Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

Wake up. Grow up. Get in the fight.

Fight for a just cause, love your fellow man, live a good life.

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

Trumpflation is an intolerable hardship for every American, and it’s Trump’s fault.

Shut up, hissy kitty!

Boeing: repeatedly making the case for high speed rail.

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

Trump’s cabinet: like a magic 8 ball that only gives wrong answers.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

You come for women, you’re gonna get your ass kicked.

There are some who say that there are too many strawmen arguments on this blog.

They want us to be overwhelmed and exhausted. Focus. Resist. Oppose.

I have other things to bitch about but those will have to wait.

Never give a known liar the benefit of the doubt.

When they say they are pro-life, they do not mean yours.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Excellent Links / Repub Venality Open Thread: Bill Barr & John Durham In Cahoots

Repub Venality Open Thread: Bill Barr & John Durham In Cahoots

by | 106 Comments

This post is in: , , ,

Actual reporters Charlie Savage, Adam Goldman and Katie Benner — “How Barr’s Quest to Find Flaws in the Russia Inquiry Unraveled” (Gift link):

… Egged on by Mr. Trump, Attorney General William P. Barr set out in 2019 to dig into their shared theory that the Russia investigation likely stemmed from a conspiracy by intelligence or law enforcement agencies. To lead the inquiry, Mr. Barr turned to a hard-nosed prosecutor named John H. Durham, and later granted him special counsel status to carry on after Mr. Trump left office.

But after almost four years — far longer than the Russia investigation itself — Mr. Durham’s work is coming to an end without uncovering anything like the deep state plot alleged by Mr. Trump and suspected by Mr. Barr.

Moreover, a monthslong review by The New York Times found that the main thrust of the Durham inquiry was marked by some of the very same flaws — including a strained justification for opening it and its role in fueling partisan conspiracy theories that would never be charged in court — that Trump allies claim characterized the Russia investigation.

Interviews by The Times with more than a dozen current and former officials have revealed an array of previously unreported episodes that show how the Durham inquiry became roiled by internal dissent and ethical disputes as it went unsuccessfully down one path after another even as Mr. Trump and Mr. Barr promoted a misleading narrative of its progress.

– Mr. Barr and Mr. Durham never disclosed that their inquiry expanded in the fall of 2019, based on a tip from Italian officials, to include a criminal investigation into suspicious financial dealings related to Mr. Trump. The specifics of the tip and how they handled the investigation remain unclear, but Mr. Durham brought no charges over it.

– Mr. Durham used Russian intelligence memos — suspected by other U.S. officials of containing disinformation — to gain access to emails of an aide to George Soros, the financier and philanthropist who is a favorite target of the American right and Russian state media. Mr. Durham used grand jury powers to keep pursuing the emails even after a judge twice rejected his request for access to them. The emails yielded no evidence that Mr. Durham has cited in any case he pursued.

– There were deeper internal fractures on the Durham team than previously known. The publicly unexplained resignation in 2020 of his No. 2 and longtime aide, Nora R. Dannehy, was the culmination of a series of disputes between them over prosecutorial ethics. A year later, two more prosecutors strongly objected to plans to indict a lawyer with ties to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign based on evidence they warned was too flimsy, and one left the team in protest of Mr. Durham’s decision to proceed anyway. (A jury swiftly acquitted the lawyer.)…

Mr. Trump would repeatedly portray the Mueller report as having found “no collusion with Russia.” The reality was more complex. In fact, the report detailed “numerous links between the Russian government and the Trump campaign,” and it established both how Moscow had worked to help Mr. Trump win and how his campaign had expected to benefit from the foreign interference.

That spring, Mr. Barr assigned Mr. Durham to scour the origins of the Russia investigation for wrongdoing, telling Fox News that he wanted to know if “officials abused their power and put their thumb on the scale” in deciding to pursue the investigation. “A lot of the answers have been inadequate, and some of the explanations I’ve gotten don’t hang together,” he added.

