What we learned from Durham's Danchenko investigation

Jerry Dunleavy

October 22, 07:43 AM October 22, 07:43 AM

Special counsel John Durham's investigation was dealt a blow earlier this week with a second not-guilty verdict, but his trial against Igor Danchenko revealed a host of new details about the FBI’s deeply flawed Trump-Russia investigation — and left some questions unanswered.

Danchenko on FBI payroll

Danchenko was on the FBI's payroll as a confidential human source from March 2017 to October 2020 before he was charged in November 2021 with five counts of making false statements to the bureau.

FBI supervisory intelligence analyst Brian Auten, who testified during the trial, was one of the agents who interviewed Danchenko in January 2017, and he was there when the Justice Department provided Danchenko with partial immunity.

FBI agent Kevin Helson, who was the handler for Danchenko while he worked as a paid informant for the bureau, sought to reward Danchenko lucratively.

Helson made an October 2020 request to pay Danchenko a lump sum of $346,000, and his testimony revealed that would have brought the total amount the Russian lawyer and analyst had been paid by the bureau over a few years up to a total of $546,000. The lump-sum payment request was denied.

DURHAM REVEALS MUELLER WAS INVESTIGATING TRUMP DOSSIER

It was revealed during the trial that Auten was inquiring about Danchenko through the Baltimore field office in 2012, so when Danchenko was identified by the FBI as former British spy Christopher Steele’s main source by December 2016, he was already known to at least one Crossfire Hurricane member.

Steele dossier unverified

Auten said neither Danchenko nor Steele ever provided corroborating information for the dossier. The analyst revealed the FBI had offered Steele an incentive of up to $1 million if he could prove the allegations of collusion in his dossier, but the FBI analyst said the former MI6 agent was unable to corroborate the claims following the October 2016 meeting. Auten and multiple other FBI officials testified during the trial that neither Steele nor Danchenko was ever able to back up any of the dossier’s claims, and Auten also testified that other U.S. intelligence agencies looked into the dossier's claims, but none could confirm them.

Auten and others would feed questions about the dossier to Helson to ask Danchenko, but Helson testified that the dossier-related questions “dwindled” as time went on. He said Danchenko never provided any corroboration for the dossier claims.

Helson admitted he knew nothing about the dossier when he was made Danchenko’s handler. He also testified he told Danchenko to delete messages and “scrub” his phone. He said he believed 80% of the dossier’s contents came from Danchenko, adding that “it was a significant majority of the dossier.” Danchenko bragged in private messages that 80% of the dossier’s “raw intelligence” and 50% of its “analysis” came from him.

Mueller investigated the dossier

Durham’s trial against Danchenko revealed that Robert Mueller’s special counsel team was investigating the discredited Trump dossier despite congressional testimony from Mueller that Steele and his dossier were outside his purview, but the team couldn't corroborate a single key claim.

Amy Anderson, a supervisory special agent, and Brittany Hertzog, a former FBI intelligence analyst, both testified that, as members of Mueller’s team specifically tasked with scrutinizing the dossier, they believed the FBI should interview and further investigate Charles Dolan, a longtime ally of Bill and Hillary Clinton, partly due to his business connections with Danchenko and with Russian business and government officials.

The Mueller team members also testified that they were concerned about Dolan’s links to Danchenko’s friend Olga Galkina, who had been identified as a subsource for Danchenko related to the dossier, although she denies being such a source. Galkina was interviewed by the FBI in Cyprus in August 2017, but she was very hesitant about speaking about Dolan.

Despite Dolan’s potential dossier links through Danchenko and Galkina, as well as his associations with Russian officials, Anderson and Hertzog said their efforts to investigate Dolan were shut down by their Mueller team superiors. Auten said Steele had brought up Dolan during the October 2016 meeting as being among people who might be knowledgeable about the dossier allegations.

Danchenko suspected as a Russian spy

A member of the FBI's Human Intelligence Validation Unit suggested Danchenko may have been part of Russian intelligence services, according to court testimony, and Durham highlighted how Helson apparently did not do his due diligence in looking into the Russian analyst’s background before signing him up as a confidential human source.

Durham got Helson to admit that he submitted paperwork in early 2017 on Danchenko, which wrongly stated there was no derogatory information available on the Steele dossier source. In reality, it has been revealed that Danchenko was the subject of an FBI counterintelligence investigation for being a potential national security threat from 2009 to 2011. The inquiry unearthed links between the defendant and Russian intelligence officers.

Helson nevertheless testified that, from 2017 through 2020, Danchenko had provided assistance in 25 ongoing FBI investigations and contributed to at least 40 intelligence reports. The FBI agent testified that these investigations and reports largely or entirely related to combating Russian malign influence.

Durham's loss and what remains unanswered

According to Durham, Danchenko anonymously sourced a fabricated claim about Trump 2016 campaign manager Paul Manafort to Dolan. But the judge threw out that charge before the jury could decide on it.

Durham also accused Danchenko of lying to the FBI about a phone call he claims he received from someone he believed was Sergei Millian, a Belarus-born U.S. citizen and businessman whom the Steele source had said told him about a well-developed conspiracy of cooperation between former President Donald Trump and the Russians — which the special counsel says is false. Danchenko was found not guilty of those charges.

Auten revealed that “Mr. Millian at one time had been a source” for the FBI.

It appears Durham may be done with his criminal charges, raising questions about how the FBI agents and officials involved in the Trump-Russia investigation's wrongdoing will be held accountable.

The special counsel is expected to submit a final report to Attorney General Merrick Garland, who vowed to make it public.

Obama DOJ formal urges Durham report 'pause,' warns results may 'unfairly tarnish' FBI officials

Daniel Chaitin

October 18, 09:34 PM October 18, 09:39 PM

Specific counsel John Durham should really not have the last say in his investigation looking for out misconduct in the FBI's Russia inquiry, claims an Obama-era spokesman for the Justice Section.

