DURHAM’S DAY IN COURT, FINALLY

[Valin]

FBI Appears to Have Referred to Sussmann as ‘the US DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE’ in Document Opening Investigation of Supposed Trump–Russia Back Channel

Andrew C. McCarthy

May 23, 2022

I have a column up on the homepage this morning about the curious fact that Michael Sussmann, currently on trial for making false statements to the FBI, had a badge that permitted him to enter FBI headquarters and roam around the place. As I detail, that seems awfully peculiar since Sussmann has not been a Justice Department lawyer for many years — he is a highly paid private attorney whose clients (famously, the DNC with respect to its hacked servers, which were withheld from the FBI) sometimes take positions opposed to the government’s.

This intriguing fact seems to have escaped much notice at the trial last week. I theorize that this is because neither Sussmann lawyers nor Special Counsel John Durham’s prosecutors see upside in highlighting it. Regardless of that, I conclude, “the public deserves an explanation of why Sussmann had a badge allowing him to enter and wander around FBI headquarters, and why the FBI brass took such extraordinary measures to conceal Sussmann’s identity as the source of the Trump–Russia information.”

On that last point, this morning we have this remarkable report from the Washington Examiner’s Jerry Dunleavy. Astonishingly, when the FBI wrote up its standard “EC” (electronic communication) that opened the investigation into the allegation that Donald Trump had established a communications back channel with Russia, it claimed that the information had come to the bureau from “the US DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE.” In fact, it came from Sussmann, a lawyer for the Clinton campaign.

(Snip)

[Valin]

Top FBI Brass Were “Fired Up” About Destroying Trump

[Valin]

How FBI HQ hamstrung the Alfa Bank investigation

The latest from the Michael Sussmann Trial

May 24 2022

Today in the Michael Sussmann trial, we received additional information regarding the FBI leadership’s involvement in the opening - and execution - of the Alfa Bank/Trump investigation. This included FBI Headquarters not approving an FBI agent’s repeated requests to interview the sources of the Alfa Bank “materials.”

But first we’ll start with the examination of Trisha Anderson.

Anderson is currently the Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Counsel. Back in 2016, she was an FBI deputy general counsel and reported directly to then-FBI general counsel James Baker.

(Snip)

The FBI’s Cyber Division also discounted the Sussmann white paper:

Quote

Heide: The cyber division “were also unable to substantiate any of the allegations in the white paper, and they deemed that the information provided was not in accordance with how the Russians would conduct cyber activities.”

In fact, Agent Pientka (whom we have long-criticized) relayed the Cyber Division’s conclusions to Heide, stating:

Relatively early on in the investigation - on September 26, 2016 - Agent Heide sent a message to Pientka, requesting an interview of the source of the Alfa Bank white papers. By that time, Heide knew the white paper was bunk. He received no response from Pientka. He repeated this request on October 3, 2016. Agent Heide’s requests were rebuffed by his liaison at FBI headquarters:

 

(Snip)

[Geee]

Hillary Clinton caught in perhaps the most shocking lie of her career

 

The day after Robby Mook, the head of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign for the presidency, implicated her at the top of a conspiracy to link former President Donald Trump with a Russian bank in 2016, I could find no mention of it in the leading newspapers of the Republic, save The Wall Street Journal. The Journal covered Mr. Mook’s testimony in a federal courtroom quite well. Yet, I looked through The New York Times and The Washington Post with my legendary thoroughness and could find no hint of Mr. Mook’s testimony. Not even in the help wanted sections, not even in the much-vaunted style section.

The Journal covered Mr. Mook’s testimony thus in its first paragraph on page A4: “Hillary Clinton approved of an effort in the months before the 2016 election to provide the press with research purporting to show a computer link between the company of her GOP rival, Donald Trump, and a Russian bank, her presidential campaign manager Robby Mook testified on Friday.” Said the Times on this important piece of news on Saturday, nothing. Said the Post on Saturday, nothing. If I were a reader of either newspaper, I would want a refund. Quite possibly I would want to switch newspapers to the Journal or to The Washington Times, which does not publish on Saturday or Sunday but came out Monday with a very reliable report.

[Valin]

1 hour ago, Geee said:

Hillary Clinton caught in perhaps the most shocking lie of her career

Just Image if Bill & Hillary had been Republicans? Would The Media treated them The Same? 

[Geee]

Sussmann Trial Exposes Dems' Scandal-Industrial Process

 

Modern political scandals, like Caesar’s Gaul, are divided into three parts. The first is the actual malfeasance. That might be taking bribes, lying to federal agents, leaking classified materials, sexual misconduct, selling political access, whatever. The second part is the hyper-partisan involvement of Congress and, often, federal agencies, all eager to score points for their side. The third part is the media’s role, which goes beyond bias to include active promotion of political goals.

Federal agencies, like all bureaucratic institutions, have always tried to increase their power and preserve their autonomy. What’s different today is that the bureaucrats, and often their entire agencies, are frequently partisan players. That’s disheartening but understandable. One party is clearly the “party of government” and the party of experts. Most educated professionals, including bureaucrats and journalists, identify with that party. Filled with partisan “civil servants,” these agencies routinely tilt investigations (or kill them outright) to advance political goals – the same ones as their favored party. For the same reasons, they leak insider information to friendly media. Predictably, the opposing party tries to score points by attacking them for doing so.

