Durham Investigation

Gern Blansten

https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/14/politics/durham-sussmann-filing/index.html

My FB feed is blowing up with tRumpsters yapping about this Durham bombshell. Mostly about how the media is ignoring it.

I wonder how the "vague, technical language" will turn out. 

Am I missing anything else? The right acts like they just discovered Hillary was planting evidence.

(CNN)Special counsel John Durham accused a lawyer for the Democrats of sharing with the CIA in 2017 internet data purported to show Russian-made phones being used in the vicinity of the White House complex, as part of a broader effort to raise the intelligence community's suspicions of Donald Trump's ties to Russia shortly after he took office.

The accusation -- which Durham couched in vague, technical language in a court filing late Friday -- has been seized upon by Trump and his supporters, who claim the former President was subjected to a smear campaign.

Durham says in the filing that Michael Sussmann, the Democratic lawyer, spoke about internet data related to Trump in a meeting with a federal agency, which sources say was the CIA, more than five years ago. Sussmann claimed the information "demonstrated that Trump and/or his associates were using supposedly rare, Russian-made wireless phones in the vicinity of the White House and other locations," according to the filing.

Durham's office said it found nothing to support the allegation. The special counsel also noted that the data showed a Russian phone provider connection involving the Executive Office of the President "during the Obama administration and years before Trump took office."

The data was compiled by a tech firm that had special access to the purportedly suspicious internet data through an "arrangement" with the US government, and that firm was in touch with Sussmann, according to the filing.

An executive at the tech company, Rodney Joffe, and his associates exploited this arrangement by mining domain name system traffic associated with the Executive Office of the President and other data "for the purpose of gathering derogatory information about Donald Trump," Durham's prosecutors wrote.

Gern Blansten

For the record...in my opinion people that break the law should be charged. I don't care who it is. 

It just seems like this investigation is trickling out minor shit and giving tRumpsters ammo.  

Gern Blansten

https://twitter.com/ghost_costello/status/1493415235914502149

Costello from the grave giving some insight....

static111

I have heard some of the same shit, but when I look into it it appears to be a nothing burger.  The allegation is that they were illegally spying on trump and falsifying information to make him look like collusion existed.  If true that is pretty bad.  However it does not appear that any of this can be substantiated.

Gern Blansten

https://twitter.com/mmcintire/status/1493425108588847110

Halifax2TheMax

It’s a desperate attempt at distraction. What was the other breaking news of the weekend? POOTWH knew well before the public at large knew that he was going to get dumped by his accounting firm. If this were truly fruit from the poisonous tree, there’d be an indictment issued via grand jury testimony. Plus, gym Jordan prattling on about Hillary and executions tells you everything you need to know. “Law and order.”

And if a certain poster doesn’t post it, it’s not an indictment or even remotely close to one.

Gern Blansten

https://twitter.com/rebeccaballhaus/status/1493594986310471680

Halifax2TheMax

I wish President Biden and AG Garland would fire Bull Durham and call it a day. You know, a little payback for DisBarred shuttering Team Mueller. After the midterms so the repub congress can froth and foam with hysteria.

Gern Blansten

https://twitter.com/AdamKinzinger/status/1493611071751532555

I can't figure Gabbard out...

Go Beavers

Gern Blansten said:

https://twitter.com/AdamKinzinger/status/1493611071751532555

I can't figure Gabbard out...

She says weird shit often about the "establishment" and also around foreign relations, which I guess is why she gets support from a lot of republicans. When they say they'd vote for her, I respond with how I like her stance on Medicare for all and switching to 100% renewables. Then it's crickets.

Go Beavers

static111 said:

I have heard some of the same shit, but when I look into it it appears to be a nothing burger.  The allegation is that they were illegally spying on trump and falsifying information to make him look like collusion existed.  If true that is pretty bad.  However it does not appear that any of this can be substantiated.

It's gaslighting from the right to perpetuate the lie that everything Trump - Russia was fabricated. Not only that, it was crooked Hillary doing everything Trump was accused of.

Halifax2TheMax

Gern Blansten said:

https://twitter.com/AdamKinzinger/status/1493611071751532555

I can't figure Gabbard out...

Trying to stay relevant and appeal to the libertarians and indies as some kind of "different" dem than the Soros controlled Deep State type dem.