Matthew Miller, who was director of the Justice Department's community affairs business office from 2009 to 2011, argued Attorney General Merrick Garland, or yet another prime official at the company, really should overview the report Durham is envisioned to get ready by the stop of the 12 months just before generating a conclusion on releasing its results to the general public.

The obstacle to Garland to just take a "pause" adopted a jury in Alexandria, Virginia, acquiring Russian nationwide Igor Danchenko not guilty Tuesday on quite a few wrong statements prices about allegations that the key supply of British ex-spy Christopher Steele lied to the FBI about his sourcing for the now-discredited anti-Trump dossier. MSNBC host Alex Wagner asked Miller no matter if Durham's endeavor is coming to an conclusion.

'DOWN THE TUBES': SEAN SPICER RAGES Soon after JOHN DURHAM LOSES One more RUSSIAGATE Scenario

"His situations are around. I believe it’s clear that he is not likely to bring any extra prices in this investigation, but 1 of the necessities for exclusive counsels beneath the restrictions is that they create a confidential report and submit it to the legal professional normal, and the attorney normal then would make a final decision no matter whether to launch that report to the community," Miller claimed.

Miller designed a comparison to distinctive counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation and then-Lawyer Normal William Barr's controversial rollout of his report in 2019.

"I feel Merrick Garland will be less than a large amount of stress from Republicans to release that report, but I have to say, this circumstance is very distinct from the Mueller investigation, the place, clearly, the legal professional common, Monthly bill Barr, did that report," he claimed.

"It is unique since in that situation, the matter of that investigation could not be charged, and so it was correct for the section to make its findings general public, so Congress could decide no matter if to impeach and convict the then-sitting down president," Miller additional. "That is not the case below, so to launch a report in this instance — offered what we know about the way that Durham has behaved, some of his inappropriate general public statements all through this investigation, the inadequate judgments he has designed in bringing these rates — to release a report publicly and permit him have the remaining phrase I feel probably unfairly tarnish some individuals at the FBI that we know he holds sick will to dependent on some of the points he explained in this most recent trial."

Durham's investigation started far more than a few yrs ago. Even though the prosecutor has secured one particular conviction so significantly, the only other situation he is brought, versus attorney Michael Sussmann, ended in acquittal. While previous President Donald Trump and his allies declare the businessman-turned-politician was unfairly targeted in a bid to undermine his marketing campaign and presidency, Democrats and some authorized observers assert the inquiry is meant to undercut Mueller's exclusive counsel investigation and inflict hurt on Trump's political foes.

Garland testified to the Senate past Oct that “with respect to the report, I would like as significantly as possible to be designed community — I have to be worried about Privateness Act issues and classification, but other than that, the determination is to present a general public report, indeed.” Garland also vowed, “There will be no political or usually undue interference with the Durham investigation."

Durham has not signaled publicly where by he could choose his investigation upcoming, but Miller reported, "I believe the legal professional basic would be clever to choose a pause ahead of releasing that report, it's possible allow an additional senior vocation official at the Justice Section critique it and come to a decision whether John Durham actually is the particular person that gets to have the remaining term on the Russian investigation."

'Down the tubes': Sean Spicer rages right after John Durham loses a further Russiagate circumstance

Daniel Chaitin

October 18, 05:27 PM Oct 18, 05:27 PM

Former President Donald Trump's very first White Household push secretary, Sean Spicer, voiced outrage following a jury in Alexandria, Virginia, dealt a sizeable blow to unique counsel John Durham's felony investigation into the FBI's Russia inquiry.

On Newsmax, the place he co-hosts the display Spicer and Co., Spicer gave an early response to Russian nationwide Igor Danchenko being found not guilty Tuesday on 4 bogus statements charges about allegations that the principal supply of British ex-spy Christopher Steele lied to the FBI about his sourcing for the now-discredited anti-Trump dossier.

"We've been waiting around and ready and advised hold our breath that you can find far more coming — just be client, be individual. This is — I do not even consider disappointing does justice to how poor this is," Spicer claimed. "This is just — following every thing that the Right has been by and all of the misallegations and misappropriation and the Russia, Russia, Russia that was taken us via the initially pair several years of this Trump administration. To see this all go down the tubes, and all of the faith put into this unique counsel, John Durham, unbelievably disappointing."

Durham's investigation started far more than a few many years ago. Whilst the prosecutor has secured just one conviction so far, the only other circumstance he's brought, in opposition to lawyer Michael Sussmann, ended in acquittal. Though Trump and his allies claim the businessman-turned-politician was unfairly targeted in a bid to undermine his marketing campaign and presidency, Democrats and some lawful observers claim the inquiry is meant to undercut Robert Mueller's special counsel investigation and inflict problems on Trump's political foes.

Although it is unclear no matter if Durham will carry any more costs, he is anticipated to create a report on his findings.

Durham inquiry trial: FBI needed to suspend analyst who interviewed Steele supply

Jerry Dunleavy

Oct 12, 10:34 PM October 12, 10:34 PM

ALEXANDRIA, Virginia —The FBI’s interior investigation device sought to self-control and suspend the FBI analyst who interviewed Igor Danchenko in January 2017 and who was distinctive counsel John Durham’s very first witness this 7 days in the bogus statements demo from the main source for British ex-spy Christopher Steele’s discredited anti-Trump file, new court testimony disclosed.

FBI supervisory intelligence analyst Brian Auten, who disclosed Wednesday that Durham informed him in 2021 that he was a “subject” of the unique counsel’s prison evaluation of the Trump-Russia investigation, verified that the FBI had proposed he get a suspension because of to his actions as a member 1st of the Crossfire Hurricane crew and then of particular counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into ties between then-prospect Donald Trump and the Russian authorities.

Durham reported the FBI’s inspection division investigated Auten’s carry out and advisable that he be suspended. “That is being appealed," Auten countered from the witness stand.

