John Durham: The low-profile Connecticut prosecutor leading a high-profile hunt for the origin of Trump collusion claims

Dec 04, 2019 at 6:00

U.S. Attorney John H. Durham was back in Connecticut for a retirement dinner earlier this fall and one of the other attendees observed, half facetiously, that he showed no obvious signs of bruising or broken bones.

When Attorney General William Barr put Durham at the center of the most contentious national controversy in years. He is digging into the origins the FBI’s counter-intelligence, Russia-collusion investigation of President Donald J. Trump’s 2016 campaign.

Durham, a career prosecutor with a gold-plated resume, will be excoriated no matter what he does. The president’s allies have created formidable expectations, predicting Durham will prove Democrats have maligned Trump with a succession of made-up controversies. Top Democrats are calling Durham a tool Trump is using for revenge.

Speculation increased last week with the impending release Monday of Justice Department Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz’s report..

Durham’s colleagues say there is no one better able to tune out the partisan noise. They predict he will immerse himself in the work and he may end up frustrating everyone.

“They opened Pandora’s Box, when they chose John,” said Bill Reiner, a retired FBI agent and longtime Durham colleague. “He is going to go wherever the evidence goes. And he does not care where it goes. There is no politics in John. There is no politics in anything he does.”

Durham hasn’t been a stranger to contention. He helped break up the New England Mafia,…

None of those cases ignited the partisan rancor associated with the so-called “investigation of the investigators,” especially after the stakes grew last month when it was widely reported that Durham and his hand-picked, inner circle of Connecticut colleagues have criminal authority.

Analyzing allied intelligence

Durham and his team — including former assistant U.S. Attorney Nora Dannehy and retired FBI agent John Eckenrode, both of Connecticut — have had remarkable success keeping most of what they are doing secret.

It was Barr who disclosed that Durham has conferred with European governments to learn what friendly intelligence services channeled to their U.S. counterparts about Russia and the Trump campaign. Some governments, including the Baltic states and Ukraine, were early opponents of a Trump candidacy..

Durham has been asked to decide — if such intelligence was a basis for the collusion investigation — whether it was obtained and used appropriately under U.S. laws that govern foreign intelligence collection and restrict spying on Americans.

“A Department of Justice team led by U.S. Attorney John Durham is separately exploring the extent to which a number of countries … played a role in the counterintelligence investigation directed at the Trump campaign during the 2016 election,”

While traveling to Italy together, Barr and Durham pressed for information about Joseph Mifsud..

This is not the first time Durham been encircled by hostile forces.

Durham wears his regard for law enforcement on his sleeve — in particular for the FBI agents with whom he has worked for decades. …

Durham’s chief target turned out to be one of the most decorated agents in FBI history, John Connolly….

No one could accuse Durham of folding under pressure.

No leaks

==Durham has rarely spoken in public of his work in Boston, or anywhere else=. Colleagues trade stories about his reticence.

Investigators said he is obsessed by leaks.

FBI agents said Durham — a Republican — threatened to polygraph investigators whenever he suspected a leak.

“I’ve never been able to find out what he is working on — even when he worked for me, ” said Supreme Court Justice Richard Palmer, a former U.S. attorney, half seriously.

“I can’t believe that any of them actually know what Durham is doing,” Mukasey said.“I wouldn’t dream of asking him. And If I did, I’m sure he wouldn’t answer.”

Durham may have spoken in public about his work just once….

“This may be their only chance to hearJohn speak about his work, other than in a courtroom," Boyle said. "He’s notoriously shy about speaking about himself.”

“One thing that I try to bear in mind, and try to encourage in new young prosecutors, particularly those who are making their bones or cutting their teeth, is an awareness of the incredible power that is wielded by law enforcement, and perhaps federal law enforcement in particular. Issuing a subpoena can destroy somebody’s reputation…

“It is as important for the system as for prosecutors to protect the secrecy of proceedings, not because we want them to be secret, but because we’re not always right.”

https://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-news-john-durham-investigates-the-investigators-20191126-20191204-2psplwx7dfhrdi4wx5qoxdnh5i-story.html

>>16168435

I think “if no one knows your strategy, no one can defeat your strategy”. Sun tzu might have said that, if not John Durham believes this.

I’ve been reading his pleadings and they are masterful without letting anyone know what his team knows.

I’m very impressed

>>16168555

It looks like Zelensky is being held hostage

>>16168580

The little guy in the middke looks really mad, he was trying to settle this with Russia and these thugs wouldnt let him. This will not end well for Blinken and Austin…mostly Blinken. Austin is a stooge, he doesnt want to be there anymore than Zelensky

27 Apr, 2022 13:58

HomeRussia & FSU

Putin promises ‘lightning’ response to strategic threats

President warns that Russia won’t hesitate to use ‘weapons that no other country’ possesses to defend itself

(In other words, Fuck Around and Find Out Assholes)

Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned outside forces against interfering in the Ukrainian conflict, promising a “lightning-speed” response to such actions, with the use of Moscow’s most advanced weaponry.

Putin was speaking to lawmakers in Moscow on Wednesday.

