The New York Times reported, "Attorney General William P. Barr has assigned the top federal prosecutor in Connecticut to examine the origins of the Russia investigation, according to two people familiar with the matter, a move that President Trump has long called for but that could anger law enforcement officials who insist that scrutiny of the Trump campaign was lawful. John H. Durham, the United States attorney in Connecticut, has a history of serving as a special prosecutor investigating potential wrongdoing among national security officials, including the F.B.I.’s ties to a crime boss in Boston and accusations of C.I.A. abuses of detainees."
Time magazine lauded him (and rightly so) on August 26, 2009.
It reported, "In 1999 he was selected by Attorney General Janet Reno to probe law-enforcement corruption in Boston. Last year he was named by Attorney General Michael Mukasey to head the ongoing investigation into the destruction of CIA interrogation videotapes. Colleagues say Durham is thorough and cautious in deciding whether a case deserves to be prosecuted. But once he fixes on a target, the veteran lawyer usually catches his prey."
Indeed, Durham in 2000 got the 1968 murder convictions of Enrico Tameleo, Joseph Salvati, Peter J. Limone and Louis Greco vacated because they had been framed by the FBI.
Two years later, a judge gave retired FBI agent John J. Connolly Jr. 10 years in prison for helping Bulger by warning him in 1995 of a pending indictment.
Durham also helped secure a $101.7 million civil judgment against the government on behalf of the framed men and their families.
The New York Times also reported, "The department’s inspector general, Michael E. Horowitz, is separately examining investigators’ use of wiretap applications and informants and whether any political bias against Mr. Trump influenced investigative decisions. And John W. Huber, the United States attorney in Utah, has been reviewing aspects of the Russia investigation. His findings have not been announced."
Patience. Adults are in charge now. The exorcism has begun.
Sounds like a guy with a fundamental sense of justice. I have stated before that I don't expect much of anything to result from any investigation of what we know was illegal spying on the Trump campaign, and an effort to turn this malfeasance into a soft coup of the presidency based on the lies that were used to justify said spying. I sincerely hope I am wrong about this.
ReplyDeleteI just realized that the language I am using is the same kind I have used in the past in cases where I am talking to a patient or their family about a hopeless case of cancer.
The question this raises is just how much of a cancer is the political activism in our intelligence agencies? What is it going to take to extirpate it? Can it be done?
There is no such thing as a "soft coup". There are only successful or unsuccessful coups. the end result of a coup is the same whether it is done with subtle illegal use of FISA courts and rogue FBI agents or AK-47's and bayonets in the middle of the night.
DeleteGood point about the coup.
DeleteAnd the wording, I suppose.
Taking out the top level of the US govt and the previous administration as well as intelligence agencies of our allies is a little bit more complicated than mob cases that take decades.
It might take a bit of time. It's like all Mexican cartels x a million in complexity and danger.
Hillary alone presents a very present physical danger.
My guess is they are going surgery, chemo, and radiation to expunge the corruption. Horowitz, Dunham, and Huber should be successful and hope they are well protected. With Comey's wacky behavior, I wonder if he is setting the scene for admission to a mental facility rather than testify. Might be a safer plan.
DeleteI am sick and tired of our elected officials wasting the american citizens tax dollar.
DeleteWhat happened to we the people?
What happened to the apostrophe?
DeleteThe media that once lauded Durham will now turn on him. Quickly.
ReplyDeleteFBI director Wray seems to be a bad player in all of this and will try and block the truth at all costs. He needs to go.
Agree about Wray. From the beginning, I thought there was something odd about Wray's face and demeanor. It was shameful to see Wray and Horowitz before the Congressional committee saying there was no evidence of political bias. Even a 5th-grader could see the bias. Both men dealt a serious blow to their own reputations. And Huber reportedly hasn't even interviewed key witnesses (like Victoria Toensing's client).
Deletewray is worrying...but the exchange he had with ???? seems to have been misreported. wray could have revealed something BIG!!!