Auten experienced been referred by FBI Director Christopher Wray to the Place of work of Expert Responsibility for disciplinary motion following the December 2019 launch of Justice Office Inspector Normal Michael Horowitz's report on Overseas Intelligence Surveillance Act abuse. Wray has claimed these proceedings were being slowed down to cooperate with Durham’s criminal investigation.

Auten was the “Supervisory Intel Agent” in Horowitz’s report and is stated 106 moments by the inside watchdog. The FBI analyst continuously downplayed his involvement in the FISA process to get hold of research authority to snoop on onetime Trump campaign aide Carter Page, who was never ever billed with any wrongdoing, admitting only that he reviewed the Webpage FISA on an “ad hoc basis” and reviewed the application’s footnotes.

Durham contended that Auten’s refusal to be wholly sincere about the whole extent of his involvement in the Web site FISAs was one of the motives he was proposed for suspension, but Auten disputed that characterization. Durham seemed overtly annoyed with Auten’s testimony about how dossier promises had been utilised in the application for surveillance, but the FBI analyst insisted, “I was not the just one who carried it above into the FISA application.”

FBI Made available STEELE UP TO $1 MILLION IF HE COULD Verify Dossier Statements

The FBI analyst briefly reviewed Horowitz’s report, which Durham explained as “scathing,” with the FBI analyst employing a lot softer language. Auten famous that “the report was really extensive” and thorough “quite a selection of glitches and omissions.” Vehicle included: “I believe that the [Office of Inspector General] described [the errors] as major.”

Horowitz’s report undermined the Steele file claims, and the watchdog criticized the DOJ and the FBI for at the very least 17 “significant glitches and omissions” connected to the FISA warrants from Site and for the bureau's “central and essential” reliance on Steele’s dossier.

Auten, who interviewed Danchenko in early 2017 and was there when the Justice Office established up a partial immunity arrangement with the Steele supply, was also amongst the FBI personnel who interviewed Steele abroad in early Oct 2016 as the FBI sought additional specifics on the file. Auten discovered the FBI had provided Steele an incentive of up to $1 million if he could verify the allegations of collusion in his dossier, but the FBI analyst reported the former MI6 agent was unable to corroborate the statements. Steele also declined to supply the identification of his sources, which include Danchenko.

The FBI analyst circulated a February 2017 intelligence memo to top rated FBI officials about the Danchenko job interview he had carried out a month prior, but Horowitz explained it “did not explain the inconsistencies” from the FBI job interview in January 2017.

The FBI quickly designed Danchenko a compensated private human supply starting up in March 2017 by means of Oct 2020, as discovered by Durham in court docket filings. Horowitz reported FBI interviews with Danchenko “raised important concerns about the reliability of the Steele election reporting."

All through his Wednesday courtroom testimony, Auten agreed with Danchenko’s defense law firm, Danny Onorato, that it was “scary” to be informed that he experienced been named a subject of Durham’s investigation during his 1st meeting with the specific counsel workforce in late July 2021. The FBI analyst claimed that when he had fulfilled with Horowitz’s investigators, it had been as a “witness” and not a “subject.” Auten claimed he recognized the time period “subject” to be “somewhere involving a witness and a target” of an investigation.

The FBI analyst added that he was not right threatened with achievable prosecution but said that is comprehended to be a risk when you are the topic of a prison investigation. Auten stated he experienced hardly ever been the subject of an investigation prior to that stage. The FBI analyst mentioned he finished up meeting with Durham’s investigators a few or 4 moments total, including 2 times previous 7 days.

The dossier was developed following Steele was employed by the opposition research company Fusion GPS, which was itself hired by Perkins Coie by Marc Elias, the standard counsel for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 marketing campaign. Steele employed Danchenko.

According to Durham, Danchenko anonymously sourced a fabricated declare about Trump 2016 marketing campaign supervisor Paul Manafort to Charles Dolan, a Clinton ally who put in decades, like 2016, executing get the job done with Russian corporations and the Russian federal government.

Durham's indictment also said Danchenko lied to the FBI about a cellphone get in touch with he claimed he received from Sergei Millian, a Belarus-born U.S. citizen and businessman who the Steele resource had claimed advised him about a conspiracy of cooperation in between Trump and the Russians — which the special counsel mentioned is bogus.

Auten testified Wednesday that he thought Danchenko ought to have handed around to the FBI relevant e-mail he experienced sent to Millian and exchanged with Dolan but claimed the Russian lawyer did not do so.

Soon soon after remaining referred to the FBI’s Office environment of Experienced Responsibility, Auten was involved with the bureau’s inquiry into Hunter Biden, the adult son of now-President Joe Biden, with his August 2020 investigation getting used in component to justify the choice to "shut down investigative exercise."

Wray stated this summer time that he observed the whistleblower promises that the FBI had improperly labeled the youthful Biden proof as disinformation to be “deeply troubling.”

Danchenko's October trial will come after Democratic lawyer Michael Sussmann was found not guilty in Might on a wrong statements demand of concealing his illustration of Hillary Clinton’s presidential marketing campaign from the FBI when he pushed considering that-debunked Trump-Russia collusion claims about Alfa-Financial institution to the bureau in 2016. Testimony in the course of the demo unveiled Hillary Clinton personally signed off on her campaign sharing the Alfa-Bank promises with the media.

Horowitz mentioned in 2019 that Auten “told us that he factored the Alfa-Bank/Trump server allegations into his evaluation of Steele's reporting.”

Putin-allied oligarch who employed Christopher Steele indicted by DOJ for sanctions evasion

Jerry Dunleavy

September 29, 04:16 PM September 29, 04:17 PM

Putin-allied Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, who beforehand used British ex-spy Christopher Steele, was charged by the Justice Office with conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions imposed on him and his firm.

