After all, Danchenko, like Sussmann, is charged with lying to the FBI, and a jury may once again be left to wonder whether the bureau was actually fooled. [12], In May 2019, William Barr chose Durham to lead a probe into the origins of the FBI's Crossfire Hurricane investigation and the Mueller special counsel investigation. In September, he alleged in an indictment that Michael Sussmann, a former federal prosecutor with expertise in computer cases, lied about the capacity in which he was providing the allegations to the FBI when he passed on information about possible digital connections between Russia-based Alfa Bank and a computer linked to the Trump Organization. We've received your submission. We now know that the so-called dossier compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele was a Clinton campaign production. TTY/ASCII/TDD: 800-877-8339. In particular, Durham worked as a part of the Boston Strike Force. WASHINGTON John H. Durham, the special counsel appointed by the Trump administration to scrutinize the Russia investigation, has told the Justice Department that he will ask a grand jury to. Attorneys President Joe Biden asked to resign in February 2021. [14], In 2008, Durham led an inquiry into allegations that FBI agents and Boston Police had ties with the Mafia. Sussmann said he didn't have a specific request for the FBI; he just wanted the bureau to be aware of the information. The FBI subsequently investigated the purported link but found insufficient evidence to support it, prosecutors say. Durham was described by a fellow attorney as tireless, fair, and aggressive. This is evident in his handling of the current Trump-Russian collusion investigation; very rarely are any details of the case released, and they are hardly ever leaked. [29] Davis wrote an appeal to former Bush administration officials to take their accounts of illegality directly to Durham. Longer stories and investigations that go deep, Since October 2020, Durham has spent $3.8 million probing Russia investigation. Sussmanns meeting with Baker had already been a subject of intense interest to Republicans on Capitol Hill, who grilled Baker about it during closed-door testimony in October 2018 during their own probe of the origins of the FBIs Trump-Russia investigation. The decision to keep the original head prosecutor on the Hunter Biden case signals the presidents willingness to let the investigation proceed where it may, even if that results in a possible criminal charge against his son. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. The special prosecutor probing the origins of the federal investigation into ties between the Trump campaign and Russia, John Durham, has charged Washington lawyer Michael Sussmann with lying to the FBI during the early stages of the inquiry. Then-Attorney General Bill Barr tapped Durham in May 2019 to examine how the FBIs investigation into the Trump campaign and Russia began. While the bureau used inane, unverified information from Steele and Danchenko to suggest to a court that the president of the United States might be a Russian asset, the FBI had intelligence indicating that Danchenko himself might actually have been a Russian asset. Durhams investigation turned up evidence, however, that was used by the mens families to win a multi-million dollar settlement for wrongful conviction. Durhams quiet demeanor lends little public knowledge of his personal life. So far, only one other individual a former low-level FBI attorney named Kevin Clinesmith has been charged in the investigation. Raskin roasts Durham inquiry as 'total flop,' presses Republicans to investigate. But it is President Bidens decision to leave in place the Trump-appointed U.S. attorney overseeing the investigation into his son that best exemplifies his administrations effort to restore public confidence that investigations will not be politically weaponized. [7][8] Barr disclosed in December 2020 that he had elevated Durham's status to special counsel in October 2020, ensuring that the Durham special counsel investigation could continue after the Trump administration ended. It is likely he was paid well for these special assignments. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. Sussman billed these meetings to the Clinton campaign, according to the indictment. Whether Trump likes it or not, the Hunter Biden investigation is proceeding as it should mostly in silence. In November, Durham alleged in an indictment that Igor Danchenko, an analyst who was a key source for a 2016 dossier of allegations about Trump, had lied to the FBI about where and how he got information. [3][11] After graduation, he was a VISTA volunteer for two years (19751977) on the Crow Indian Reservation in Montana. Have a question about Government Services? In November the special counsel indicted Igor Danchenko, a Washington-based Russian migr who was an important source for the contentious Steele dossier that served an important role in the initial phases of the FBI inquiry Durham is now investigating. Democrats and others have long asserted that Durhams investigation is a political stunt meant to undercut a legitimate FBI probe that dogged Trumps presidency. [20] He remains Special Counsel as of January 2023. was arrested Thursday in Northern Virginia onan indictment that special counsel John Durham obtained charging the Russian-born researcher with five felony counts of . Attorney General Merrick Garland is said to anticipate receiving his final report by the end of the year. The firm's