Deletebarr said that he was looking not just at the fbi for spying!!
wray addressed..with a lot of hesitation..ONLY “unauthorized” spying by THE FBI [Listen to the Questions!!] --he was not asked about LEGALITY...just whether it was AUTHORIZED
Barr was inferring both fbi and CIA were spying in his answer to sen shaheen [ " I’m not just talking about the FBI necessarily, but the intelligence agencies more broadly."] —and he said he was looking at whether the spying was legal [it can be illegal and "authorized"--see below] !! remember papadoppoulus said the ny times report on him being spied upon was accurate w one exception--he believed the woman that accompanied clinton foundation member josef mifsud was cia--NOT fbi!!
we know from the FISC ["spy court"] that there WAS illegal [but AUTHORIZED!!!] spying-- 85% of warrants issued by the fisc, under obama from 2011-2016 had “PROBLEMS”--legal issues…violations of of civil rights!! https://www.scribd.com/.../2016-Cert-FISC-Memo-Opin-Order...
so..to repeat--WRAY was trying to be VERY careful and precise...AND he may have even confirmed what barr alluded to--brennans cia, the SAME CIA that obama used to SPY on the senate, was SPYING on us citizens!!! ...
www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/...
The Washington Post logo ... that led to an extraordinary feud between Brennan and the Senate panel, which oversees his agency. ... Brennan despite a revelation the agency SPIED on a U.S. Senate ...
Wray? Thought his name was Wraith.
DeleteWray obviously thinks his 10 year term is inviolate, and therefore he can contradict his boss. I predict that Wray will not survive the very first attempt he makes to deflect or hinder the investigations that his boss is promoting.
DeleteWray will be gone by Labor Day.
I was wondering where in the swamp could they possibly find someone to investigate the swamp.
ReplyDeleteThe answer, of course, is someone who doesn't live in the DC swamp who has done this type of investigation before. I just didn't know they actually existed.
Like others, my expectations are modestly hopeful but not too high - but keeping expectations low has allowed me to be pleasantly surprised since November, 2016.
"but that could anger law enforcement officials who insist that scrutiny of the Trump campaign was lawful."
ReplyDeleteIf so, they should be happy to be "exonerated".
That was just NYT's way of saying, "We hate that this is happening."
Deletebut I heard that Trump and Kavanaugh and everyone else "investigated" for partisan reasons should be HAPPY to show their innocence!
DeleteBecause, as Durham knows, the FBI is never corrupt...
Are the angry law enforcement officials who publicly insisted they had done nothing wrong, obstructing Comey's brand of justice?
DeleteAlls I need to see is that photo of Stroke doing his Jack Nicholson/Vincent D’Onofrio imitation, and thoughts of socks and Master locks go runnin through my head. Threaten him with an extended stay up at Bruceton Mills and he’ll sing like a bird. Let’s get this party started.
ReplyDeleteI'm a little confused here. We were told that Huber and the OIG were the one/two punch. After the OIG report is published, Huber takes over and prosecutes to offenders. Now they've added a third actor to the play??? Hasn't Huber been working behind the scenes to prosecute the bad guys??? Why add another player at this late date? I don't get the strategy here??
ReplyDeleteHit 'em with all you've got.
DeleteMy take is that Huber was a Sessions decision, and that if one were to infer that he had the same fighting spirit as Sessions (none) there would be little to expect out of him, which is perfectly reasonable seeing that the product of his involvement has been until now a cumulative nullity. This other fellow has a track record of results in going after the very kind of corruption we are seeing in the govt now.
DeleteYou'd think that Barr would remove Huber if he isn't doing his job. I still don't trust this process -- "Show me the money!!!" AKA the indictments.
DeleteI hope he has some good protection. Arkancide looms.
ReplyDeleteTo the bunglers who headed up the Mueller "Investigation", President Trump says:
ReplyDelete"Watch and learn, clowns. Watch and learn."
I've read that while Durham went after many FBI agents, he let the head of the FBI walk free--that person being Mueller. If true, I have mixed feelings about his appointment.
ReplyDeleteOne thing is certain, though: Up until now--and with the renewed attacks on Barr, he has not been willing to just sweep everything under the rug. But let's see if Barr let's someone else do the sweeping.
I was somewhat surprised that MuellerWeissmann didn't continue the SpyGate work of framing the president/family.