Deripaska was indicted Thursday for sanctions evasion connected to his Standard Aspect Limited business, which was sanctioned by the Treasury Department in 2018 for working on behalf of the Russian govt.

The Russian was billed in a 31-site unsealed indictment alongside fellow Russian Natalia Mikhaylovna Bardakova and U.S. citizen Olga Shriki, who had been accused of assisting in the scheme. The trio was accused of violating the Global Emergency Financial Powers Act, which could land them a utmost sentence of 20 decades in jail.

GOP Needs Responses ON FBI Creating STEELE Source DANCHENKO A Paid out INFORMANT

Shriki, a New Jersey resident and naturalized American citizen, was also billed with obstruction of justice for deleting electronic records displaying her participation in the unlawful hard work, and she was arrested this morning. Bardakova was additional charged with earning false statements to FBI brokers.

A different Russian, Ekaterina Olegovna Voronina, was charged with earning false statements to Division of Homeland Protection agents when she attempted to enter the United States to give birth to Deripaska’s boy or girl.

A Washington, D.C., mansion tied to Deripaska was raided by the FBI final Oct. Deripaska had sued the Treasury Section in 2019 in an effort and hard work to battle U.S. sanctions against him, and the oligarch unsuccessfully questioned the Supreme Court in June to toss the sanctions.

The Justice Department stated Thursday that Deripaska “conspired with some others to evade and to violate those sanctions in many means and in excess of the program of a number of years” and, as a result of a company reduce-out named Gracetown Inc., the longtime ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin “illegally used the U.S. financial system to keep and keep three luxurious attributes in the United States.”

Prosecutors mentioned Deripaska also used Shriki and Bardakova “to employ U.S. economical establishments to provide hundreds of hundreds of dollars’ value of solutions for his benefit in the United States.”

“In the wake of Russia’s unjust and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, I promised the American folks that the Justice Office would operate to keep accountable these who break our legal guidelines and threaten our nationwide stability,” Legal professional Standard Merrick Garland claimed. “Today’s costs show we are keeping that assure.”

The Thursday indictment explained Shriki facilitated the extra than $3 million sale of a California tunes studio in 2019 that Deripaska had owned by a series of corporate shell firms. Shriki then allegedly attempted to go the tens of millions by way of 1 of the shell organizations, Ocean Studios California LLC, to a Russia-based mostly account belonging to an additional Deripaska organization.

The indictment also mentioned Bardakova, who was mostly based mostly in Russia, directed Shriki to perform unlawful transactions for Deripaska from 2018 to 2020.

“Bardakova instructed Shriki to acquire and mail flower and gift deliveries on behalf of Deripaska to Deripaska’s social contacts in the United States and Canada,” the DOJ claimed. “The deliveries involved, amongst many others, Easter present deliveries to a U.S. tv host, two flower deliveries to a then-previous Canadian Parliament member, and two flower deliveries in 2020 to Voronina although she was in the United States in 2020 to give beginning to Deripaska’s baby.”

The Justice Department also said Shriki and Bardakova served Deripaska’s girlfriend, Voronina, vacation from Russia to the U.S. in 2020 so she could give beginning to their child in The united states, with Deripaska allegedly investing hundreds of countless numbers of dollars "so that his youngster would take edge of the U.S. well being care process and U.S. birthright citizenship."

Prosecutors explained Shriki and Bardakova also attempted to aid Voronina’s return to the U.S. in 2020 to give start to their 2nd baby, while this was "an endeavor that was thwarted."

Deripaska’s website link to one more prison circumstance, special counsel John Durham’s indictment of Steele source Igor Danchenko, is also notable.

Steele was working for Deripaska in advance of, for the duration of, and just after his time targeting Trump in 2016. Deripaska had paid out Steele to investigate potential Trump marketing campaign supervisor Paul Manafort following accusing the GOP operative of stealing tens of millions from him, and Steele sought enable from the opposition study firm Fusion GPS in early 2016.

Steele was quickly employed to put his dossier alongside one another by Fusion, which by itself was employed by Clinton campaign basic counsel March Elias and was compensated by the Clinton marketing campaign.

Trump documents negotiator warns of Russiagate products cover-up

Daniel Chaitin

August 14, 11:45 AM August 14, 12:03 PM

Justice Section officers seem to be maneuvering to block the disclosure of files from the so-identified as "Russiagate" controversy, in accordance to a top rated Pentagon formal from the Trump administration.

Kash Patel appeared on Fox News on Sunday and defended former President Donald Trump's promises that he issued sweeping declassification orders of paperwork immediately after the FBI raided his Mar-a-Lago vacation resort and seized more than a dozen bins of resources in an investigation that could have countrywide protection implications.

MARK MEADOWS Suggests DOJ Tried using TO REDACT RUSSIAGATE Supplies 'MINUTES' Ahead of BIDEN SWORN IN

Patel, who was chief of employees to performing Defense Secretary Christopher Miller and held other substantial-rating positions in the Trump administration, stated Trump named him his agent to the Countrywide Archives, and they have been locked in a "bureaucratic fight" in regards to paperwork that ended up taken to his Florida club.

For the reason that there appears to be an "ongoing" counterintelligence investigation, he argued, "you will under no circumstances be permitted to see the Russiagate docs or any other docs that President Trump lawfully declassified, and they will disguise it from the general public," Patel instructed Sunday Early morning Futures host Maria Bartiromo.

Particular counsel John Durham is investigating the origins and carry out of the Russia inquiry, which Republicans have prolonged criticized as currently being a drawn-out campaign to drag the 45th president. Patel earlier claimed on Jan. 20, 2021, Trump's remaining day in business office, that "99%" transparency had been attained, but on Sunday, he pared back that estimate to 60%.

There stays an air of secret about the files coated by Trump's 11th-hour declassification memo at the end of his administration. The memo spoke of a binder of supplies relevant to the Crossfire Hurricane investigation that Trump claimed the Justice Department offered to the White Dwelling at his request on Dec. 30, 2020.

