'Doesn't make any sense': Ratcliffe suspicious of US embassy official who contacted Papadopoulos
The U.S. embassy official who sought out former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos during the 2016 presidential contest has generated some curiosity among Republican investigators in Congress. Terrence Dudley, a defense attache at the U.S. Embassy in London whom Papadopoulos believes was spying on him, was reportedly interviewed by the federal prosecutor appointed by Attorney General William Barr to examine the origins of the Russia investigation.
Republican Texas Rep. John Ratcliffe, an ally of President Trump and who is a member of the House Intelligence Committee, said this indicates U.S. Attorney John Durham is looking into the Obama intelligence set for evidence of an anti-Trump plot. "That's a sign that John Durham is looking at the fact that this may include Obama administration officials beyond law enforcement — perhaps to include our intelligence community, folks like [former CIA Director] John Brennan," Ratcliffe said Sunday on Fox News's Sunday Morning Futures.
Dudley met Papadopoulos in London multiple times in 2016, according to Politico, and was interviewed by special counsel Robert Mueller's team investigating possible coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign. Papadopoulos alleged Dudley and his colleague Greg Baker, whom Papadopoulos thought were from the Defense Intelligence Agency, were spying on him. Both men have denied the accusation, claiming they made contact only out of personal curiosity. “We approached him from a more fascinated standpoint trying to figure out what his game was,” Dudley told the Daily Caller. "Who’s funding him to be here [in London]? How does he actually get away with doing that?"
Ratcliffe doesn't buy Dudley's explanation. "Officials at our U.S. embassies overseas going to meet with a campaign official for the Trump campaign — not in their official capacity. But the explanation that they give is, 'Just out of personal curiosity.' It's not their job, but beyond that, it doesn't make any sense," he said Sunday. The FBI's counterintelligence investigation into the Trump campaign began in late July 2016 after Papadopoulos bragged to an Australian diplomat that he heard the Russians had damaging information on Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. An academic named Stefan Halper, who is reportedly an FBI informant, and an undercover FBI agent posing as his assistant with the name Azra Turk also met with Papadopoulos.
Papadopoulos served 12 days in federal prison for lying to FBI investigators about his contact with people linked to Russia during the 2016 campaign. The FBI's counterintelligence investigation, dubbed "Crossfire Hurricane," was wrapped into Mueller's investigation, which was unable to establish a criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin. In an audit released last month, Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz said he found no evidence that the genesis of the Russia inquiry was motivated by political bias as Trump and his allies have alleged. But both Barr and Durham publicly disagreed with that conclusion.
As part of his inquiry that has been criticized by Democrats as a ploy to attack Trump's political enemies, Durham is investigating what Brennan told former FBI Director James Comey and other officials about an anti-Trump dossier, compiled by British ex-spy Christopher Steele, which made a series of accusations about Trump and his associates and their ties to Russia. Ratcliffe said he is confident Durham will provide the American people "a better picture of, really, how the Democratic administration before this one targeted President Trump and was aided by Democrats who paid for Russian disinformation, to try and frame this president before he ever got into office."
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/doesnt-make-any-sense-ratcliffe-suspicious-of-us-embassy-official-who-contacted-papadopoulos
Intel probe puts CIA’s Haspel in a bind
The review led by U.S. Attorney John Durham is making life uncomfortable for America’s cautious spy chief.
https://www.politico.com/news/2019/12/27/intel-probe-cia-gina-haspel-089834