Rantburg

Today's Front Page   View All of Thu 04/25/2024 View Wed 04/24/2024 View Tue 04/23/2024 View Mon 04/22/2024 View Sun 04/21/2024 View Sat 04/20/2024 View Fri 04/19/2024
2020-04-06 -Lurid Crime Tales-
John Durham investigation intensifies focus on John Brennan
[Washington Examiner] U.S. Attorney John Durham’s review of the Russia investigation is putting increased scrutiny on former CIA Director John Brennan, searching for any undue influence he may have had during 2017’s intelligence community assessment of Russian interference.

Durham, selected by Attorney General William Barr last year to lead this inquiry, drove to Washington, D.C., in March to ensure the investigation stayed on track during the coronavirus outbreak. The top Connecticut federal prosecutor is looking into highly sensitive issues, including whether Brennan took politicized actions to pressure the rest of the intelligence community to match his conclusions about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s motivations, according to sources cited by the Wall Street Journal.

Officials said Durham has been interviewing CIA officials this year, zeroing in on those at the National Intelligence Council, a center within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence which oversaw the collaboration between the CIA, FBI, and National Security Agency in putting together the 2017 assessment, and looking at how the work product was finalized.

The 2017 assessment concluded with "high confidence" that Putin "ordered an influence campaign in 2016" and Russia worked to "undermine public faith" in U.S. democracy, "denigrate" former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and "harm her electability and potential presidency," and "developed a clear preference" for Trump. The NSA diverged on one aspect, expressing only "moderate confidence" that Putin actively tried to help Trump win and Clinton lose.

"I wouldn’t call it a discrepancy, I’d call it an honest difference of opinion between three different organizations," former NSA chief Adm. Mike Rogers told the Senate in 2017. "It didn’t have the same level of sourcing and the same level of multiple sources."

Durham has interviewed Rogers and is also reportedly reviewing Brennan’s handling of a secret source said to be close to the Kremlin. The prosecutor wants to know what role that person's information played in the assessment.

Durham is also scrutinizing Brennan in relation to British ex-spy Christopher Steele’s dossier. In particular, the prosecutor is looking for answers on whether it was used in the 2017 assessment, why former FBI Director James Comey and former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe insisted upon it being part of the assessment, how allegations from the dossier ended up in the assessment's appendix, and whether Brennan misled about the dossier’s use.
Posted by Besoeker 2020-04-06 10:00|| || Front Page|| [13 views ]  Top

#1 Your indictments and formal charges please. Your indictments please.
Posted by Besoeker 2020-04-06 10:08||   2020-04-06 10:08|| Front Page Top

#2 Durham has to go there so he can issue a report saying there's no there there...
Posted by M. Murcek 2020-04-06 10:36||   2020-04-06 10:36|| Front Page Top

#3 So far, we've seen nothing so far except some people around Trump prosecuted and convicted of "process" crimes--And it seems these process crimes were made up in the witch hunt.
Posted by JohnQC 2020-04-06 10:48||   2020-04-06 10:48|| Front Page Top

#4 I'm hoping for an October Surprise. Or twenty.
Posted by Bobby 2020-04-06 12:05||   2020-04-06 12:05|| Front Page Top

#5 The impact of any charges would be buried in the pandemic wall—wall coverage so a delay is reasonable, regardless of partisan advantage. But if Johnnie-boy doesn’t do the perp walk, all bets are off.
Posted by NoMoreBS 2020-04-06 12:38||   2020-04-06 12:38|| Front Page Top

#6 /\ My take as well, but with each passing day my hope for justice dims a bit more.
Posted by Besoeker 2020-04-06 12:45||   2020-04-06 12:45|| Front Page Top

#7 Hope Barr has an insurance policy...
Posted by Menhadden Peacock5674 2020-04-06 15:30||   2020-04-06 15:30|| Front Page Top

#8 Barr won't do jack.
Posted by Clem 2020-04-06 22:57||   2020-04-06 22:57|| Front Page Top

00:18 Beldar+Uneter3543
00:11 Skidmark









Paypal:
Google
Search WWW Search rantburg.com