"I hereby declassify the remaining materials in the binder. This is my ultimate dedication below the declassification overview and I have directed the Attorney Common to apply the redactions proposed in the FBI’s January 17 submission and return to the White Property an appropriately redacted copy," Trump explained.

There had been prior FISA-connected recommendations, which came in the variety of tweets and a White House push launch, that a judge dominated in Could 2020 did not constitute official declassification orders. Trump tweeted all over again about authorizing the "overall Declassification" of Russiagate paperwork in Oct 2020, right after which the Office of Justice argued there was no purchase, and White Home chief of staff members Mark Meadows submitted a sworn declaration in which he claimed Trump indicated to him that his statements on Twitter have been not "self-executing declassification orders." A decide then recognized the White Household assertion as rescinding Trump's tweets.

In a post to his Truth of the matter Social social media platform on Friday, Trump claimed a "standing buy" authorized him to declassify files as before long as they remaining the Oval Place of work.

FBI agents recovered 11 sets of categorised info, with some marked as best solution, between 20 bins of products, in the course of the raid on Monday. Search warrant paperwork had been unsealed on Friday, soon after Trump declined to oppose the shift, exhibiting the former president is remaining investigated for a probable Espionage Act violation and doable obstruction of justice. He has denied any wrongdoing.

While no president has at any time been prosecuted for mishandling classified substance, some experts dispute the notion that just one could abruptly deem one thing declassified and argue that the president will have to rather abide by a official method. As to Trump's new statement, they argue that what he described is not possible or at minimum incredibly not likely.

Patel, who was also a leading investigator for the House Intelligence Committee, claimed Congress "has a monumental raise" ahead of them, alluding to investigations Republicans have pledged to direct if they get manage of one of both chambers in November. "They much better start out subpoenaing these files instantly and putting these folks right before the American public," Patel stated. He also criticized Legal professional Basic Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray, stating they have come to be "political hucksters."

'Winning the war': Ratcliffe says Durham can 'expand' indictments after Sussmann demo

Daniel Chaitin

June 05, 11:42 AM June 05, 02:29 PM

Former Director of Countrywide Intelligence John Ratcliffe voiced self-confidence in specific counsel John Durham just after the prosecutor misplaced the high-profile situation against Democratic cybersecurity law firm Michael Sussmann.

The Trump-era spy chief produced a prediction on Fox News's Sunday Early morning Futures that Durham placing his concentration on British ex-spy Christopher Steele's now-discredited anti-Trump file will provide as a turning stage immediately after critics piled on when the Sussmann trial ended in acquittal.

"I’m optimistic that not only will he [Durham] be prosperous in some of the ongoing prosecutions, but can expand the indictments that he would like to bring supplied the involvement of certain FBI officers in spreading a phony narrative to the American individuals," Ratcliffe informed anchor Maria Bartiromo.

Sussmann was billed with lying to the FBI about whom he was symbolizing when, in September 2016, he offered world wide web data that proposed a now-discredited link between Trump and Russia's Alfa-Bank. In unique, Sussmann was indicted on expenses of concealing his shoppers — Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign and “Tech Govt-1,” identified to be former Neustar govt Rodney Joffe — from FBI general counsel James Baker. Sussmann denied lying to the FBI and pleaded not guilty.

BARR Claims DURHAM 'ACCOMPLISHED Some thing Far A lot more IMPORTANT' THAN SUSSMANN CONVICTION

The jury in Washington, D.C., sided with Sussmann on Tuesday. "Despite getting falsely accused, I believe that that justice finally prevailed in my case," Sussmann said in a brief assertion just after the verdict.

Ratcliffe opined there was not a "just" verdict, bemoaning how the judge would not make it possible for particular evidence of the "Clinton conspiracy" to be integrated in the demo. He also griped about there being Clinton donors on the jury and the revelation that one juror's daughter was on the same substantial faculty crew workforce as Sussmann's daughter.

This Alfa-Financial institution make any difference tied to the Clinton team may perhaps not have spurred the FBI's investigation into Trump's inbound links to Russia, but the steps taken by some bureau officers above the course of that inquiry have occur below increased scrutiny thanks to disclosures all through the trial.

"We learned that a senior FBI agent concerned in the Trump-Russia investigation, Joe Pientka, despatched a observe to a further agent about the Alfa-Bank idea: 'People on the 7th floor to include things like Director are fired up about this server. Reachout and set resources on ... it's not an possibility — we ought to do it.' The FBI building's seventh flooring is the place major management, together with then-Director James Comey, experienced places of work," the Washington Examiner's Byron York wrote Tuesday.

Durham has one particular other lively prosecution: a circumstance against Igor Danchenko, a vital supply for British ex-spy Christopher Steele's anti-Trump file, who has pleaded not responsible to 5 counts of building false statements to the FBI about the information he presented to the former MI6 agent for his discredited file. That demo is slated to start in October in Virginia. The prosecutor has obtained a solitary responsible plea, which arrived from previous FBI attorney Kevin Clinesmith, who admitted to altering an electronic mail about a Trump marketing campaign aide less than governing administration surveillance.

Durham was appointed by then-Attorney Common William Barr in 2019 to perform the overview of the Russia investigation. Even though Durham still left his purpose as U.S. attorney immediately after the Trump administration ended, the Biden administration allow the inquiry keep on immediately after Barr appointed him particular counsel. The endeavor has been criticized by Democrats and some legal observers, who claim the inquiry is intended to undercut Robert Mueller's distinctive investigation into ties in between the Trump 2016 marketing campaign and Russia.

Critics have turned up the pressure on Lawyer Common Merrick Garland to pull the plug on the inquiry, primarily after the Sussmann verdict, but Ratcliffe argued that Durham's team is "profitable the war."