political law group represented Clinton's presidential campaign and has long provided counsel to the Democratic National Committee. Such a predilection is a characteristic of autocracies, and resistance to it has long been baked into the traditions of the Justice Department. For now, we have to hope that Durhams final report will answer that question. According to the indictment, Sussmann stated falsely that he was not acting on behalf of any client when he gave the information to the FBIs general counsel, who passed it along to agents to investigate. The special counsel designation provides an additional degree of insulation from the regular DOJ apparatus. By 2017, however, Durham was appointed by Donald Trump to become the U.S Attorney for Connecticut. Mr. Theres more. Therefore, many details regarding his early life are unknown. Michael Sussmann, who worked through his law firm as an attorney for the Hillary Clinton campaign, is accused of a single felony count in a grand jury indictment. Interrogations", "Statement of Attorney General Eric Holder on Closure of Investigation into the Interrogation of Certain Detainees", "Attorney General taps top Connecticut federal prosecutor for review of Trump-Russia inquiry", "Barr Assigns U.S. Attorney in Connecticut to Review Origins of Russia Inquiry", "Special Counsel Spends $1.5 Million in Probe of Russia Inquiry", "Special counsel Durham has spent at least $6.5 million on inquiry into Trump-Russia probe", "Primary source for Trump-Russia dossier acquitted, handing special counsel Durham another trial loss", "Steele dossier source acquitted, in loss for special counsel Durham", "Washington's Most Powerful, Least Famous People", "Attorney General Holder Recognizes Department Employees and Others for Their Service at Annual Awards Ceremony", "US attorney's 'apolitical' reputation on the line as he helps Barr review the Russia probe", Department of Justice corruption allegations, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Durham&oldid=1138683371, United States Attorneys for the District of Connecticut, United States Department of Justice lawyers, University of Connecticut School of Law alumni, Pages containing links to subscription-only content, All Wikipedia articles written in American English, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 11 February 2023, at 00:50. That move effectively took Durham out of the normal Justice Department hierarchy and supervision, although after the Biden administration assumed office, Attorney General Merrick Garland retained the right to overrule any of Durhams major decisions, such as the effort to seek an indictment of Sussmann. Durhams career spans nearly fifty years, and it is certain he earned pensions and other compensation as a federal prosecutor as well. Meadows referral creates new legal, political challenges for AG Garland. 950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Durham was the U.S. attorney in Connecticut when then-Attorney General William P. Barr first asked him to review the FBI investigation; at that time, he was not a special counsel who was required to publicly report investigative expenses. [12], On November 1, 2017, he was nominated by President Donald Trump to serve as U.S. Attorney for Connecticut. New developments in Hunter Biden investigation, Trump publicly asks Putin to release information on Hunter Biden, leave in place the Trump-appointed U.S. attorney. Former FBI attorney Kevin Clinesmith received a one-year probation term in January for altering an email related to a surveillance request in the course of the Russia investigation. [21][20], Amid allegations that FBI informants James "Whitey" Bulger and Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi had corrupted their handlers, US Attorney General Janet Reno named Durham special prosecutor in 1999. But thats not the half of it. Now he works at Starbucks. ) or https:// means youve safely connected to the .gov website. [34] By September 2022 the costs of his investigation has climbed to $6.5 million since assuming the role of special counsel. Sussmann, a former federal prosecutor and cybersecurity expert, is the second defendant facing charges brought amid Durhams long-running investigation. This article was published more than1 year ago. That alleged lie mattered, the indictment says, because it misled the FBI and deprived it of "information that might have permitted it more fully to assess and uncover the origins of the relevant data and technical analysis, including the identities and motivations of Sussmann's clients. While Durham characteristically keeps a low profile and rarely speaks to the press, Americans anticipate his investigations further findings. [7] In December 2020, Barr revealed to Congress that he had secretly appointed Durham to lead the Durham special counsel investigation on October 19. [28] Later in 2009, University of Toledo law professor Benjamin G. Davis attended a conference where former officials of the Bush administration had told conference participants shocking stories, and accounts of illegality on the part of more senior Bush officials. Republicans have grown impatient with the probe, while still hoping for a report that will vindicate former President Donald Trumps charge that the original inquiry was a thinly veiled and unfounded political attack. A 2019 report by the Justice Department inspector general already had found significant problems with Danchenkos information, but the indictment by Durhams team painted a vivid picture of how the