While attorneys general overseeing politically sensitive inquiries tend to keep their distance from the investigators, Mr. Durham visited Mr. Barr in his office for at times weekly updates and consultations about his day-to-day work. They also sometimes dined and sipped Scotch together, people familiar with their work said…

After Mr. Sussmann’s acquittal, Mr. Barr, by then out of office for more than a year, suggested that using the courts to advance a politically charged narrative was a goal in itself. Mr. Durham “accomplished something far more important” than a conviction, Mr. Barr told Fox News, asserting that the case had “crystallized the central role played by the Hillary campaign in launching as a dirty trick the whole Russiagate collusion narrative and fanning the flames of it.”

And he predicted that a subsequent trial, concerning a Russia analyst who was a researcher for the Steele dossier, would also “get the story out” and “further amplify these themes and the role the F.B.I. leadership played in this, which is increasingly looking fishy and inexplicable.”

That case involved Igor Danchenko, who had told the F.B.I. that the dossier exaggerated the credibility of gossip and speculation. Mr. Durham charged him with lying about two sources. He was acquitted, too.

The two failed cases are likely to be Mr. Durham’s last courtroom acts as a prosecutor. Bringing demonstrably weak cases stood in contrast to how he once talked about his prosecutorial philosophy.

James Farmer, a retired prosecutor who worked with Mr. Durham on several major investigations, recalled him as a neutral actor who said that if there were nothing to charge, they would not strain to prosecute. “That’s what I heard, time and again,” Mr. Farmer said…

Durham’s reputation, however it might have been deserved, falls victim to the notorious Everything Trump Touches Dies curse. Bill ‘Ever Lower’ Barr, lifelong Republican operative, had very little credibility to lose, but explicitly covering up international criminal activity to protect his latest capo won’t look good in future biographies.

Reader Interactions

106Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    James Farmer, a retired prosecutor who worked with Mr. Durham on several major investigations, recalled him as a neutral actor who said that if there were nothing to charge, they would not strain to prosecute. “That’s what I heard, time and again,” Mr. Farmer said

    Hearsay vouching of creditability?

  3. 3.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Baud: counter point

    But Robert Luskin, a criminal defense lawyer and former Justice Department prosecutor who represented two witnesses Mr. Durham interviewed, said that he had a hard time squaring Mr. Durham’s prior reputation as an independent-minded straight shooter with his end-of-career conduct as Mr. Barr’s special counsel.

    “This stuff has my head spinning,” Mr. Luskin said. “When did these guys drink the Kool-Aid, and who served it to them?”

    Pope Benedict? they were in Italy together

    But the two shared a worldview: They are both Catholic conservatives and Republicans, born two months apart in 1950. As a career federal prosecutor, Mr. Durham already revered the office of the attorney general, people who know him say. And as he was drawn into Mr. Barr’s personal orbit, Mr. Durham came to embrace that particular attorney general’s intense feelings about the Russia investigation..

  4. 4.

    Urza

    @Baud: The House will be happy to open another investigation into Benghazi and a separate one into the email servers, and yet another into her role in stealing 2016 as their way of apologizing.

  7. 7.

    JPL

    @Baud: I expect Durham’s final report will implicate Hillary.   Just because I didn’t find proof, doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.

    He still wants to be on Fox.

  9. 9.

    JPL

    @Baud: It’s a BFD but MSM has other topics to cover.   I fear the NYTimes investigation into Durham will reach the same fate.

  11. 11.

    JPL

    FYI If you have a subscription to the NYTimes, use the give feature to pass the article on to friends and family.

  13. 13.

    MattF

    The article attempts to explain just how Durham was mesmerized by Barr into breaching all of his professional standards, but doesn’t succeed. It’s a mystery.

  15. 15.

    different-church-lady

    the main thrust of the Durham inquiry was marked by some of the very same flaws — including a strained justification for opening it and its role in fueling partisan conspiracy theories that would never be charged in court — that Trump allies claim characterized the Russia investigation.