Ratcliffe, a previous Republican congressman from Texas who oversaw the nation's 17 intelligence agencies in the latter aspect of the Trump administration, contended that testimony throughout the demo vindicated documents he declassified even though in business.

In making his stage about expanded indictments, Ratcliffe claimed the "most highly effective" testimony for the duration of the demo came from Robby Mook, the campaign supervisor for Clinton in 2016, who claimed the applicant individually signed off on sharing the Trump-Russia allegations relevant to Alfa-Lender with the media in the course of the election. Ratcliffe also noted testimony from Marc Elias, the top rated law firm for Clinton’s 2016 presidential marketing campaign, about his function in pushing collusion claims.

The Trump-Russia inquiry began in late July 2016 following Trump campaign overseas coverage adviser George Papadopoulos bragged to an Australian diplomat that he listened to the Russians experienced detrimental details on Clinton. The FBI's counterintelligence investigation, dubbed "Crossfire Hurricane," was later on wrapped into exclusive counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian election interference. Mueller's staff did discover contacts amongst the Trump marketing campaign and Russia but was not able to establish a criminal conspiracy in between the Trump crew and the Kremlin.

Justice Department Inspector Standard Michael Horowitz established there was enough cause for the FBI's counterintelligence investigation into the Trump marketing campaign, but both Barr and Durham publicly disagreed with that summary in late 2019.

Standing by his statement more than two decades in the past, Barr reported in the course of a Fox News job interview on Wednesday that Durham has "accomplished some thing significantly far more important" than acquiring a conviction in the Sussmann situation.

"Initially, I consider he crystallized the central role played by the Hillary marketing campaign and launching as a dirty trick the total Russiagate collusion narrative and fanning the flames of it," he stated. "And, 2nd, I think he uncovered definitely dreadful habits by the supervisors in the FBI, the senior ranks of the FBI, who knowingly utilised this details to start out an investigation of Trump and then duped their very own brokers by lying to them and refusing to convey to them what the true supply of that data was. And that was appalling."

Espousing a identical point of perspective, Ratcliffe on Sunday asserted there was a "deliberate effort" by sure federal law enforcement officers to "mislead the American persons for political causes."

Durham paying out unveiled at crossroads of his investigation

Jerry Dunleavy

June 04, 12:55 PM June 04, 12:57 PM

John Durham’s exclusive counsel office environment unveiled its most latest monetary assertion just days following a defeat in the legal investigation’s very first trial as the prosecutor is gearing up for his future trial centering on Christopher Steele’s discredited file.

From the commence of October 2021 to the conclusion of March 2022, the Specific Counsel’s Workplace expended a total of $1,656,466, a slight decrease from the next report released final calendar year, in accordance to the new economic assertion, which is the third a person released by Durham’s office environment. Of the complete for the new reporting time period, practically $767,000 was invested on staff compensation and benefits, with $161,890 heading to journey, $590,264 on contractual companies, $6,144 on supplies and products, and $131,228 on lease, communications, and utilities.

Of the salaries compensated, $101,127 have been spent on workers of the particular counsel’s business, and $665,813 were being expended on DOJ staff members comprehensive to the workplace. The breakdown of contractual solutions was $303,226 for litigation support and close to $287,000 for information know-how.

STEELE File Supply Case IS DURHAM'S Upcoming Exam

Factors of the Justice Department supporting the specific counsel’s office environment tracked their investing linked to supporting Durham’s investigation, and “the expenditures for this period totaled $335,210,” the department said.

A overview by the Justice Management Division’s Inner Evaluate and Evaluation Place of work “identified no material weaknesses or considerable deficiencies in the style and design or procedure of SCO controls.”

Igor Danchenko, a Russian-born attorney and researcher who has lived and worked in the United States for a long time, was billed in November 2021 with 5 counts of earning wrong statements to the FBI about the details he furnished to Steele for the file, according to Durham. The DOJ’s watchdog reported FBI interviews with Danchenko “raised considerable issues about the trustworthiness of the Steele election reporting” and concluded Danchenko “contradicted the allegations of a ‘well-formulated conspiracy’ in” Steele’s dossier.

Danchenko has pleaded not guilty.

A jury found Democratic cybersecurity lawyer Michael Sussmann not responsible this 7 days on costs, brought in September 2021 by Durham, of concealing his two customers (Neustar main know-how officer Rodney Joffe and Hillary Clinton's 2016 marketing campaign) from FBI Standard Counsel James Baker when he pushed debunked allegations of a mystery line of conversation in between the Trump Firm and Russia’s Alfa-Financial institution in 2016.

Sussmann’s cozy romantic relationship with the bureau, along with attempts by him and a host of Democratic operatives to press Trump-Russia claims to the media, was reviewed during his demo. Clinton individually signed off on pushing the Alfa-Financial institution promises to the media in the summer of 2016, according to her campaign supervisor.

The 2nd Durham money report produced in December 2021 confirmed a breakdown of the roughly $1.9 million in expenses designed by the unique counsel’s business for the period from the start off of April 2021 to the conclusion of September 2021 on staff, journey, equipment acquisition, and contracts. An additional $471,000 was invested by other sections of the Justice Department in assistance of Durham's investigation during that time body. The initially report, which covered the period of time starting up from Durham's Oct. 19, 2020, appointment by way of the conclude of March 2021, confirmed Durham’s workplace expended about $934,000, when DOJ things supporting the specific counsel inquiry spent approximately $521,000. The studies are restricted in scope to Durham's expenses as particular counsel, which means other prices associated with his perform as a U.S. attorney are excluded.

The dossier, established by Steele, who will be in the spotlight throughout Durham’s future trial, performed a "central and crucial" part in the FBI's hard work to acquire wiretap orders from previous Trump marketing campaign associate Carter Website page, Justice Section Inspector Basic Michael Horowitz concluded in December 2019. Danchenko undermined Steele's statements of a “well-formulated conspiracy” among then-President Donald Trump and Russia in the file, which Steele designed soon after becoming employed by the opposition investigation company Fusion GPS, which was by itself hired by Perkins Coie and Marc Elias, the normal counsel for Clinton’s campaign. Sussmann labored for Perkins at the time way too, and both of those he and Elias achieved with Steele and Fusion in 2016.

Durham was “authorized to investigate no matter if any federal official, personnel, or any other human being or entity violated the law in connection with the intelligence, counterintelligence, or regulation enforcement functions directed at the 2016 presidential strategies, folks linked with people campaigns, and individuals affiliated with the administration of President Donald J. Trump, such as but not restricted to Crossfire Hurricane and the investigation of Distinctive Counsel Robert S. Mueller III,” then-Legal professional General William Barr’s appointment purchase stated.

Even though Horowitz argued in December 2019 that Crossfire Hurricane was “opened for an authorized investigative intent and with adequate factual predication,” Durham and Barr disputed the idea that the opening of the investigation was justified.

“Our investigation is not limited to building info from inside component components of the Justice Office. Our investigation has integrated producing information from other persons and entities, equally in the U.S. and outdoors of the U.S.,” Durham claimed at the time. “Based on the evidence collected to date, and when our investigation is ongoing, very last month we suggested the inspector typical that we do not concur with some of the report’s conclusions as to predication and how the FBI circumstance was opened.”

Durham’s "investigation into the investigators" has lasted extended than Mueller's unique investigation into alleged ties concerning the Trump 2016 campaign and Russia, which expense approximately $32 million. Mueller’s inquiry “did not establish” any criminal Trump-Russia collusion.

Attorney Typical Merrick Garland informed lawmakers in Oct 2021 that Durham experienced the independence to carry on his investigation.

"We’re now in a new fiscal 12 months, and as absolutely everyone is aware of, Mr. Durham is continuing. So I consider you can conveniently think that his finances has been accepted," Garland stated, incorporating, "We really do not typically make a statement about these points, but considering the fact that he’s even now in motion, the provisions of the regulation which demand acceptance of his price range for the subsequent fiscal 12 months are public, so I think ... you would know if he weren’t continuing to do his function."

Garland noted his support for Durham making his report community, stating: “With respect to the report, I would like as substantially as doable to be built public. I have to be concerned about Privacy Act considerations and classification, but other than that, the determination is to deliver a community report, yes.”

In February 2021, President Joe Biden questioned all Senate-verified U.S. attorneys appointed by Trump for their resignations, with U.S. Attorney David Weiss, who is primary a legal investigation into Hunter Biden, as the sole exception. Durham was requested to step down as the U.S. attorney for Connecticut but was stored on as distinctive counsel for his legal evaluation of the Trump-Russia investigation.

Durham's inquiry has led to just a single responsible plea, with ex-FBI law firm Kevin Clinesmith admitting he fraudulently modified the wording of a CIA electronic mail to say Webpage was “not a source” for the company even with the FBI remaining educated that Web page had been an “operational contact” for the CIA for yrs.

Was Russia collusion server data pushed in violation of Senate ethics rules?

Pamela K. Browne

June 01, 07:00 AM June 01, 07:01 AM

Lurking behind the mountains of prosecutorial evidence presented in over 150 exhibits and testimony by nearly two dozen witnesses in the now-concluded Michael Sussmann trial, questions swirl about how widely the debunked Trump-Russia collusion computer data spread among Washington, D.C.’s most powerful committees, including the Senate Armed Services Committee in early 2017.

On Tuesday, a D.C. jury found Sussmann, the 57-year-old former Perkins Coie lawyer, not guilty of lying to the FBI.

Despite this setback to special counsel John Durham’s investigation, the public learned how a powerful attorney, in a law firm representing the Hillary Clinton campaign, deliberately bypassed protocol to get a meeting with the FBI general counsel in September 2016 to pass along the Alfa-Bank materials that Sussmann participated in preparing with the help of Fusion GPS and his client, Rodney Joffe.

BOTH SIDES ACCUSE EACH OTHER OF MAGIC TRICKS IN SUSSMANN CLOSING ARGUMENTS

In addition, in a surprising revelation in the two-week trial, it was revealed that Sussmann’s client Joffe was fired as a confidential human source for the FBI in 2021. Joffe, identified as “Tech Executive 1,” may now be a focus in Durham’s investigation.

Lingering questions remain: if, for example, Sussmann, along with Fusion GPS’s Glenn Simpson and Peter Fritsch, Daniel Jones of the Democracy Integrity Project, and Joffe, worked together to promote the same fabricated allegations of a secret communications channel between Russia’s Alfa-Bank and the Trump Organization to the Senate Armed Services Committee after Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th president of the United States.

Jason Foster, president of Empower Oversight, a nonprofit group dedicated to increasing accountability for government and corporate wrongdoing, told the Washington Examiner: “It remains unclear to what extent TDIP’s report allegedly produced for the Senate Armed Services Committee overlaps with the information Sussmann provided to the FBI, although they appear to be closely related. The testimony at the [Sussmann] trial has not explored that question, but it is an important one that the Senate Ethics Committee should examine.”

The debunked computer data “white papers,” written and assembled by Fusion GPS, Joffe, and Perkins Coie attorneys Sussmann and Marc Elias, were delivered to FBI General Counsel James Baker by Sussmann on Sept. 19, 2016, via hard copy and thumb drives.

This opposition research, down to the thumb drives passed, was paid for by the Clinton campaign while at the same time promoted by Fusion GPS into select reporters’ stories.

The “white papers” alleged a covert communications channel between Russia’s Alfa-Bank and the Trump Organization. Ultimately, the FBI determined there was insufficient evidence, and Sussmann would later try to peddle the data to the CIA with no success.