[Valin]

Michael Sussmann won't testify in Durham trial

[Valin]

1 hour ago, Geee said:

Sussmann Trial Exposes Dems' Scandal-Industrial Process

 

Modern political scandals, like Caesar’s Gaul, are divided into three parts. The first is the actual malfeasance. That might be taking bribes, lying to federal agents, leaking classified materials, sexual misconduct, selling political access, whatever. The second part is the hyper-partisan involvement of Congress and, often, federal agencies, all eager to score points for their side. The third part is the media’s role, which goes beyond bias to include active promotion of political goals.

Federal agencies, like all bureaucratic institutions, have always tried to increase their power and preserve their autonomy. What’s different today is that the bureaucrats, and often their entire agencies, are frequently partisan players. That’s disheartening but understandable. One party is clearly the “party of government” and the party of experts. Most educated professionals, including bureaucrats and journalists, identify with that party. Filled with partisan “civil servants,” these agencies routinely tilt investigations (or kill them outright) to advance political goals – the same ones as their favored party. For the same reasons, they leak insider information to friendly media. Predictably, the opposing party tries to score points by attacking them for doing so.

 

The Backlash should be...interesting.

[Geee]

The Sussmann Trial: fingers pointed at FBI leadership

[Valin]

May 28 2022

[Valin]

 

[Geee]

Barr says Durham uncovered 'seditious' activity

Former Attorney General William Barr said he believes special counsel John Durham is uncovering "seditious" activity.

The trial of Democratic cybersecurity lawyer Michael Sussmann has shown how Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign and its allies spread theories tying rival Donald Trump to Russia in the final months of the election, providing evidence for those who have long argued there was a so-called Russiagate plot to undermine Trump's candidacy and later his presidency.

[Valin]

1 hour ago, Geee said:

Barr says Durham uncovered 'seditious' activity

 

One damn thing after another

Scott Johnson

May 31 2022

(Snip)

In the video below Glenn Beck interviews Barr at length about his service (in both of his AG stints) as portrayed in the book. This is Beck’s summary of the interview:

"In the final turbulent two years of the Trump administration, Attorney General Bill Barr tells Glenn why he pulled out of retirement to answer Trump’s call to help stop a constitutional crisis. But he got more than he bargained for when he was forced to deal with impeachment, a summer of racial turmoil, a global pandemic, and attacks against President Trump from every angle. Barr joins Glenn to answer critics who say he didn’t do enough for the Trump admin while he was in office, why he believes Hillary Clinton’s Russiagate scandal was “seditious,” why the Durham investigation is just now hitting pay dirt, and much more, as detailed in his new book, “One Damn Thing After Another.” As America faces threats from China, on our southern border, and from within our own corrupt institutions, Barr lays out America’s best path forward …[/i]

Via Nick Arama/RedState.

_______________________________________________________________________

The Comments at RedState are about what you would expect.

[Geee]

Why Handwritten FBI And DOJ Notes The Special Counsel Just Released Are Huge

Recently released handwritten notes from a briefing of the acting attorney general on the status of Crossfire Hurricane reveal the FBI either lied about the source of intel or the British intelligence community fed information to the U.S. agents investigating Donald Trump and his associates.

As part of the pre-trial discovery in the government’s prosecution of former Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann, the special counsel provided defense lawyers notes taken on March 6, 2017, during a high-level briefing of acting Attorney General Dana Boente about the then-ongoing investigation into supposed Russia collusion.

 

[Geee]

Obama Approved Accusing Russia of DNC Hack Before FBI Received DNC Server Images

President Barack Obama approved a statement by the U.S. intelligence community in October 2016 accusing Russia of stealing emails from the Democratic National Committee (DNC), despite the U.S. government not having obtained the DNC server images crucial to ascertaining whether Moscow was involved in the theft.

FBI emails recently made public during the trial against now-acquitted DNC attorney Michael Sussmann show the bureau was still in the process of requesting images of the DNC servers on Oct. 13, 2016. The server images, which are equivalent to a virtual copy of the alleged crime scene, were taken by private cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike.

[Geee]

Hidden Over 2 Years: Dem Cyber-Firm's Sworn Testimony It Had No Proof of Russian Hack of DNC

CrowdStrike, the private cyber-security firm that first accused Russia of hacking Democratic Party emails and served as a critical source for U.S. intelligence officials in the years-long Trump-Russia probe, acknowledged to Congress more than two years ago that it had no concrete evidence that Russian hackers stole emails from the Democratic National Committee’s server.

CrowdStrike President Shawn Henry's admission under oath,  in a recently declassified December 2017 interview before the House Intelligence Committee, raises new questions about whether Special Counsel Robert Mueller, intelligence officials and Democrats misled the public. The allegation that Russia stole Democratic Party emails from Hillary Clinton, John Podesta and others and then passed them to WikiLeaks helped trigger the FBI's probe into now debunked claims of a conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia to steal the 2016 election. The CrowdStrike admissions were released just two months after the Justice Department retreated from its its other central claim that Russia meddled in the 2016 election when it dropped charges against Russian troll farms it said had been trying to get Trump elected.

Henry personally led the remediation and forensics analysis of the DNC server after being warned of a breach in late April 2016; his work was paid for by the DNC, which refused to turn over its server to the FBI. Asked for the date when alleged Russian hackers stole data from the DNC server, Henry testified that CrowdStrike did not in fact know if such a theft occurred at all: "We did not have concrete evidence that the data was exfiltrated [moved electronically] from the DNC, but we have indicators that it was exfiltrated," Henry said.