An announcement today from the U.S. District of Connecticut John Durham is a little perplexing.  According to the announcement USAO John Durham is resigning from office effective February 28.   However, there is no information about his prior appointment as special counsel to review the DOJ and FBI conduct in the Trump investigation.

Here’s the announcement:

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham released 11 transcripts of interviews conducted during the Senate Judiciary Committee’s inquiry into the origins and aftermath of the Crossfire Hurricane Investigation.  (press release)

1. Handling Agent 1: Interviewed on Tuesday, March 3, 2020 (Transcript)
2. Michael B. Steinbach: Interviewed on Friday, June 12, 2020 (Transcript)
3. Stephen C. Laycock: Interviewed on Monday, June 15, 2020 (Transcript)
4. Dana J. Boente: Interviewed on Monday, June 22, 2020 (Transcript)
5. Bruce Ohr: Interviewed on Tuesday, June 30, 2020 (Transcript)
6. Stuart Evans: Interviewed on Friday, July 31, 2020 (Transcript)
7. Supervisory Special Agent 1: [Joseph Pientka, the name no-one is allowed to repeat] Thursday, August 27, 2020 (Transcript)
8. Jonathan Moffa: Interviewed on Wednesday, September 9, 2020 (Transcript)
9. Deputy Chief, Counterintelligence and Export Control Section, Justice Department: Interviewed on Friday, September 18, 2020 (Transcript)
10. Case Agent 1: Interviewed on Friday, September 25, 2020 (Transcript)
11. Supervisory Intelligence Analyst: Interviewed on Thursday, October 29, 2020 (Transcript)

“The bottom line is that going forward we must have more checks and balances when it comes to political investigations. We must have more meaningful sign-offs on warrant applications, and we need to restore the trust to the American people in this system.”  – Press Release

Lots of reading to do… I shall be starting with #4 Dana Boente, the FBI legal counsel hired by FBI Director Chris Wray who was removed from his position by AG Bill Barr.

President Trump issued full pardons to 15 individuals and commuted part or all of the sentences of an additional five people, the White House announced Tuesday.

Included in the list are Duncan Hunter, a former GOP congressman from California, Chris Collins, a former GOP representative from New York and former Trump campaign advisor George Papadapoulous who was targeted by Robert Mueller as part of building the Russian conspiracy theory.

[Read White House Statement Here]

In May 2016 George Papadopoulos was contacted by two members of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA),Terrence Dudley and Greg Baker, working out of the U.S. embassy in London.

Two American spies working in London put Papadopoulos in contact with their ally/counterpart in the Australian Embassy, Erika Thompson. [ie. ‘unofficial channels’] After meeting with Downer’s aide, Erika Thompson on May 6th, she sets up a meeting between George Papadopoulos and her boss for May 10th.

On May 10th, 2016, Ms Erika Thompson and Mr. Alexander Downer then meet with George Papadopoulos.  After the meeting, Ambassador Downer reports back to the Australian government on his conversation with Papadopoulos. [document release]. It is from this May 10th, 2016, meeting where communication from Downer, July 26th, 2016, is referenced as the origin of Crossfire Hurricane July 31st.

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In an interview with the Washington Examiner, Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe explains the scale of declassified evidence he has produced to special counsel John Durham.

Whether Durham or AG Bill Barr does anything with the evidence is an unknown; however, according to Ratliffe there is enough detail in the evidence provided to show gross abuses of power by the FBI, DOJ and intelligence community under the Obama administration.  This aspect becomes important as you realize almost all of Joe Biden’s executive staff is from the identical pool of former Obama officials.

WASHINGTON DC – “Between my predecessor Richard Grenell in an acting capacity and myself, we have declassified most of the intelligence community documents that would be suitable for the public to see, that wouldn’t jeopardize sources and methods,” Ratcliffe said in a phone interview with the Washington Examiner on Thursday. “There are others, many many documents — I think it’s been out there that I’ve provided literally thousands of documents to John Durham, but many of those do contain sources and methods that we can’t make public for a number of reasons, including to jeopardize any investigation that’s going there. So I think the level of cooperation — I’ve given them everything that they’ve asked for.”

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It looks possible AG Bill Barr is trying to pull a sneaky fast-one against President Trump and the American people. Because what Barr is claiming to do, he really isn’t doing.

According to a stunning article by Associated Press, AG Bill Barr appointed John Durham as a special counsel on October 19th, and did not tell anyone.

[…]  Barr told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he had appointed U.S. Attorney John Durham as a special counsel in October under the same federal statute that governed special counsel Robert Mueller in the original Russia probe. He said Durham’s investigation has been narrowing to focus more on the conduct of FBI agents who worked on the Russia investigation, known as Crossfire Hurricane.