HughFreakingDillon

here we go. facts don't matter. once that false cat's out of the bag, the magats will run with it and call it the next big conspiracy against the orange menace. 

static111

Go Beavers said:

static111 said:

I have heard some of the same shit, but when I look into it it appears to be a nothing burger.  The allegation is that they were illegally spying on trump and falsifying information to make him look like collusion existed.  If true that is pretty bad.  However it does not appear that any of this can be substantiated.

It's gaslighting from the right to perpetuate the lie that everything Trump - Russia was fabricated. Not only that, it was crooked Hillary doing everything Trump was accused of.

is this the #obamagate I have been waiting to hear about?

Gern Blansten

static111 said:

Go Beavers said:

static111 said:

I have heard some of the same shit, but when I look into it it appears to be a nothing burger.  The allegation is that they were illegally spying on trump and falsifying information to make him look like collusion existed.  If true that is pretty bad.  However it does not appear that any of this can be substantiated.

It's gaslighting from the right to perpetuate the lie that everything Trump - Russia was fabricated. Not only that, it was crooked Hillary doing everything Trump was accused of.

is this the #obamagate I have been waiting to hear about?

I think so...my feed is full of people stating that Hillary, Obama and Biden will all be in jail when it's over.

What a strange alternative universe that must be.

Bentleyspop

Gern Blansten said:

static111 said:

Go Beavers said:

static111 said:

I have heard some of the same shit, but when I look into it it appears to be a nothing burger.  The allegation is that they were illegally spying on trump and falsifying information to make him look like collusion existed.  If true that is pretty bad.  However it does not appear that any of this can be substantiated.

It's gaslighting from the right to perpetuate the lie that everything Trump - Russia was fabricated. Not only that, it was crooked Hillary doing everything Trump was accused of.

is this the #obamagate I have been waiting to hear about?

I think so...my feed is full of people stating that Hillary, Obama and Biden will all be in jail when it's over.

What a strange alternative universe that must be.

Remember these are the same QtRUmplicans that believe that gods orange gift won the election fair and square, that it was Antifa, BLM, and the FBI that attacked the U.S. Capitol, and that JFK Jr. alive.

tbergs

Gern Blansten said:

static111 said:

Go Beavers said:

static111 said:

I have heard some of the same shit, but when I look into it it appears to be a nothing burger.  The allegation is that they were illegally spying on trump and falsifying information to make him look like collusion existed.  If true that is pretty bad.  However it does not appear that any of this can be substantiated.

It's gaslighting from the right to perpetuate the lie that everything Trump - Russia was fabricated. Not only that, it was crooked Hillary doing everything Trump was accused of.

is this the #obamagate I have been waiting to hear about?

I think so...my feed is full of people stating that Hillary, Obama and Biden will all be in jail when it's over.

What a strange alternative universe that must be.

Yeah, but there are still people who think Trump is going to jail. I guess this is the flip side of the coin, although much less credible or fact based.

cblock4life

Trump is a master at diversion.  He very well may be Satan.  Wish I were a fly on the wall when FF falls over.  Would love to see who comes to get him. 

Gern Blansten

https://apnews.com/article/europe-russia-donald-trump-campaigns-hillary-clinton-c9b5a084fcd3b3aa8f064592648b0463

Good summary here..

WHY DID DURHAM’S CLAIMS CREATE SUCH A BUZZ?

Mostly because of a handful of paragraphs.

In the filing, Durham says Sussman in February 2017 presented officials at a U.S. government agency — the CIA — with information derived from internet traffic that Sussmann said showed that “Trump and/or his associates were using supposedly rare, Russian-made wireless phones in the vicinity of the White House and other locations.”

The Durham team said it has identified no support for those allegations, and said the “purportedly suspicious” data Sussmann was drawing from actually showed that internet traffic involving the Executive Office of the President and the Russian phone provider had begun at least as early as 2014 — when Barack Obama was in the White House.

The court filing says Sussmann relied on data gathered by a technology executive he worked with whose company, according to Durham, helped maintain servers for the White House.

The executive, Rodney Joffe, enlisted the help of computer researchers who were already analyzing large amounts of internet data through a federal government cybersecurity research contract, tasking them with mining information to establish an “inference” tying Trump to Russia, the court filing says. The researchers exploited domain name system internet traffic at locations including Trump Tower, Trump’s Central Park West apartment building and the Executive Office of the President, or EOP, Durham said.