Troubling to Foster, who worked for two decades as a congressional investigator, is whether or not the Senate Armed Services Committee knowingly allowed Daniel Jones’s TDIP to “work for free” for a year in violation of Senate Rule XXXV, which prohibits any gift, which includes gifts of services, over $100 per year.

On Oct. 8, 2021, three weeks after Sussmann was indicted by Durham for allegedly lying to the FBI, Foster wrote to Sen. Christopher Coons (D-DE), the Senate Ethics Committee’s chairman, and Vice Chairman Sen. James Lankford (R-OK). He specifically asked if the Senate Armed Services Committee violated rules “by requesting and accepting professional services from TDIP and Daniel J. Jones.”

Foster pointed out “TDIP’s research … began in 2017, continued for more than a year, involved hiring computer science experts at no cost to the Committee … [and] aimed at evaluating data that the Committee had received for alleged connections between Alfa Bank and Trump Organization servers.”

Foster emphasized the need for transparency, noting: “The advice we followed was to avoid accepting professional services without paying for them, even if it was related to the Committee’s official business.”

A review by the Washington Examiner of Alfa-Bank court filings, including Jones’s Aug. 18, 2021, deposition, congressional testimony, and other public documents, offers context into the relationship between TDIP and Fusion GPS.

On the Sunday following Trump’s inauguration in January 2017, Fusion’s Simpson and Fritsch met with Jones. By Jan. 31, TDIP was incorporated as a new nonprofit organization. In their book, Crime in Progress, Simpson and Fritsch described how “TDIP intended to tap the super-wealthy to fund work to protect the democratic system of government from a new and insidious assault.”

Jones, with considerable input and fundraising efforts by Simpson and Fritsch, raised $7 million in the first year, and Jones paid half of that, $3.3 million, to Bean LLC, Fusion GPS’s limited liability company. TDIP also paid nearly $700,000 to discredited dossier author Christopher Steele’s entity, Walsingham Partners.

TDIP donors include George Soros, deep-pocketed Democrats in Silicon Valley, and a group tied to Tom Steyer, the California businessman-turned-failed 2020 presidential candidate.

As TDIP’s president, Jones, a former FBI analyst and former staffer to Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), was paid more than $380,000. Besides TDIP, Jones also operates a for-profit firm, Penn Quarter Group, in Washington, D.C.

Jones told the FBI in March 2017 that Penn Quarter Group “was being funded by 7 to 10 wealthy donors located primarily in New York and California, who provided approximately $50 million.”

Foster stressed: “Allowing Senate committees to accept free investigative services by an unknown group of billionaires raises potential conflict of interest issues that the Gift Rule is intended to prevent."

“If Committees need to engage outside consultants for official business, there is a process for doing so," he continued. "It’s unclear who on the Foreign Relations Committee was aware of the arrangement for free services provided and to what extent it was officially authorized. An Ethics Committee investigation could help clear up some of those questions.”

Apparently, nothing stopped Fusion GPS from figuring out ways to promote the Alfa-Bank narrative, with the help of TDIP.

In the now-ended Alfa-Bank civil litigation, Jones testified how he met with the Senate Armed Services Committee’s T. Kirk McConnell, at McConnell’s request, in the spring of 2017 “in the Senate Armed Services space … and they asked for my insights into the alleged connection between Alfa-Bank servers and Trump Organization servers.”

“[McConnell] relayed that he had information from a trusted source about the server allegation … and the Senate Armed Services Committee was in possession of information about the server allegations.“

Jones described in his deposition how the DNS (domain name system) data was “already in the hands of the committee.”

Specifically, Jones said: “They asked me to evaluate that information. … The next step was to meet with an individual named Michael Sussmann.”

Jones had multiple meetings with Michael Sussmann in the spring of 2017. Sussmann also represented Joffe.

Curiously, Jones said Sussmann chose to refer to his client Joffe as “Max” or “John Galt.” But Jones said he figured out the expert was indeed Joffe. During the Sussmann trial, it was revealed that Joffe was “terminated” as a confidential human source for the FBI in 2021.

HILLARY CLINTON SIGNED OFF ON PUSHING ALFA-BANK CLAIMS TO THE MEDIA

Jones detailed, in his August 2021 deposition, that Fusion GPS was paid $3.3 million for a “hefty” 687-page Alfa research backgrounder that he admitted was produced “rather quickly.”

In a key exchange in his deposition, Jones was grilled by Alfa-Bank attorney Margaret Krawiec over a TDIP report dated March 21, 2017.

Jones claimed Fusion GPS had no knowledge that the background report that TDIP paid millions for would be included in the report he gave to the Senate Armed Services Committee for analysis sometime early to mid-2017.

The timing is notable, as this is shortly after TDIP was created on Jan. 31, 2017, and two months later, the Fusion report had a new home.

Was the data described in Durham’s indictment of Sussmann the same data obtained and analyzed by TDIP for the Senate Armed Services Committee? Was this also part of the core research that Fusion GPS provided? As Durham's investigation continues to unfold, this remains a mystery.

Simpson and Fritsch bragged about what TDIP could do in their book, writing: “Without the deadline of an election … TDIP had the luxury to roam into underexplored areas while also opening up entirely new inquiries. It could bring on specialists: linguists, accountants, campaign finance nerds, Web scraping data gurus.”

The reality was TDIP served as another way for Fusion GPS to earn even more money in lucrative contracts than in their previous work with Perkins Coie. This would enable them to continue the amplification of the Russian collusion narrative against Trump’s presidency.

Seven months after Foster sent his letter, he said: “We have received no reply or communication from anyone at the Senate Ethics Committee” regarding Empower Oversight’s request for an investigation. “The Ethics Committee’s procedures don’t require it to respond to complaints from the public like ours. However, our filing argues that a public resolution would be in the best interests of the Senate. If the Gift Rule was violated, then there should be accountability.”

The Washington Examiner did not receive a response to questions submitted to Coons and Lankford.