“If someone decides to intervene in the ongoing events from the outside and create unacceptable strategic threats to us, they should know that our response to those oncoming blows will be swift, lightning-fast,” he explained.

“We have all the tools to do this. Tools that no one except us can brag about. But we’re not going to brag. We’ll use them if such a need arises,” the president added, without specifying which tools could be deployed.

Russian authorities have already made all the necessary decisions to prepare for such a response, he added.

Last week, Moscow successfully tested its state-of-the-art RS-28 Sarmat inter-continental ballistic missile. The new nuclear-capable weapon can carry several Avangard hypersonic gliders, which are said to be able to bypass any existing air defenses due to their extreme speed and ability to make constant maneuvers during their flight.

Unlike Russia, the US and itsNATO allies currently have no hypersonic weapons in service. For now, at least.

Western countries have been actively supplying Kiev with weapons, including anti-tank and anti-aircraft missile systems, armored vehicles and howitzers, since the start of the conflict with Russia. They have also imposed harsh sanctions aimed at reducing Russia’s ability to fund its military campaign.

However, Washington has so far ruled out NATO boots on the ground or a no-fly zone over Ukraine, citing fears of a direct conflict with Russia.

Moscow has repeatedly slammed the deliveries of lethal aid to Ukraine, saying they only destabilize the situation and hamper the prospects of peace. On Tuesday, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused NATO of “essentially going to war with Russia through a proxy and arming that proxy.”

https://www.rt.com/russia/554619-putin-strategic-threat/

28 Apr, 2022 02:10

Pentagon accounts for abandoned weapons

(Pentagon is lying to Congress Again)

Congressionally mandated report on Afghanistan retreat tallies at least $7 billion in abandoned US military gear

US forces left behind more than $7 billion in military equipment during their chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan last August, the Pentagon reportedly revealed in a long-awaited accounting of the abandoned gear.

Washington gave Afghan government forces $18.6 billion worth of military equipment from 2005 to 2021, and $7.1 billion of that gear remained in the Central Asian country after the US withdrawal was completed on August 30, CNN cited the Pentagon as saying on Wednesday.

The congressionally mandated report reminded Americans of the losses incurred during the US withdrawal, which also included 13 troop deaths and the abandonment of thousands of American citizens and Afghan allies. Critics of President Joe Biden’s administration decried the Pentagon’s failure to keep US weapons from falling into Taliban hands. “Nobody ever thought such stupidity as this feeble-brained withdrawal was possible,” said former President Donald Trump, who called for sending in troops to retrieve the equipment or bombing the gear to destroy it.

Some of the abandoned equipment, including 78 aircraft that were left at the Kabul airport, was disabled or demilitarized before US forces withdrew, the Pentagon report showed. More than $920 million worth of US aircraft remained in Afghanistan after Washington’s exit, as did 40,000 military vehicles.

Also left behind were communications gear, more than 300,000 weapons and almost all of the 42,000 pieces of specialized equipment that had been given to Afghan government forces. Those pieces included radio systems, encryption devices, transmitters, night vision goggles, surveillance gear and “biometric and positioning equipment,” the Pentagon said. Most of the 9,524 air-to-ground munitions that were left behind were non-precision explosives.

Ukraine was the beneficiary of some equipment that had originally been earmarked for Afghanistan. HmmmThe report showed that five Mi-17 helicopters were officially transferred to Ukraine this year after previously being sent to the former Soviet republic for maintenance work. Other equipment shifted to Ukraine included 37,000 howitzer shells, as well as rifle ammunition, grenade cartridges and 119,000 82mm mortar rounds.

https://www.rt.com/news/554647-pentagon-weapons-left-behind-afghanistan/

27 Apr, 2022 22:07

HomeRussia & FSU

‘Up to Ukraine’ to decide on attacking Russia, says US

(I changed tge picture to tell the truth)

Washington supports “whatever is necessary” for Kiev to win the conflict with Russia, says top diplomat Blinken

It is up to Ukraine to decide whether to expand the conflict with Russia beyond their own borders(he laughs slyly), US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the Senate on Wednesday. His comments come after Moscow condemned a senior British official who said it would be “legitimate” for Kiev to use NATO-supplied weapons to attack Russian territory.

“We are determined to get them what they need to deal with this Russian aggression and to push the Russians out of the country. It’s another matter as to whether the Ukrainians should take actions that go beyond their borders,” Blinken said on Wednesday afternoon, at a hearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee considering the State Department’s 2023 budget.

“My own view is that it’s vital that they do whatever is necessary to defend against Russian aggression and the tactics of this are their decisions, but what we are doing with all of these systems is making sure the Ukrainians have the means to defend themselves, that’s what this is about, and making sure that they can do whatever is necessary to push the Russians out of the country,” he added.

Just a few hours earlier, the Russian Ministry of Defense accused London of a “direct provocation” after British Armed Forces Minister James Heappey suggested Kiev should use UK-supplied weapons to attack targets inside Russia.

“London’s direct provocation of the Kiev regime to such actions, should they attempt to do so,will immediately lead to our proportional response,” the Russian military said. “As we have warned, the Russian armed forces are on standby around the clock to retaliate with long-range high-precision weapons against decision-making centers in Kiev.”

Heappey had told Times Radio it would be “completely legitimate” for Ukraine to target “Russia’s depth in order to disrupt the logistics that if they weren’t disrupted would directly contribute to death and carnage on Ukrainian soil.”

Authorities in the Russian regions of Voronezh and Kursk, which border Ukraine, reported on Wednesday that air defenses engaged and shot down what they said were Ukrainian drones. Police in the Belgorod Region also arrested two men suspected of preparing a terrorist attack on transportation infrastructure on behalf of Ukraine.

Meanwhile, authorities in the self-proclaimed republic of Transnistria – the primarily Russian-speaking region between Ukraine and Moldova – reported incursions by drones and shots fired from Ukrainian territory.

Speaking with Russian lawmakers on Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that any outside intervention in the conflict would be met with a swift response.

“If someone decides to intervene in the ongoing events from the outside and create unacceptable strategic threats to us, they should know that our response to those oncoming blows will be swift, lightning-fast,” Putin said.

“We have all the tools to do this,” he added. “We’ll use them if such a need arises.”

https://www.rt.com/russia/554641-blinken-ukraine-russia-attack/

28 Apr, 2022 01:03

UK advocates arming Taiwan

(Holy Shit, now they are trying to start a war with China? WTF is wrong with them. I guess people are not scared enough)

British FM Liz Truss says a “Global NATO” needs to arm Taiwan, like Ukraine

The world ordercreated after the Second World War and the Cold War isn’t working anymore, so the West needs “a global NATO” to pursue geopolitics anew, UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss argued in a major foreign policy speech on Wednesday. Truss also urged the West to send more “heavy weapons, tanks” and airplanes to Ukraine, and said China would face the same treatment as Russia if it doesn’t “play by the rules.”

“My vision is a world where free nations are assertive and in the ascendant. Where freedom and democracy are strengthened through a network of economic and security partnerships,” Truss said in a speech at a Mansion House banquet in London.

Dubbing this arrangement “the Network of Liberty,” Truss argued it was necessary because the economic and security structures developed after 1945 – such as the UN Security Council – “have been bent out of shape so far, they have enabled rather than contained aggression.”

“Geopolitics is back,” she announced.

The collective West and its allies need to supply Kiev with “heavy weapons, tanks, aeroplanes – digging deep into our inventories, ramping up production,” Truss said, because the objective is to “push Russia out of the whole of Ukraine” and rebuild the country along the lines of a new Marshall Plan.

The war in Ukraine is our war – it is everyone’s war because Ukraine’s victory is a strategic imperative for all of us. (But if we cant have war with Russia, China is just as good)

Beyond that, NATO must ensure that “the Western Balkans and countries like Moldova and Georgia have the resilience and the capabilities to maintain their sovereignty and freedom,” and uphold the “sacrosanct” open-door policy, Truss said.

Her ambitions went beyond Europe, though, as Truss denounced the “false choice between Euro-Atlantic security and Indo-Pacific security.”

“In the modern world we need both.We need a global NATO,” she said. “And we must ensure that democracies like Taiwan are able to defend themselves.”

Pointing to London’s unprecedented effort to embargo Russia, Truss insisted that “economic access is no longer a given. It has to be earned,” and that countries who wish to earn it “must play by the rules. And that includes China.”

The UK has sent a large quantity of weapons systems to Ukraine over the past several months, including NLAW anti-tank missiles and Stormer armored vehicles. British Armed Forces Minister James Heappey told Thames Radio on Wednesday it would be “completely legitimate” for Ukraine to use UK-supplied weapons to strike into Russian territory, to which the Russian military warned that any such attack would be met with a proper response.

Truss traveled to Russia in early February to threaten Moscow not to invade Ukraine, but ended up being widely mocked after multiple gaffes concerning geography. She first mistook the Baltic for the Black Sea in a BBC interview, then reportedly fell for a trick question from her Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov and insisted London would “never recognize Russia’s sovereignty” over Rostov and Voronezh – Russian regions she mistook for the Donbass republics of Donetsk and Lugansk.

She started her cabinet career as under-secretary for education and childcare in 2012, and has since run environmental affairs, justice, treasury, and international trade portfolios before replacing Dominic Raab as the head of Foreign Office in September 2021

https://www.rt.com/news/554646-liz-truss-nato-ukraine-taiwan/

>>16168720

Her basic message is, if we cant kill them with Covid, vaccines or lockdowns, we can kill them with World War. This people are seriously insane. Dont they know their dumbs have been blown up?

>>16168720

>She started her cabinet career asunder-secretary for education and childcare in 2012, and has since run environmental affairs, justice, treasury, and international trade portfolios before replacing Dominic Raab as the head of Foreign Office in September 2021

Just the person to put in charge of creating WWIII

Send her back to childcare, she doesng work well with adults

Goodnight anons it was fun.

Love you guys, no homo here