I haven’t had much hope for the investigation being conducted by prosecutor John Durham. Not because of anything particular to the Durham investigation, but we’ve been disappointed too many times before.
The guilty plea of an ex-FBI lawyer for falsifying a FISA document created the possibility that he was cooperating, and that there would be more to come. But still, after that plea:
The usual suspects are declaring the Durham investigation illegitimate and a nothingburger.I’ve been so dissapointed with Republican-led investigations that I’m not hoping for much more.But let me be very clear what I want to see: James Comey frog-marched in an orange jumpsuit, legs shackled and hands bound at his waste, leading a chain gang of Hillary Clinton, Susan Rice, Samantha Powers, and John Does Nos. 1-13, into the federal courthouse, with the unsealing of an indictment naming mysterious persons “Renegade” and “Celtic” as unindicted co-conspirators.You can’t take away my dreams.
There have been no announcements of more criminal charges. But there is a glimmer of hope. Someone is trying to discredit whatever it is that’s coming down the pike, which suggests that something is about to happen.
The Hartford Courant ran a shoddy piece of gossiping about a lawyer on the Durham team leaving supposedly because she didn’t like the political pressure on the probe. Or at least, that’s what the headline suggests, Nora Dannehy, Connecticut prosecutor who was top aide to John Durham’s Trump-Russia investigation, resigns amid concern about pressure from Attorney General William Barr.
But the actual article doesn’t prove the headline, at best it’s based on anonymous people speculating as to her motives for resigning (emphasis added, with my annotations in brackets):
Federal prosecutor Nora Dannehy, a top aide to U.S. Attorney John H. Durham in his Russia investigation, has quietly resigned — at least partly [so maybe not actually the reason, but a tiny part of the reason?] out of concern that the investigative team is being pressed for political reasons to produce a report before its work is done, colleagues said. [Which colleagues? How are they in a position to know?]Dannehy, a highly regarded prosecutor who has worked with or for Durham for decades, informed colleagues in the U.S. Attorney’s office in New Haven of her resignation from the Department of Justice by email Thursday evening. The short email was a brief farewell message and said nothing about political pressure, her work for Durham or what the Durham team has produced, according to people who received it….Colleagues [them, again] said Dannehy is not a supporter of President Trump and has been concerned in recent weeks by what she believed was pressure from Barr, who appointed Durham, to produce results before the election. They said she has been considering resigning for weeks, conflicted by loyalty to Durham and concern about politics.Durham is notoriously circumspect and neither he nor members of his team have revealed anything about the direction of their work. But Durham associates, none of whom have specific knowledge of the investigation [so people who don’t have actual knowledge], have said recently that it is their belief [so people who don’t have actual knowledge believe something, that’s not evidence of anything] he is under pressure to produce something — perhaps [in other words, pure speculation by people who don’t have actual knowledge] some sort of report — before the presidential election in November.The thinking of the associates [who cares what they think?], all Durham allies, is that the Russia investigation group will be disbanded and its work lost if Trump loses….Critics of the administration have accused it of trying to manipulate the Durham investigation to shore up the President’s poll numbers. [Just a nice wrap up political spin, in case you didn’t get the point of the article.]
Notice the wording I’ve highlighted. There is nothing to this report. Maybe Dannehy was concerned about political pressure, but the reporting doesn’t come anywhere close to proving that.
But it doesn’t matter, the headline was all Democrats and their media helpers needed to claim that anything that comes down from Durham is the result of political pressure.
Again, this is all based on rank speculation by people who don’t have direct knowledge of anything.
So what’s going on? Who is whispering in the Hartford Courant’s ear?
Someone or people who know something big is coming down, and want to discredit it in advance.
You can’t take away my dreams.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY