn.com

 

[MT15]

And today, the administration argued in court that when Trump said he had declassified everything relating to the Russian investigation, he didn’t mean the Mueller Report. Oh no, not that part of the investigation.

 

[MT15]

Just so we can remember how this “unmasking” was spun like it was a big deal:

 

[Saint by the Bay]

No link because I watched live on Fox News, but they are reporting that not only will there be nothing from the Durham Probe before the election but it doesn't look like there will be a Durham Report at all.

Much like the unmasking report, I'm going to go on the assumption if Bushwack Bill Barr can't spin it to say what you want it to say then don't say anything at all.

 

[samiam5211]

It is ok, they have the "laptop" that Hunter dropped off at the repair shop and forgot about with all sorts of incriminating info on it, that just magically ended up in the hands of Rudy.

 

[Saint by the Bay]

Slow day at work, so I'm going to indulge in a little speculation completely unsupported by anything but my hunches and imagination.

I think Washington as a whole is gearing up for a post-Trump world. Now, that doesn't mean he is going to lose. By this time in 2016 Republicans were preparing for a Hillary Presidency. I do think right now the assumption is he will lose because I think their internals look even worse than the public polls.

That means investigations into all the shenanigans of the last 4 years with actual support from the DOJ, State Department etc. instead of them being an arm of said shenanigans. So I think there are some folks focusing on cleaning up their rooms and making sure their slip isn't showing. You can only imagine how intense the investigations into Barr will be the first year of a Biden Presidency. He has made himself public enemy number 1 to the left and a lot of us that aren't left but care about the integrity of our institutions. Every grain of dirt under that guy's fingernails will be under a microscope next year if Biden wins. I'm not sure he wants to put his neck on the chopping block for a losing cause.

 

[MT15]

No link because I watched live on Fox News, but they are reporting that not only will there be nothing from the Durham Probe before the election but it doesn't look like there will be a Durham Report at all.

Much like the unmasking report, I'm going to go on the assumption if Bushwack Bill Barr can't spin it to say what you want it to say then don't say anything at all.

Not only that, but if there were facts found that will reflect poorly on Trump (and surely there were because he’s a reprehensible excuse for a human) Barr will actively suppress those facts from coming out.

 

[DaveXA]

Not only that, but if there were facts found that will reflect poorly on Trump (and surely there were because he’s a reprehensible excuse for a human) Barr will actively suppress those facts from coming out.

Maybe, I suspect if Trump loses, Barr is gonna get scarce. He's not gonna stick around and get left holding the bag imo. He sure a hell isn't gonna fall on the sword at this point, because there would be no point.

We'll see.