sussman, Michael
eternal question of dumb, echo or just bad faith?
see durham, spyagte russiagate?
related
https://www.alternet.org/2022/06/bill-barr/
sussman acquitted; 3 yrs vs 2 yrs mueller russiagate legit invest that ended in guilty pleas/convict.
https://www.alternet.org/2022/05/legal-experts-clown-show-prosecution/
an 9 22
In 2019, when Donald Trump was still president, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) assigned John H. Durham to investigate the FBI’s 2016 investigation of the Trump campaign’s interactions with Russia. Durham’s probe — an investigation of an investigation — appears to be winding down after three years. And according to New York Times reporters Katie Benner, Adam Goldman and Charlie Savage, it has yet to deliver “anything close to the results Mr. Trump was seeking.”
In an article published on September 14, the Times journalists report, “The grand jury that Mr. Durham has recently used to hear evidence has expired, and while he could convene another, there are currently no plans to do so, three people familiar with the matter said. Mr. Durham and his team are working to complete a final report by the end of the year, they said, and one of the lead prosecutors on his team is leaving for a job with a prominent law firm.”
Benner, Goldman and Savage add, “Over the course of his inquiry, Mr. Durham has developed cases against two people accused of lying to the FBI in relation to outside efforts to investigate purported Trump-Russia ties, but he has not charged any conspiracy or put any high-level officials on trial. The recent developments suggest that the chances of any more indictments are remote. After Mr. Durham’s team completes its report, it will be up to Attorney General Merrick B. Garland to decide whether to make its findings public.”
READ MORE: Legal experts slam John Durham and his failed 'clown show' prosecution of Michael Sussman
When Durham’s probe was launched in 2019, Trump and his MAGA allies were hoping that it would reveal evidence of a sinister “Deep State” plot on the part of the Barack Obama-era DOJ officials who were still in charge during 2016’s presidential election. Trump supporters at Fox News and Fox Business reported on the probe with great excitement and anticipation. But Durham’s probe, after three years, hasn’t produced anything like that, according to the Times.
Benner, Goldman and Savage explain, “Mr. Durham and his team used a grand jury in Washington to indict Michael Sussmann, a prominent cybersecurity lawyer with ties to Hillary Clinton’s campaign. Mr. Sussmann was indicted last year on a charge of making a false statement to the FBI at a meeting in which he shared a tip about potential connections between computers associated with Mr. Trump and a Kremlin-linked Russian bank. Mr. Sussmann was acquitted of that charge at trial in May.”
In another case, the reporters note, “Mr. Durham’s team negotiated a plea deal with an FBI lawyer whom an inspector general had accused of doctoring an e-mail used in preparation for a wiretap renewal application. The plea deal resulted in no prison time.”
“Mr. Trump and his allies have long hoped that Mr. Durham would prosecute former FBI and intelligence officials responsible for the Russia investigation, known as Crossfire Hurricane,” Benner, Goldman and Savage observe. “Mr. Trump has described the investigation as a witch hunt and accused the FBI of spying on his presidential campaign. Last month, in the days after the FBI obtained a search warrant to seize boxes of classified and other government documents he was keeping at his resort in Florida, Mr. Trump used social media to amplify the unsubstantiated idea that Mr. Durham had uncovered a vast political conspiracy by the Obama Administration and the intelligence community to damage him.”
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2022/06/how-john-durhams-probe-has-exposed-trumps-russia-con/
no lnx
How John Durham’s Probe Has Exposed Trump’s Russia Con
His three-year investigation has so far shown the only hoax was orchestrated by the former president.
DAVID CORN
Washington, DC, Bureau Chief
Special counsel John Durham leaves federal court in Washington last month.Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP
Donald Trump has bad timing. On Friday, he sent a letter to the Pulitzer Prize Board reiterating his demand that it rescind the awards given to the New York Times and the Washington Post in 2018 for their coverage of the Trump-Russia scandal. (That’s not what he called it.) He based this request on the prosecution of Democratic lawyer Michael Sussmann, who was indicted by special counsel John Durham for allegedly lying to the FBI during a September 2016 meeting when he shared with the bureau computer data research that suggested there might be a connection between a Trump-related business and Alfa Bank, a large Russian financial entity. Trump claimed the Sussmann case showed the “Russia hoax was a dirty campaign trick promulgated by Crooked Hillary Clinton and her associates.” Five days later, the jury, after only several hours of deliberation, acquitted Sussmann. Oops.
The quick not-guilty verdict was a sharp slap at Durham’s three-year-long investigation, which was launched by William Barr, when he was Trump’s loyalist attorney general, and which has come across as a political crusade mounted to undermine the various Trump-Russia investigations. Durham was tasked by Barr to investigate the origins of the FBI’s probe of the Russian attack on the 2016 election (which, according to multiple investigations, was waged to help Trump win) and the interactions between Trump associates and Russian operatives. Put simply, Durham’s job was to find that Trump had been set up by the bureau. When the Justice Department inspector general in late 2019 issued a report concluding the FBI had legitimate cause to investigate the Russian assault and the Trump campaign, Durham, in an unusual move, released a statement declaring, “we do not agree with some of the report’s conclusions as to predication and how the FBI case was opened.” A-ha, Trumpists exclaimed. Durham was on track to reveal that the FBI investigation was bogus from the get-go and Trump was right: It was all a hoax and a witch hunt.
Yet after years of toil, Durham has produced nothing to suggest the Russia investigation was a Deep State hit-job against Trump. He has brought three cases that have nothing to do with the origins of the investigation. One involved an FBI lawyer who altered an email used to obtain a search warrant after the investigation was started. (The attorney pleaded guilty and was sentenced to a year of probation.)
Another led to the indictment of Igor Danchenko, a source for the so-called Steele dossier, for allegedly lying to the FBI about his sources. His trial is scheduled to begin in October. This prosecution, too, has nothing to do with the origin or legitimacy of the FBI’s investigation, which was not triggered by the Steele reports. The third was the Sussmann case that just exploded in Durham’s face. It, too, was essentially unconnected to the FBI’s core investigation, given that the meeting in question happened months after the bureau began examining the Russian assault and that the FBI quickly dismissed the Trump-Alfa Bank tie.
Despite declaring over two years ago that he had reason to question the FBI’s opening of the Russia investigation, Durham has failed to make good on his assertion. His investigation has yielded zilch in this regard. His prosecutions are all sideshows.
But Durham has done Trump and his cultists a great favor by providing material they can exploit for one of their favorite pastimes: deflection.
For over five years, Trump and his minions have endeavored to beat back the Trump-Russia scandal with denial and distraction. They have done all they could to change the subject from the basics of the affair: the Kremlin attacked the 2016 election to help Trump; while this assault was underway, the Trump camp had troubling interactions with Russian operatives and was told the Kremlin intended to covertly assist Trump; Trump hid from the public his effort to land a major development deal in Moscow (for which he sought help from Vladimir Putin); the Trump campaign aided and abetted the Russian attack by denying and/or downplaying it; and, as president, Trump tried to impede the investigation. All of these are confirmed facts that make a damning case that Trump committed a grand act of betrayal to become president. Trump and his defenders, though, have tried to change the subject: the problematic Steele dossier, an improperly obtained search warrant, baseless conspiracy theories about the Democratic Party’s computer servers being whisked away to Ukraine, and, most recently, the Sussmann meeting.
Look at Trump’s letter to the Pulitzer board. It dwells on details that came out during the Sussmann trial about the Clinton campaign promoting the Alfa Bank allegation. This case, Trump claims, shows that Clintonites were trying to spread opposition research about him, particularly iffy data about a purported computer server tie between his business and Alfa Bank. He declares he was the victim of “shameful smears” from the Clinton campaign—and these covert attacks were the basis for the FBI investigation. The Clinton crew, of course, was trying to disseminate negative information about Trump—especially worrisome material about a possible Trump-Russia connection. But this had nothing to do with the investigation already begun by the FBI, which was launched independently of the Clinton effort.
Trump writes, “I again call on you to rescind the Prize you awarded based on blatantly fake, derogatory and defamatory news. If you choose not to do so, we will see you in court.” Putting aside whether Trump can sue a journalism awards committee for content it honors, he is yet again engaging in deflection. Nothing in the Sussmann case undercuts the investigations or the reporting related to the central elements of the scandal. Trump is trying to turn the thin gruel Durham has served up into a feast.
In the reality-based world, Durham actually has undermined Trump and his bogus narrative. He has failed to demonstrate that the Russia investigation was a witch hunt or hoax cooked up by Trump’s enemies. His small-beer cases do not challenge any of the main findings of the investigations, which justifiably taint Trump’s 2016 victory and presidency. Durham’s work (so far) shows that Trump’s attempts to distract from the scandal have been nothing but a big con. Trump shrieks about Sussmann, the Steele dossier, and other matters so the public doesn’t see what’s clearly there: a record of misdeeds, lies, and treachery. In a way, Durham has provided a valuable service. His inability to uncover evidence of a hoax confirms that Trump’s denials and diversions have been the real hoax all along.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/michael-sussmann-trial-durham-verdict/?intcid=CNI-00-10aaa3b
5 22 stumbled on acquitted
see spygate sussman
https://www.mediamatters.org/joe-rogan-experience/spotifys-joe-rogan-lies-durham-filing-shows-clinton-campaign-planted-evidence
https://www.alternet.org/2022/02/durham/ dismisses consp
hannity on defam suit: bring it on
https://www.alternet.org/2022/02/sean-hannity-on-hillary-clinton/
https://www.alternet.org/2022/02/fox-news-hillary-clinton/
played sp many x but cut coup plot
djt word salad
https://www.alternet.org/2022/02/trump-2656686160/
badash ncrm an
In an “exclusive” Fox News interview Donald Trump, the failed, disgraced, one-term twice impeachedformer president, suggests he’s read the legal filing from John Durham,a special counsel secretly installed in 2020 by then-Attorney General Bill Barr, who revealed the attorney’s status weeks before resigning from office, just before the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Trump referred to him as “Robert Durham”in a statement when the news of the filing broke, and now is suggesting that he has both read the legal filing and predicted its contents “a long time ago.”