allegations were riddled with rumors and outright falsehoods. | U.S. Department of Justice/AP Photo. Special counsel John Durham, here in 2018, was tapped by former Attorney General William Barr to look into the origins of the FBI's investigation into connections between the Trump campaign and Russia. John Durham News Current Page: 1 . By April 2019, he had been assigned to investigate the origins of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. elections, and in October 2020 he was appointed special counsel for the Department of Justice on that matter. This is a private university, known for liberal arts studies. The development is a potential sign that Durham may be mulling additional . The precise scope of Durhams mandate has never been clear. . Department of Justice via AP Durhams investigation suffered a significant setback in the spring when a Washington, DC, jury acquitted Democratic lawyer Michael Sussmann. A previous spending report released in May showed the Durham probe had totaled about $1.5 million from Oct. 19 through March 31. The indictment alleges that Sussmann "lied about the capacity in which he was providing the allegations to the FBI.". Igor Danchenko leaves Albert V. Bryan United States Courthouse in Alexandria, Va., Thursday, Nov. 4, 2021. Did the FBI end up finding out that Danchenko was not really a Russian asset? Durham has been rather quiet but professional regarding his current case. 11/04/2021 11:08 AM EDT. There is no indication anything came of this, but upon being tipped off, the bureau did some digging and learned that Danchenko had been in contact with people it was investigating as possible Russian intelligence officers. Along with investigating Connolly, Durhams FBI team gathered evidence regarding a retired agent, H. Paul Rico. Durhams first job in the legal work was working in the Connecticut state government. All rights reserved. Often, Renos first question to me about any case I was reporting to her about was likely to be what Margolis thought about how it was progressing. [30][31], Beginning in 2017, Trump and his allies alleged that the FBI investigation (known as Crossfire Hurricane) of possible contacts between his associates and Russian officials (which led to the Mueller investigation) was a "hoax" or "witch hunt" that was baselessly initiated by his political enemies. Yet, many legal experts as well as political pundits describe him as possessing an apolitical reputation. Durham attended Colgate University, in Hamilton, NY. By 1994, Durham had become a Deputy United States Attorney General. He was sworn in on February 22, 2018. The information was significant because it was included in a series of reports prepared by British ex-spy Christopher Steele, who had been hired by an opposition research firm working for the Clinton campaign. Sussmann testified he passed the information along on behalf of a client, who is a cybersecurity expert. Durham would not recommend any criminal charges be filed. seeks resignations of Trump-era US attorneys", "What Is a Special Counsel and What Can They Do? 3 min read Any report compiled by special counsel John Durham "may. 10/12/2022 02:24 PM EDT. Thanks for contacting us. At that time, he was both a supervisor as well as a lawyer at the New Haven Field Office. President Biden's hands-off approach during the federal investigation into his son is one way he's trying to repair the damage the Trump administration did to the Justice Department. The regulations regarding special counsels are pretty clear about what Mr. Durham does, Garland told reporters on Dec. 6. Could Durham run into the same problem in prosecuting Danchenko? Rather, it meant that there was a well-established shared concern that no appearance of or actual political interference was to take place. Bidens administration has obviously focused on trying to repair the departments tattered image. John Durham is a native of Boston, MA. Wheres Durham? Trump wrote in a statement emailed to reporters last month. ", "U.S. launches criminal probe into CIA tapes", "Veteran prosecutor takes over CIA probe", "No Criminal Charges Sought Over C.I.A. And so I wanted to get this get the information into the hands of the agents as quickly as possible and let them deal with it. Baker, at the time, said he didnt recall whether Sussmann had represented himself as working on behalf of the Democratic Party or the Clinton campaign. [41] United States Attorney Deirdre Daly once described him as "tireless, fair and aggressive" while United States Senator Chris Murphy characterized him as "tough-nosed apolitical and serious".[41]. Last year, Durham indicted him on five counts of lying to the FBI. [12], Following those five years as a state prosecutor, Durham became a federal prosecutor, joining the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Connecticut. From 1989 to 1994, he served as Chief of the Office's Criminal Division. [35], After 312 years, Durham indicted three men, one of whom pleaded guilty to a charge unrelated to the origins of the FBI investigation, and was sentenced to probation; the other two men were tried and acquitted. The FBI and congressional investigators both examined the pings between the computer systems and determined they were innocuous. As the investigation heats up, Bidens hands-off approach versus Donald Trumps hands everywhere approach is starkly illustrated by Trumps shoutout to Russian President Vladimir Putin to release dirt on Hunter Biden. The mysterious computer communications became the subject of several