    Every accusation is…

  18. 18.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Baud: She was wronged by

    The media
    BS
    And her own demographic who voted for the Orange Error over her.
    Me (I could have voted for her if I had started my citizenship process in early 2016 instead of 2017)

  19. 19.

    narya

    @Baud: Yes. Either on the Jack podcast or another one, either McCabe or Weissman said basically that they avoided doing any kind of socializing in public precisely to avoid that kind of gossip-mongering.

  20. 20.

    Sure Lurkalot

    Emptywheel:
    As crazy as this article is–it includes ANOTHER example of Billy trying to protect Trump from investigation, Trumped up investigation into Soros, and prosecutors quitting–It doesn’t include the entirety of the wildly unethical things Durham did.

    I tried to follow Marcy on the Durham beat…bless her heart, she did cover it thoroughly and extensively. But honestly, everything you write does not have to throw every pivotal and tangential point against the wall to see if there’s some wormhole.

    As I mentioned in a previous thread, I don’t know why she often feels the need to express that other people’s work is deficient compared to hers. It’s off putting.

  24. 24.

    MattF

    @schrodingers_cat: I do agree that you can’t deny that the RW campaign to establish Clinton as the Embodiment of Satanic Evil is a major part of the story, but that can’t be the whole story.

  25. 25.

    Kent

    More proof to the axiom that EVERYONE and I mean EVERYONE who comes into the Trump orbit ends up horribly tainted and with diminished integrity.   Latest on the list is Durham.

    Show me one single example of anyone who worked for Trump at any level, or was part of Trump’s or I’d, who didn’t wind up diminished and tainted.   Anyone?

    The only one you might suggest as an exception is Pence.  But that was because he was so diminished before he even got on the ticket.  He was apparently so disliked in Indiana that he was liable to lose re-election.  He doesn’t come out looking good, just not as diminished as the rest.

  26. 26.

    Betty

    I was wondering about Durham before this when he didn’t pursue the CIA guys who destroyed evidence of torture.

  27. 27.

    MattF

    @Kent: Yes, but the people around Trump are just as guilty. They all knew that he’s a psychopath. E.g. Lindsey Graham.

  28. 28.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Baud: Thanks. I feel bad that I didn’t do everything that I could do. I didn’t canvass for her either which I did for Obama in 2012. I was busy house hunting and moving during that summer and fall

    It was inconceivable to me that she would lose to that frightful unqualified moron.

  30. 30.

    WaterGirl

    @JPL: Anyone who is reading this post can pass along the gift link that Anne Laurie posted.  And I think you may have posted one earlier today?

    If someone shares a gift link with you, you can pass it on to others, and they can pass it on to others.

  31. 31.

    Scout211

    @Kent: I dunno, if those people signed on to work with Trump in any capacity, they were already pre-diminished once they agreed to work for him. Pence included.

    Added:  As MattF wrote at #27, they all knew exactly who Trump was and is.

  32. 32.

    Betty Cracker

    Thank you for highlighting the article. I read it earlier and was absolutely appalled, and that’s saying something after several years of… [gestures vaguely at rubble] this. Ifill’s tweet nails it.

  37. 37.

    Alison Rose

    Since it’s an open thread…

    Hello, friends. I is here, ta-da. Mainly because I need to vent…or scream…or something, and this is usually where I do that sort of thing. You lucky bastards.

    I’ve mentioned before that my father has bladder cancer. He’d been doing a little better on chemo, but last fall he started getting worse and until a few days ago had been back and forth between the hospital and Post-Acute clinic for a month. The cancer has continued to metastasize, and there are necrotic cells in the masses, which was causing numerous infections. And it also means he cannot get back on chemo.

    Basically, there’s nothing else they can do for him, so this past Monday, they moved him back to my parents’ apartment and he is on hospice care. We have no idea how much time he has. But he’s 80 years old with untreatable cancer, so…you know. It’s incredibly scary and difficult, and made more so for me by the fact that even though I only live a couple miles from them, I can’t go there to see him, because of my intractable agoraphobia and panic disorder. We’ve done a few Zoom calls, but that’s not the same. And I feel like the world’s worst child. And I feel like I deserve to feel that way.