[…] “I decided the best thing to do would be to appoint them under the same regulation that covered Bob Mueller, to provide Durham and his team some assurance that they’d be able to complete their work regardless of the outcome of the election,” Barr said Tuesday. (Link)

Today the Attorney General notifies congress in a letter:

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Amid all of the election ramifications and discussions, Donald Trump Jr. outlined a thought today that has likely been on the mind of many, myself included.

I have spent a great deal of time thinking about this since the media began their insufferable onslaught and “president-elect Biden” narrative.  The time has long past for President Trump to fully demand his executive cabinet members declassify the evidence outlining intrusive government surveillance upon not only himself, but all Americans.

CTH has a rather unique perspective on the declassification angle. This conversation has traveled with me for over two years as I have talked to people inside the machinery. Ultimately the discussion ends around something like this:

Is the DC political surveillance state, and all of the ramifications within that reality, so fundamentally corrupt and against our nation’s interests, that no entity dare expose the scope and depth of it?  And ultimately… is it the preservation of institutions that is causing so many disconnected outcomes from evidence intentionally downplayed?

If we assume the scale of unconstitutional conduct has become systemic, that likely answers the questions.  Personally, I believe this is the most likely scenario.

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An interesting note from Catherine Herridge today outlines that DOJ official Bruce Ohr resigned from the FBI shortly before being terminated as a result of the IG report on his activity:

As TechnoFog notes, this resignation is likely tied to this Office of Professional Regulation announcement on July 24th of this year:

OPR received a referral from another Department entity regarding allegations that a senior Department attorney failed to apprise his supervisor of his interactions with a law enforcement agency and a source concerning the subject matter of an ongoing high-profile investigation.

Although the attorney eventually recognized the need to inform his supervisor, who was overseeing the investigation, of his involvement and provided some information about the general topic, the senior Department attorney failed to provide a complete disclosure of his role as a conduit of information between the source and the law enforcement agency. As a result, the supervisor was unaware of the attorney’s activities related to the investigation until learning of them through other means.

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Earlier this morning Senator Chuck Grassley (Senate Finance Committee Chairman), appeared with Maria Bartiromo to discuss conflicts for documents between the legislative oversight committees, and ongoing stonewalling efforts by current FBI Director Christopher Wray and current CIA Director Gina Haspel.

Senator Grassley and Senator Johnson are seeking the communication from former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe and officials within the DOJ and FBI surrounding the investigative targeting of candidate Trump and President Trump.  [LINK] Additionally, both Grassley and Johnson are seeking internal documents connected to former CIA Director John Brennan and current CIA Director Gina Haspel.

During the interview Grassley states the non-compliance with oversight may be due to former and current officials participating in a conspiracy to target the office of the president:

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The proverbial rabbit hole deepens…

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CTH is delayed in analysis of this story because we are a stickler for source document origination. For some unknown reason the originating document source is identified as ODNI, yet the documents themselves are not officially released.  That is not comforting, and points toward controlled messaging.

According to reports today, most citations returning to [Federalist and Fox News], the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, John Ratcliffe, has released the background documents (pertaining to an earlier declassification of documents) showing handwritten notes by CIA Director John Brennan briefing the White House and the CIA referral to the FBI -of Clinton coordinating the Trump-Russia narrative- for operation Crossfire Hurricane.

The two releases today would be connected to the earlier release (red boxes) to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Without an official originating source for the handwritten notes I am cautious to expand discussion.  The Federalist and Fox News appear to have received the notes.

The notes would pertain to a July 26, 2016, discussion between CIA Director John Brennan and an advisor to Hillary Clinton.  That discussion subsequently led Brennan to brief President Obama, Denis McDonough, Susan Rice and possibly James Comey on July 28, 2016, as noted by Brennan himself in a recent op-ed.

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Well, this is interesting….  very interesting…

U.S. Attorney John Bash, from the Western District of Texas, was given the responsibility by AG Barr of looking into the illegal unmasking by Obama-era officials in July of this year.  Not only the illegal unmasking of General Flynn, but more extensive unmasking.  Today Bash announced his abrupt resignation.  “Abrupt” because he announced today, and he leaves on Friday. However, he does say he informed Barr last month:

SAN ANTONIO, Tex. – U.S. Attorney John F. Bash announced today that he will resign from the Department of Justice on Friday, October 9, 2020, at 11:59pm. U.S. Attorney Bash issued the following statement:

This Friday—eight years to the day after I first joined the Department of Justice—I will step down as United States Attorney for the Western District of Texas.

Last month I accepted an offer for a position in the private sector and informed the Attorney General of my decision. I tendered formal letters of resignation to both the President and the Attorney General this morning.

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