news articles in the fall of 2016. Yet these prosecutions are secondary to the vital story: What role did the FBI, whether by misfeasance or malfeasance, play in the Clinton campaigns project to paint Trump as a clandestine agent of the Kremlin? John Durham U.S. Department of Justice via AP, File First, he fabricated the claim that the president of the Russian-American Chamber of Commerce informed him that, during the 2016 presidential. Muellers prosecutors charged 34 people, including 26 Russian nationals. Special counsel John Durhams inquiry into the origins of the investigation into ties between Russia and the 2016 Trump presidential campaign spent close to $3.8 million over its first year of operations. It may also lead to increased scrutiny of actions for possible violations of election interference laws, as well as the seldom-used Logan Act, which makes it a criminal offense for U.S. citizens to influence foreign governments to defeat the measures of the United States.. In a second October 2018 interview led by House Republicans, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) pressed Baker on Sussmanns affiliation with the Clinton campaign, saying he found it unbelievable that Baker didnt press him for details on the origin of the Alfa Bank allegations. Clinesmithwas sentenced in January to probation. Ironically, most of Durhams career has been spent in the United States government, whether he was a United States Attorney, a Chief of the Criminal Division (for a District Attorney office), a supervisor for a District Attorneys field office. NTD News reports: When Special Counsel John Durham finishes his investigation into the origins of the Trump-Russia probe, his report will likely be made public, a Department of Justice official suggested in a newly released letter. The latest report includes some expenses from that prior time frame, which came in higher than had been estimated. A Washington attorney who specializes in cybersecurity issues has been indicted for allegedly lying to the FBI ahead of the 2016 election in a conversation about possible ties between Donald Trump and Russia. Rico died in 2004 before the case went to trial. The prosecutor investigating Hunter Biden's taxes will also remain. WASHINGTON (AP) John Durham, the federal prosecutor tapped to investigate the origins of the Russia investigation, has been presenting evidence before a grand jury as part of his probe, a person familiar with the matter said Friday. Room B-103 This 2018 portrait released by the U.S. Department of Justice shows Connecticut's U.S. Attorney John Durham. Durhams time prosecuting mafia-related crimes would come in handy when, in 1999, then-Attorney General Janet Reno chose John Durham to investigate whether James Whitey Bulger and Stephen Flemmi, both gangsters turned FBI informants, had been able to corrupt their FBI handlers. Durham would be responsible for the successful prosecution of John J. Connolly, Jr. (Connollys story with Bulger was immortalized on film in Black Mass). It is a case focusing on a single private citizen who happens to be the son of a sitting president. Some fear his work for Barr could tarnish it. From his Russia, if youre listening remark about finding Hillary Clintons missing emails to his repeatedly asking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to announce an investigation into Hunter Biden in return for military aid, Trump has always shown his appetite for using investigations as political weapons. Throughout Durhams career, he has worked in both state and federal government. This particular office investigated and prosecuted organized crime, especially racketeering. He said after Sussmann dropped off the material, he quickly passed it to Bill Priestap, the head of the FBIs Counterintelligence Division at the time. Washington, D.C. 20530, Russian National Indicted for Making False Statements to the FBI, November 4, 2021, Grand Jury Indicts D.C. Attorney with Making False Statements to the FBI in 2016 Regarding Alleged Communications Between Trump Organization and Russian Bank, September 16, 2021, U.S. Department of Justice More than $670,000 went toward personnel costs, more than $280,000 went toward travel and more than $797,000 went toward IT and litigative support, according to the report. Sussmann also tried to deliver similar material to another undisclosed agency in December 2016, after Trump had won the election. This enterprise included substantial reliance by the FBI on the bogus Steele dossier in obtaining spying authorization from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) on sworn representations that the bureau believed Trump was in a conspiracy of cooperation with Vladimir Putins anti-American regime. According to court documents, Sussmann allegedly falsely denied representing the Democratic National Committee or any other client at the time when he reported suspicions about possible links between computers at Trump Tower and a Russian bank. [19] He stayed on in this capacity after he resigned as U.S. President Joe Biden and his administration are putting on a master's class in ethics in the federal investigation into the business dealings of the president's son Hunter Biden. The administrations effort to recover the Justice Departments integrity is not limited to the Hunter Biden case. John Durham meticulous prosecutor, thorough investigator, corruption fighter is currently serving as Special Counsel investigating the probe into the now-debunked Russian collusion allegations of the Trump family.