    (Please do not make suggestions. I’ve been dealing with this for a few years now and it’s only gotten worse. I’ve tried therapy, multiple medications, mindfulness, etc. None of that works. And I can’t just power through it. When I talk about panic attacks, it’s not what other people often mean. It’s more akin to a full-body seizure than anything else. I’ve been taken to the ER multiple times in the past, and it’s the most terrifying thing I’ve ever been through. It isn’t “I’m scared and nervous” —  it’s more like “Every muscle in my entire body is locked and frozen, including those needed to speak and breathe”. I know people might think they know the ONE WEIRD TRICK that will work. But believe me: You do not.)

    My parents understand what I’m dealing with and have never made me feel bad about it, but I still do. I hate the fact that I’m not going to see him in person again, that he’ll be gone and I won’t have been by his side to say goodbye. I don’t know how to forgive myself for that, especially because all of my mental health shit stems from other physical health issues in my past that were partially my own fault and that have ended up now transforming me from my parents’ most attentive and helpful child to one who can’t even visit her dying father in the same zip code.

    I don’t know what I’m looking for here. Probably nothing. It’s just that I don’t have anywhere else to babble about all of this. I don’t want to do it on Facebook beyond just giving people a basic update, because I don’t want to burden my family with it, and because I have a number of FB friends who are the type who simply cannot resist offering “helpful ideas” no matter how clearly I state my disinterest in them. So instead your prodigal bitch has returned so she can feelingsdump on all of you. So I guess thanks for letting me do so. And thank you to anyone who has asked about me–it’s been passed along and was very appreciated.

    Also too, Bill Barr can fuck off into the sun.

  38. 38.

    Kent

    @MattF: Of course they are.  But this is all proof that you can’t do good by serving a bad master.  It is impossible.  There were apparently folks who thought that their sober experience might help rein in Trump and that they could do good despite him.  They were all proven to be horribly wrong.

  39. 39.

    Princess

    I’m shocked that a guy whose hobby in high school was beating up on Jewish kids would turn out to be a crooked AG.

  41. 41.

    Bill Arnold

    @Kent:

    Show me one single example of anyone who worked for Trump at any level, or was part of Trump’s or I’d, who didn’t wind up diminished and tainted. Anyone?

    Trick answer: Stephen Miller.
    Also, IMO, Dan Scavino.

  46. 46.

    eclare

    @Alison Rose:   I’m so sorry you have to deal with this.  I had a panic attack like you describe once, as I was driving.  Luckily my parents could come get me, it was that or 911.  Like you said, terrifying.

  48. 48.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @JPL:

    MSM hasn’t mentioned it yet, but I’m not surprised, since it is quite lengthy.

    The MSM hasn’t mentioned it….? who do you mean by MSM? I mean, it’s a New York Times article. If they’re not the “MSM”, who is?

    Also, Nicolle Wallace spent the better part of an hour on it. I guess you could argue she is not, in fact, the MSM. I don’t know how strong her ratings are.

  52. 52.

    Kent

    @Bill Arnold: Well, in the case of Stephen Miller you have a pre-diminished individual who Trump granted immense power.  So I guess that is a special case.  Although I would argue that Trump made him worse simply by giving him the keys to the car.  No one sane does that.

  53. 53.

    Nelle

    @Alison Rose: Dumping here is fine by me.  It’s a lot to hold in.  I’ve been around people in various degrees of panic disorder and it is witnessing he’ll.  I have nothing to offer except to say I’m listening.

  54. 54.

    frosty

    @Alison Rose: I am so sorry to hear the situation you are in. I have no helpful hints. I have nothing to offer to make you feel better. Make your Zoom calls, they’re the best you can do and they’re not nothing.

  58. 58.