The problem is Fox News and many other far-right-wing media outlets, have gotten it wrong, mostly wrong, or all wrong.
recycled 2 22
hillary scary pix // rudy]
many twts troll caucus
Durham Investigation Reveals Clinton Operatives Spied on Trump https://deneenborelli.com/?p=3722010:34 AM · Feb 14, 2022·TweetDeck25 Retweets1 Quote Tweet69 LikesKarey Bruner@KareyBruner·Feb 14Replying to @deneenborelliGIFShow more repliesMore Tweets
Donald Trump Jr.@DonaldJTrumpJr·21hTime for some Truth!!!7,78311.6K53.4K
Rep. Jim Jordan@Jim_Jordan· They spied on President Trump.
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They locked down the country.
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They targeted parents at school boards.
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They masked your kids.
Durham Investigation Reveals Clinton Operatives Spied on Trump
https://deneenborelli.com/?p=3722010:34 AM · Feb 14, 2022·TweetDeck25 Retweets1 Quote Tweet69 LikesKarey Bruner@KareyBruner·Feb 14Replying to @deneenborelliGIFShow more repliesMore TweetsDonald Trump Jr.@DonaldJTrumpJr·21hTime for some Truth!!!7,78311.6K53.4K
Rep.Madison Cawthorn@RepCawthorn·19hSpying on a sitting President is a crime.3,0117,97537.6K
. ᴾᵃʳᵒᵈʸ@DJT1946Official·16hRetweet if I should go on the Joe Rogan Podcast.1,15217.1K34.7K
Mike Pompeo@mikepompeo·17hSocialism doesn’t work. I saw it firsthand when I patrolled the Iron Curtain — and I know nothing good comes of it.
thebradfordfile@thebradfordfile·17hThe same people screaming Trump was a dictator are cheering Trudeau for actually becoming one.1774,98122.6KKevin Sorbo@ksorbs·20hJustin Trudeau: “The truckers are fascists.”
Also Trudeau: *freezes bank accounts of people involved in the freedom convoy*6694,46421.5K
Lauren Boebert@laurenboebert·21hThe fact that the corporate press has completely ignored the Durham filing for 2+ days says so much more about it’s validity than if they actually reported on it.
Sad but true.2,3295,17921.2KBreanna Morello@BreannaMorello·18hThe bar was set so low for NYC Mayor Eric Adams and he still managed to go lower.5052,59520.5KLiz Willis@LizWillis_·Feb 15TRUTH Social (beta) has dropped and President Trump is active on his own account!
https://www.alternet.org/2022/02/trump-2656651980/
rubber glue as 1/6 and crimnal prosecutions tighten?
2 22
Former president Donald Trump issued a statement Saturday suggesting that unnamed members of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign staff should be put to death.
“The latest pleading fromSpecial Counsel Robert Durham provides indisputable evidence that my campaign and presidency were spied on by operatives paid by the Hillary Clinton Campaign in an effort to develop a completely fabricated connection to Russia,” Trump said in the statement from his Save America PAC. “This is a scandal far greater in scope and magnitude than Watergate and those who were involved in and knew about this spying operation should be subject to criminal prosecution. In a stronger period of time in our country, this crime would have been punishable by death. In addition,reparations should be paid to those in our country who have been damaged by this.”
Former president Donald Trump issued a statement Saturday suggesting that unnamed members of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign staff should be put to death.
“The latest pleading from Special Counsel Robert Durham provides indisputable evidence that my campaign and presidency were spied on by operatives paid by the Hillary Clinton Campaign in an effort to develop a completely fabricated connection to Russia,” Trump said in the statement from his Save America PAC. “This is a scandal far greater in scope and magnitude than Watergate and those who were involved in and knew about this spying operation should be subject to criminal prosecution. In a stronger period of time in our country, this crime would have been punishable by death. In addition, reparations should be paid to those in our country who have been damaged by this.”
Trump was responding to allegations put forth by Durham in a court filing this week.
“Lawyers for the Clinton campaign paid a technology company to ‘infiltrate’ servers belonging to Trump Tower, and later the White House, in order to establish an ‘inference’ and “narrative’ to bring to government agencies linking Donald Trump to Russia, a filing from Special Counsel John Durham says,” Fox News reported Saturday. “Durham filed a motion on Feb. 11 focused on potential conflicts of interest related to the representation of former Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussman, who has been charged with making a false statement to a federal agent. Sussman has pleaded not guilty.”
More below.