The researchers were not “spying” on the Trump campaign in 2016 but were instead working at the request of federal officials to investigate Russian malware attacks that had targeted the U.S. government and the White House, said Jody Westby, a lawyer for one of the research scientists involved, David Dagon of the Georgia Institute of Technology.

The U.S. was on high alert at the time after the hacking of Democratic National Committee emails by Russian operatives. The data at issue was from the time Obama, not Trump, was in the White House, according to Westby.

“They were simply doing ... research of Russian attacks against U.S. entities, including the federal government,” Westby said, adding, “The motion is unfortunate because it offers a lot of confusing information that is not factually accurate.”

A spokesman for Joffe said in a statement published by several media organizations that Joffe is an “apolitical internet security expert” who has never worked for a political party and who legally provided access to internet traffic data.

mickeyrat

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/05/16/sussmann-trial-jury-picked/

Sussmann trial jury picked; opening statements set for Tuesday

In a criminal trial arising out of the 2016 presidential campaign, the lawyer is accused of lying to the FBI

By Devlin Barrett

Yesterday at 6:21 p.m. EDT|Updated today at 7:21 a.m. EDT

correction

An earlier version of this story said an FBI agent had pleaded guilty to altering a government email. It should have said an FBI lawyer pleaded guilty. This version has been corrected.

A jury is set to hear opening statements Tuesday in the trial of Michael Sussmann, a lawyer accused of lying to the FBI in 2016 when he brought the bureau allegations against Donald Trump.

After one day of questioning potential jurors, U.S. District Court Judge Christopher Cooper assembled a panel to hear the case brought by Special Counsel John Durham against Sussmann, a lawyer who represented Democrats, including the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign.

In September 2016, Sussmann brought potential evidence of computer communications between Trump’s company and a Russian bank. The lawyer is accused of lying when he claimed not to be bringing the information on behalf of any particular client, when prosecutors say he was working on behalf of the Clinton campaign and a technology firm executive.

The FBI looked into the computer allegation and decided there was nothing suspicious about the data. But Durham charged that Sussmann’s alleged deception caused the FBI to handle the tip more seriously than if they had known it was coming from a Democratic campaign. Sussmann has denied the charge and his lawyers insist even if he had lied about his clients, the lie was irrelevant because the FBI was well aware Sussmann worked for Democrats.

Throughout Monday’s voir dire, jurors were asked if they could set aside any strong feelings about the 2016 election and decide the Sussmann case based only on the evidence presented in court. At times, the discussion prompted frank exchanges.

“I remember the 2016 election was kind of a mess and there was a lot of shenanigans,” said one woman who said she strongly disliked Trump.

At another point, as a different prospective juror faced questions about the intensity of their political views, the judge reminded everyone what the case was not about.

“We’re not here to re-litigate the 2016 election,” said Cooper. “Donald Trump is not on trial. Hillary Clinton is not on trial.”

But by its very nature, the case will delve into some of the still-debated issues of the 2016 presidential campaign.

The false statements charge against Sussmann was brought by Durham, a holdover from the Trump administration who has spent years probing whether U.S. agencies unfairly investigated Trump’s 2016 campaign. The two-week trial will explore the often opaque world of campaign research, lawyers and the role the FBI played in that election, as Trump and Hillary Clinton vied for the presidency, and federal agents pursued very different investigations surrounding each of them.

The Sussmann case is the first of Durham’s special counsel work to go to trial. Previously, a former FBI lawyer pleaded guilty to altering a government email, and another trial is scheduled in the fall for a Washington-area researcher accused of lying to the FBI about how he gathered allegations against Trump in 2016.

Cropduster-80

Gern Blansten said:

For the record...in my opinion people that break the law should be charged. I don't care who it is. 

It just seems like this investigation is trickling out minor shit and giving tRumpsters ammo.  

I agree.

problem is both sides don’t play by the same rules. 

If a democrat breaks the law in some way, I’d be the first one to support whatever action is appropriate. When a Republican does it, it’s never admit, close ranks, and spin a counter narrative 

the result it democrats are “corrupt” and republicans are victims of fake news.  At this point until the GOP changes course the democrats have no choice but to play that game. Normal rules is a losing strategy