    Emma from Miami

    @Alison Rose: ​Please, please be kind to yourself. Self-flagellation only leads to worse things. Do the best you can and give yourself breathing space. My prayers are with you.

  59. 59.

    MagdaInBlack

    @Alison Rose: I am sorry you’re going thru all this. Feel free to babble/vent, you need the outlet.

    I’m glad to see you back, despite the circumstances. ❤️

  61. 61.

    NotMax

    FYI.

    Trump declares himself the winner of his own club championship – in the Trumpiest way ever

    The former president said he played a strong round two days before the tournament, and decided that would count as his first-round score. Source

  64. 64.

    Citizen Alan

    @Scout211:  That’s why I hate Shitgibbon’s 3 scotus appointees so much.  The mere fact that they would accept his nomination to the Supreme Court under the circumstances they did demonstrates absolutely the total lack of character on the part of all 3 of them.  I just hope Anthony Kennedy lives a long time a long time so he can watch as Samuel alito overturns every single precedent with which he’s associated.  Just like that bitch Sandra Day O’Connor got to watch alito do the same thing to her legacy.

  66. 66.

    JPL

    I’m streaming Chris Hayes and he is covering the article and hopefully NBC national news will continue.

  67. 67.

    Brachiator

    @Alison Rose:

     We’ve done a few Zoom calls, but that’s not the same.

    I guess it’s not, but isn’t it wonderful that you have some means of connecting?

    It’s a tough situation, but you can only do what you can. Be creative with the limited constraints you have. And vent and take care of yourself, which is also part of the process.

  69. 69.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Alison Rose: So sorry to hear this.  A buddy of mine just found out his good friend with pancreatic cancer who had been doing okay, suddenly took a bad turn and passed away this morning.  My Mom was the same, good for 18 months then quickly spiraled and I wasn’t able to see her before she died.  Fuck cancer.  Wishing you the best.  Virtual hug or whatever you deem appropriate and comforting.

  70. 70.

    UncleEbeneezer

    Really good Legal AF episode where they discuss

    • Fani Willis- they believe indictment of big names: Trump, Giuliani etc. coming VERY soon and already in works based on Willis’ choice of words, framing etc.  They also discuss

    • Oathkeepers verdict

    • McGonigal corruption and the fact that

    • Trump’s documents are likely going to lead to criminal indictment but Biden/Pence’s will not (spoiler: Obstruction).

    They predict we will see indictments from Willis VERY soon (weeks), followed by Bragg (next few months) and then Jack Smith (Spring/Summer).

  71. 71.

    jonas

    Bill Barr has got to be one of the most fucking corrupt people to ever hold a cabinet-level position. The mind struggles to comprehend the extent and level of his dishonesty, hackery, and outright malevolence. And he pretended to be all huffy and offended when Democrats in Congress suggested he was a “mere factotum” for Trump. It was inaccurate. In the sense that it was far too kind to describe how horrible he was.

  72. 72.

    Baud

    @UncleEbeneezer:

    They predict we will see indictments from Willis VERY soon (weeks), followed by Bragg (next few months) and then Jack Smith (Spring/Summer).

     
    Ugh. Several months of the Internet complaining about DOJ’s lack of action.

  74. 74.

    JPL

    @Baud: haha  I thought Willis was days away, but that was so yesterday.  She always said that after the special Grand Jury she would take those results to the grand jury to decide.   I’ve haven’t seen anything to indicate that happened.

    Just an aside, when Fani first ran, my son said you need to watch her, because she’s good.

  81. 81.

    Kay

    @Alison Rose:

    Alison take this or leave this, but I think you should write your father a letter or letters about what he meant to you growing up. He can hold it in his hand and read it more than once and it will be in your hand, which will matter to a parent, IMO. Tell him a story about you and him- what you saw and felt. Be his most attentive and helpful child and give him that.

  82. 82.

    jonas

    @Alison Rose: ​
      This was hard to read. So sorry for you and your family. Peace and love.