DeleteNow I'm wondering if Durham's presence warded off this fate--he was investigating Baker in Oct 2018 and has been looking into SpyGate for "a few weeks" (?)...
Hope Mueller is caught up.
Techno Fog thread is good: https://twitter.com/Techno_Fog/status/1127339290747383809
Excellent points, chauchat. And thank you for the link connecting Mueller to the coverup of the nest of FBI crooks in Boston. This also ties into the Whitey Bulger case, which Mueller also tried to cover up the parts that reflected badly on the FBI.
DeleteMore detail on some the connections between Mueller and the Whitey Bulger mess can be found in two articles in washingtonbabylon.com. Search for "Whitey Bulger And The FBI What Did Robert Mueller Know And When Did He Know It".
Some people speculate that Mueller actually had Bulger whacked.
My thoughts were exactly the same when I heard about Bulger. Mueller had Bulger transferred to that prison and set up the hit.
DeleteFrom 1956 to 1971, Hoover's FBI targeted Communists and student radicals for COINTELPRO spying. Sadly, even Rev. King.
ReplyDeleteThe student radicals of the 70's eventually long-marched their way into power: Obama, Clinton, Holder, Brennan, Ohr, Comey--even Christopher Steele, campus Commies all.
They essentially revived COINTELPRO and aimed it in the other direction, at conservatives, opponents and Donald Trump.
Spy-Gate is the New COINTELPRO, with high-tech tools Hoover only dreamed of.
I believe the prosecutor and chief resistor to the reversal of the convictions of the four guys who got or their families got over $100 million from the government was one Robert Mueller. Barr's choice is brilliant!
ReplyDeleteGITMO!
ReplyDeleteI will be giving the progress of this a little side eye from time to time. If someone involved with this coup does the perp walk, I will be like a meerkat on the prairie.
ReplyDeleteI'll keep my hopes up despite his being from CT and despite his being appointed by Janet Reno.
ReplyDeleteSurprise! Missed by the media. He has spent 7 months investigating leaks and now AG Barr has him looking at the origins of the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax. This calms me a bit since it looked like nothing was happening about the conspiracy against the President.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2019/05/14/new_russiagate_prober_evidently_has_haunted_fbi_for_months.html
I'm so frustrated! It's going to take another two years now to get this settled. We all know what has happened and yet they all walk around free. Makes me angry
ReplyDeleteUnderstandable. However, picture a steady flow of perp walks of major Dims later this year and running up close to the election. The damage will be enormous to the Dims. Not even the mdeia will be able to ignore the problem, no matter how much they wish they could.
DeleteI'm expecting some from the media to be doing perp walks. Put 'em on a C-17 to GITMO.
So did anyone get prosecuted for the missing CIA tapes? If they did I didn't hear about it. Nothing substantial will come of this, either. We have a gross power imbalance in this country and the powerful don't feel the need to pretend fairness anymore. We've long had a cultural dictatorship and now because of mass immigration, supported by Republicans to this very day, we're going to have an actual political dictatorship. Get used to it. It's the inevitable result of tolerating mass immigration.
ReplyDeleteWhitey was whacked by the state in prison and high ranking USDOJ and FBI officials were protected.
ReplyDeleteHow deep is the cancer?
Deep enough for a 911 Commission member to cut illegal side deals with Iran for 6 years and not get prosecuted.
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/schlumberger-oilfield-holdings-ltd-agrees-plead-guilty-and-pay-over-2327-million-violating-us
Deep enough to put an illegal alien in the Whitehouse and 2 in the US Senate.
Whitey whacked in Hazelton, WV
DeleteThis prosecutor has upset both Brennan's 'Torture programs and exposed the 'Bulger/FBI falsely blaming 4 innocent people into 30 year prison sentences. Brennan and Mueller know exactly who the Prosecutor is and it is bad news for Brennan and Mueller
ReplyDeleteI really pray that this is not just a dog and pony show! The perpetrators that tried to illegally destroy a presidency, have to be brought to justice,so this can NEVER happen again!
ReplyDeletewhere is the media group in all of this? the fact of the matter is that there is a big wing involve, they are for the most part in charge of influencing on the people's conclusion and the final outcome of the issue itself.
ReplyDelete