How Barr’s Quest to Find Flaws in the Russia Inquiry Unraveled

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.

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.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/26/us/politics/durham-trump-russia-barr.html

To paraphrase the findings.......Billy the Bagman and 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 Individual 1. 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. No charges were filed. There were deeper internal fractures on the Durham team than previously known. Nora Dannehy, who's resignation was never explained, was over disputes between she and others on Durham's team related to prosecutorial ethics. As Durham works on a final report, the interviews by the NYT provide new details of how he and Billy sought to recast the scrutiny of the 2016 Trump campaign’s murky links to Russia as unjustified and itself a crime.

I saw Billy on Bill Maher's show the other day trying to justify the "exoneration" canard. Geez, what a disgraceful pig of a man.

 

Durham has made a fool of himself. And, in the process, has made a fool of clowns like Tucker, Hannity, the Breitbart people... and others, who claimed that he was going to PROVE their "Deep State Conspiracy" theory. Not to mention those who keep falling again and again for the nonsense those pseudo-journalists feed them.

 

Here we have the Repubs setting up an investigation in to the "weaponization" of government while the NYT's reporting shows how Trump and Barr did that very thing.

Against that backdrop (the failure to prove any wrongdoing), Barr and Durham did not shut down their inquiry when the search for intelligence abuses hit a dead end. With the inspector general’s inquiry complete, they turned to a new rationale: a hunt for a basis to accuse the Clinton campaign of conspiring to defraud the government by manufacturing the suspicions that the Trump campaign had colluded with Russia, along with scrutinizing what the F.B.I. and intelligence officials knew about the Clinton campaign’s actions.

 

The fact is that Mr. Durham got a great deal the fact that he was unable to obtain a conviction had to do with the
venue in which the trial occurred as one juror said we didn't care if the guy lied the important thing was to get Trump.

 

Weaponizing the government and HIDING possible illegal activity by Trump (in the case of the financial activity you mentioned)

But I'm sure any minute now, "fiscal responsibility" conservatives will be here commenting on how Barr and Durham BLEW $6.5 million on a pre-manufactured investigation.

 

You're kidding, right?

Please prove that. Which trial? And while you're at it, could you please find a list of the judges in the measly few cases that got as far as a court proceeding? Thanks much.

 

twas the first one.

 

The truth is there is zero evidence Trump 'colluded' with Russia and a ton of evidence that Joe Biden's family used their connections to him to make them all rich.

The left wing media just isn't interested.

 

The false narrative about Clinton described in the article (see post #3) explains quite a lot. I often wondered why members of The Following droned on about how it was Clinton, not Trump, who illegally conspired with the Russians during the 2016 campaign. The answer lies in the fact that Faux picked up on the theme and flogged it relentlessly. It's quite stunning how much disinformation spewed at Faux, or other right wing propaganda sites, finds its way to this board. It's just one component in the alternate reality Faux and RWM has created.

 

Barr appointed a Special Prosecutor to investigate the investigators. The reason you appoint a Special Investigator is to have them investigate independently. However, Barr met with Durham regularly to coordinate and give him orders as to what he WANTED the investigation to conclude. This moved HONEST investigators in the DOJ to resign.

If the Trump administration hadn't been the most corrupt in the nation's history, this would have been the political scandal of the century.

 

Not only did Durham update Billy regularly (inappropriate) they traveled to Europe together (inappropriate) looking for dirt Trump could use during the 2020 campaign. That kind of coordination between the AG and SC violates DoJ policy. Just another example of how Barr "weaponized" the DoJ for political purposes.

 

Hummm, I wonder whatever became of this "lil nugget"?

Durham was setup to fail by reality. Not enough spit to put a shine on that fact.

 

Based on the NYT reporting, Barr expanded the scope of Durham's investigation so looking in to the tip from Italy (a criminal investigation) could be kept out of the public's eye. However, the fact that a criminal investigation had begun was leaked to create the false impression it was focused on Trump's investigators. In fact it was Trump himself. No one knows what the investigation was about.

 

And, even though inappropriate, the trip would be justifiable to some extent because they DID find dirt. Problem is that the dirt was on Trump. So they buried it.

 

Well, hopefully, Garland won't sit on his hands and follow up. Financial crime and Trump seem like peas in a pod.

 

If we hadn't become immune to outrageous behavior in the era of Trump this story would be dominating the news cycle. The AG and his appointed SC conspired to keep a criminal investigation of the sitting prez a secret.

 

LOL, and then along came Elon and the Twitter files showing proof positive of a Deep State conspiracy, big time.

One of Trump's biggest mistakes was hiring the Deep State guy Bill Barr. He made his bones for the Deep State way back in Iran Contra.

 

They didn't need Elon. Barr and Durham already proved there was a Deep State. And Trump was behind it. Barr and Durham was just those implementing the weaponization.

And if the reporting is true (and I bet it is), then now Garland has PROOF of this.

 

They show nothing of the kind. Though I appreciate your need to believe it. If there is anything RWM is good at it's intermittently reinforcing old lies with new material.

On the other hand, the “Twitter Files” are a desperate attempt to legitimize a well-worn conservative narrative that the suppression of Hunter Biden’s “laptop from hell” proved collusion between the so-called deep state and social media companies. Tweets laced with allegations that former Twitter executives purposefully stopped aggressive moderation of child exploitation often subsume the Twitter replies, but the details of the “Twitter Files” do not seem to hold new revelations. Instead, they serve the purpose of demonizing Twitter’s former content moderation executives to make it seem like they were prioritizing the moderation of political disinformation above child exploitation. In the crosshairs, quite literally, are a handful of former employees tasked with “Trust and Safety,” tech speak for brand management. One of them, Yoel Roth, has fled his home amid death threats.

In fact, what the “Twitter Files” reveal is what we already knew about social media governance from the “Facebook Files”: Social media corporations spend a large amount of time and resources discussing how to bend the rules so that politicians and celebrity influencers don’t get suspended. To pretend that the “Twitter Files” illustrates internal political bias on behalf of the old regime is to ignore the reality that Musk’s new regime is much more politically motivated.
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/12/15/twitter-files-falling-flat-00073979

 

The Inspector General investigation is jot a criminal or intelligence investigation. It is to find abuse within the department and is very limited. What was found were those abuses and THAT required a special counsel. Several high level officials lost there jobs anemone plea bargained a felony. And the accusations against Clinton were and are true. What are you denying?

 

Failure.

Which one was the first one? Where's your proof about "it's all about getting Trump?" Link to a quote, please.

And where is that list of judges you claim are biased against Trump? He plays that victim card for his supporters over and over, and even he knows its bee ess.

You made claims, now please back them up with facts.

 

I'm going to wait from more confirmation from other sources, but if this is true, it's equal parts damning and unfortunately unsurprising.

 

Pretty much everything you wrote is nonsense.

 

Russian collusion was a lie, to begin with. It unraveled on it's on.

 

Trump and Barr felt Mueller's report was damaging enough to assign Durham to come up with something to counter it. He found zilch.