    And totally second the sentiment about Barr. He can fuck off to another galaxy entirely.

  85. 85.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @JPL: Check out this clip.

    Michael Popok explains why he thinks Willis is going to indict very soon and she effectively signaled such to the judge (to allay the judge’s concerns over a delay).

  86. 86.

    jonas

    ITALIAN OFFICIALS: “No, but we do have credible evidence of Trump’s financial crimes.” Those crimes are still secret.

    The fuckery with the Italian tip is one of the most infuriating revelations of the whole story. The Italians reveal that they have evidence of Trump financial crimes. The DOJ starts looking into this, and then Barr runs around and coyly lets it slip that the SC on Russia is developing a “criminal investigation”. The part that he leaves out is that the subject IS TRUMP.

    Aaaargh! I can’t even…

  89. 89.

    brantl

    @Sure Lurkalot:  The only question that matters is: Is she right? Because if she is, then it’s in service of the truth, and I couldn’t care less if it’s off-putting, or not.

  93. 93.

    p.a.

    Billy “have another donut you fat fuck*” Barr: tRump ballwasher.

    “The fuckery with the Italian tip is one of the most infuriating revelations of the whole story. The Italians reveal that they have evidence of Trump financial crimes. The DOJ starts looking into this, and then Barr runs around and coyly lets it slip that the SC on Russia is developing a “criminal investigation”. The part that he leaves out is that the subject IS TRUMP.”

    *hockey reference

  98. 98.

    Jackie

    @Kay: What a wonderful idea! This day of electronics, we forget the simplicity of receiving a handwritten letter in the mail by someone we love that we can re-read over and over.

  100. 100.

    Ruckus

    @jonas:

    And totally second the sentiment about Barr. He can fuck off to another galaxy entirely.

    Can we send him to that other galaxy as soon as we figure out how to strap him to the nose of the launch vehicle? On the outside…..

  101. 101.

    Ruckus

    @Alison Rose:

    @Kay:

    Alison, I wish you well. And I think that Kay has a great idea here.

    You know the situation best so take any and all advise as that, just advice from friends.

  102. 102.

    Viva BrisVegas

    After reading those articles the phrase “Bullshit Durham” comes to mind.

    I can’t be the first, surely?

  103. 103.

    sab

    @Alison Rose:

    Relieved to see you back. You matter to this website.

    Very sorry for your Dad. I am 68. My Dad is 98 years old old. My mother died ten years ago.

    Older parents are from the letter generation. I agree with Kay that letters to them aren’t just letters. They are heartfelt communications and your parents will probably receive them as such.

    My stepson has serious anxiety issues, so serious that he resorted to years of self treatment with drugs. He is clean now with the appropriate medication.

    I will never be one to underestimate how difficult anxiety and agoraphobia are to deal with.

    I know I was a major irritant in stomping on your emoji unicorns. Nothing against you. I am glad you are back.

  106. 106.

    J R in WV

    @Alison Rose: ​
    As usual I’m late to this thread, and just want to say that you shouldn’t beat yourself up over your inability to travel to your father’s bedside. It is what it is, there’s nothing you can do to help you dad, he knows you love him and would be there if there was anything you could do and anyway you could travel there.

    Keep in touch, B-J has been a godsend to me since the covid plague spread over the land. It is my social life. We have had the next door neighbors visit once, more recently, and we had dinner next door on the other side around the solstice. So commenting here has been my way of being in touch with friends. And email with other friends.

    Best wishes from rural WV. We’re about to try to go out for dinner, nearly the first sit down restaurant meal since our anniversary before last… unless we chicken out. I do need to hit the pharmacy at least. We need to acquire a recliner, I need to keep my feet up more. And a couch to sit on with the dogs.

    On second thought, we did go out to dinner (sushi) and to a movie, there were one solo and one couple in the theater besides us, so low risk there. “She Said” was the great dramatic film, about Harvey Weinstein and his rape habit and the two women reporters who worked to uncover his horrible management.

Comments are closed.