Three swings and misses for John Durham, and it should be game over for his investigation

  

Is it just fog or is it haze drifting from a distant wildfire?

 

It might help to know before you go on a journey that goes on and on to who knows where. It should be clear to all now that John Durham embarked on a journey that he had no clue where he was headed or what he would find, but he kept looking until he found the "fire" he thought must be somewhere. But there was no fire, just maybe a few embers. It was all just fog, and when it blew away there was nothing there.

As mentioned yesterday, after three years and almost $6 million in taxpayer money spent in what was essentially a revenge project for Donald Trump, of whom William Barr did his toadying best to please, the Durham investigation that followed suffered its worst blow yet to its credibility and justification.  Following the Mueller investigation, which ended in multiple convictions, Trump wanted to take on his own Justice Department after Jeff Sessions decided to recuse himself and allow the Russia investigation to proceed as an “independent” operation to be overseen by his deputy.

People keep forgetting that the original FBI investigation into Russian collusion didn’t end with any action on its part; it was the Mueller investigation that proceeded with it, and it determined that there was Russian interference in the election to aid Trump, and there were indications that people associated with the Trump campaign did show an interest in Russian “assistance.”

Yet the Durham investigation focused on alleged FBI malfeasance, and all that was ever found worthy of punishment was the finding not by Durham but by the Justice Department inspector general, who determined that FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith had falsely claimed—in an email used for a FISA request to put Carter Page under surveillance for suspected ties to Russian operatives—that Page was not working as a source for another intelligence agency, meaning the CIA.

Of course what we know about Page is that he was a swellhead who worked for the Trump campaign and claimed to have close associations with Russian power players. Of course it was convenient for him that the Russians who knew him didn’t consider him of much importance, and he had little “intelligence” information to share for anyone, including the CIA—which was hoodwinked by Page’s claims, and he rightly wasn’t compensated for his “work.”

Clinesmith pleaded guilty to one of count of making a false statement and was sentenced to 2 years of probation. He hadn’t acted “maliciously,” since the Russians were committing election interference and people attached to the Trump campaign had expressed interest in Russian help—as seen in the infamous Trump Tower meeting. Durham had little to do with this case that didn't lead to a prison sentence, but we'll give him enough "credit" to call it a foul ball and say he is 0 and 1 on the count.

The investigation was a joke from the beginning, with the separate intelligence agencies battling amongst each other about who could see whose reports, and Durham suddenly interested in leaks that had nothing to do with anything. Despite his involvement in prior intelligence agency investigations, Durham otherwise had no qualifications to properly assess intelligence data himself. National Security lawyer Bradley Moss joined many others is blasting Durham and his investigation, which probably deserves to be investigated itself for it politicized  genesis and its fraudulent use of taxpayer money. Moss noted that Durham’s lack of competence was previously revealed, tweeting

Poor John Durham. Leads investigation into CIA destruction of interrogation tapes. Brings no charges. Leads investigation into CIA enhanced interrogation techniques. Brings no charges. Leads the 'make Trump feel better' investigation. Gets laughed out of court twice."

The first time, of course, was when attorney Michael Sussman was acquitted of one count of lying to the FBI. Durham’s case was summed-up best by the jury forewoman after six hours of deliberation, just to make sure they got a lunch break: "I think we could have spent our time more wisely." An 0 and 2 count now.

Well of course Durham kept his “strongest” case for last, and this time he was going to lead the prosecution. All the right-wing media types were certain that this was “it,” and were already salivating over the expected “victory” over the “deep state” operatives trying to crush Trump. A think tank specialist in Russian affairs, Igor Danchenko, was accused of knowingly passing false information to Christopher Steele for his infamous dossier, which Steele has defended in the past. Danchenko’s defense successfully argued that he never gave the impression that the information he found was anything other than “rumors” or hearsay evidence given by third-parties, and was “shocked” that Steele would imply that the information was anything more than that.

Further, Danchenko warded-off the charge that he lied about his sources, when it was pointed out that he had previously stated he had reasonable inferences as to who one of his main sources was, a person who happened to be a Trump supporter, Sergei Millian, once head of the Russian-American Chamber of Commerce. Danchenko’s legal team didn’t provide a defense, relying instead on discrediting every witness that Durham put forth, and allowing the jury to make its own judgment on Durham’s overheated court assertions that seemed to exaggerate Danchenko’s “crimes.”

Some observers, like Politico, claimed that the trial revealed mistakes made by the FBI, but we didn’t need a $6 million investigation to know that; the Justice Department inspector general Michael Horowitz had already determined that, and Durham’s investigation was essentially just Trump’s own “witch hunt.” After Danchenko’s acquittal on all charges, Harvard’s Lawrence Tribe told Newsweek that Barr comes out of this just as bad; Durham’s "groundless mission has now failed yet again, putting yet another dismal marker on William Barr's shameful record as Trump's henchman and the worst Attorney General in our nation's history."

Strike three. If Durham has any sense, he will admit he struck out and go back to the bench. We can expect a final report detailing the errors the FBI made in giving credibility to unsubstantiated reports, even if they had credible evidence that Russian interference was occurring and that Trump associates were in contact with suspected Russian operatives; although “collusion” with Trump associates couldn’t be proved, we do know that Roger Stone was in contact with Julian Assange of WikiLeaks who was certainly colluding with Russian hackers; are we supposed to believe that Stone didn’t know that?

In any case, the Durham investigation is what it is, and what it is was a fraud from the moment it was conceived in the mind of Trump and his henchman Barr. If there is any evidence of misuse and abuse of power, this shows us yet again that Trump is the “master” of it.