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Thursday, September 24, 2020

Or Maybe THIS Is What Lindsey Was Talking About?

Lindsey Graham's office today released an unclassified summary of an FBI Counterintelligence investigation of an individual who was believed to be cooperating with the Russian intelligence services--a Russian 'asset'. It's the kinda stuff that's hard to make up. The Counterintelligence investigation was of Igor Danchenko--Christopher Steele's so-called 'Primary Sub-source (PSS).' The investigation began in 2009 as a Preliminary Investigation, but was upgraded to a Full Investigation. The investigation was closed in 2011. 

When the FBI learned in December, 2016, that Danchenko was Steele's PSS they searched their records and learned about the investigation. In other words, they knew all this when they interviewed Danchenko in late January, 2017, regarding his role in providing material to Steele for the 'dossier.' Danchenko was not questioned about his relationship with the Russian intelligence services at that time, and the FBI continued to claim that Danchenko's 'dossier' material was reliable as they sought three renewals of the Carter Page FISA. They apparently saw no reason to inform the FISA court that the probable cause for Carter Page FISA was heavily based on material provided by a person they suspected of being a Russian spy.

Interestingly, the FBI sought a FISA on Danchenko in the second half of 2010. However, before the FISA could be processed Danchenko left the country. Here's how the investigation was left:


Because the Primary Sub-source had apparently left the United States, the FBI withdrew the FISA application request and closed the investigation. The record documenting the closing of the investigation stated that consideration would be given to re-opening the investigation in the event that the Primary Sub-source returned to the United States. 


In other words, as of the last time the FBI was involved with Danchenko before they interviewed him in January, 2017, they believed they had probable cause to believe that Danchenko was an agent of the Russian government--a spy. Apparently the FBI lost track of Danchenko, who later reentered the US. 

The details of the investigation itself aren't terribly important--read them for yourselves. From my perspective Danchenko comes across as rather clumsy and probably not terribly stable--which fits in with what we've heard about him to this point.

The real point is that the FBI knew all this about Danchenko and their own past concerns that he was a Russian spy. They knew this by December, 2016, and knowing this they failed to inform the FISA court and probably also withheld this information from DoJ as well. They should have terminated the Carter Page FISA at that point. Instead, they fraudulently renewed the FISA three times.

I have to say, I'm flabbergasted. 

On the other hand, this certainly looks more and more like Durham has a legitimate shot at proving a big picture conspiracy--a conspiracy on the part of FBI management to defraud the government of the FBI's honest services in furtherance of the attempted political goal of ousting the President of the United States from the office of the presidency on false pretenses through the means of criminal false statements to the FISA court. And they did all this while utilizing material provided by a suspected Russian spy which was known to be unreliable, but which they presented to the court as highly reliable.


43 comments:

  1. Undercover Huber
    @JohnWHuber

    So it turns out the insurance policy was literally an insurance policy

    6:46 PM · Sep 24, 2020

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  2. Graham specifically referred to this tonight as what he was talking about 10-12 days ago. I think it's of a piece with the text messages showing FBI management (and implies the WH) was frantic to frame Flynn for something -- ANYTHING -- as the Trump transition team prepared to move into the Oval Office.

    The contrast between the analysts text messages, ad the actions of leadership, strongly suggest intentionality by leadership to ignore facts, evidence, logic, and policies regarding proper conduct of criminal investigations in their zeal to frame Flynn and more generally fetter the nascent Trump administration, and set him up for an anal probing by Mueller/Weissmann to frame Trump for an Obstruction he never committed, on a crime that never took place.

    Yes, the elements of a conspiracy prosecution do seem to be falling into place.

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  3. If I understand this correctly...

    The investigation by the FBI, CIA, and the Special Counsel of Collusion by Trump with the Russians, was based on information from a probably Russian Asset, which means it was probably Russian Disinformation?

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  4. Theory: Indictments have already been filed under seal. Durham is waiting for the final disposition of the Flynn case to unseal so that Flynn can serve as a witness and sympathetic victim.

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  5. Is Danchenko a legal resident of the USA?

    If so, then on what basis?

    If not, then why is he still here?

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    Replies
    1. That puzzled me, too, Mike. Given the suspicions, wouldn't he have been on some watch list if he applied for a visa again? Yet they seem to have totally lost track of him.

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  6. @Unknown
    "If I understand this correctly..."

    I'm trying to process this, too...

    • If the PSS was a Russian Agent, who was working for Russia...and at the same time was working for Christopher Steele...who was working for Hillary Clinton...then Clinton was...literally...colluding with Russia.

    • And, if the PSS was a Russian Agent, who was working for Russia, the damning (dis)information he supplied to Steele about Trump could hardly have been designed by Putin to help Trump get elected. The allegation that Putin wanted Trump elected simply fails.

    • And, Mueller was appointed as Special Counsel, with "authority to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections". *How* did he *miss* this. Doesn't this totally destroy the impartiality of his investigation, and thus his entire investigation?

    We have known for quite a while that there was a conspiracy to destroy Trump. As others are saying, what is happening now is that the *evidence* of conspiracy is now being uncovered and disclosed.

    We have heard many (Nunes, Graham, J Solomon) close to the situation express doubt whether indictable offenses have occurred. I hope we are now getting past those doubts. It would now seem that there are plenty of FBI agents (and apparently employees of the other agency) who would testify that the conspiracy was real.

    Since Trump and Barr have had plenty of time to orchestrate the disclosure of evidence of their findings, I would be very surprised if there were not regular additional 'bombshell' drops between now and November 3.

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    Replies
    1. "regular additional bombshell drops"

      kinda like carpet bombing?

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    2. I have read that the most effective/accurate method of laying down an artillery barrage is start just short of a target and then "walk" successive salvos into the primary. Few if any over shots, which are the most wasteful, all guns share aim points rather than each "feeling around" independently, methodical simultaneous arrival at optimum coordinates, not to mention very demoralizing for those who are about to receive.

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    3. Actually, artillery science is far advanced beyond even what you have mentioned, and is now the stuff of a Twilight Zone episode. You really, really don't want to be on the receiving end of a Marine Corp counter-battery cannonade.

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    4. Back in the day, the most effective way for indirect fire, artillery and mortars, was to establish a bracket if the initial round didn't hit the target, the split the bracket until the target was hit. Then it would be "fire for effect" and the entire battery would fire at the target.

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  7. What do you think about this take on what Lindsey is trying to achieve:

    https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2020/09/24/lindsey-graham-the-primary-source-for-the-steele-dossier-was-likely-a-russian-agent/

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    Replies
    1. If you accept that, then you get to emphasize that the Russians are bad guys who tried really hard to influence the election--only they were more successful at that with the Dems than with GOP. I'm agnostic at this point re whether Danchenko really was a Russian asset. It sounds like his contacts with Russian officials were not at all clandestine. His statements to Americans re classified info, of course, are another matter, yet we're not told any reasons to believe he was being directed by Russian officials in that regard. So, I'm agnostic and of course we may not know the full story. However, by overall impression of Danchenko is of a rather unstable individual.

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    2. Even if Danchenko had been recruited by Russian Intel officials in the US, that doesn't prove the crap he fed to Steele was Disinfo created by Russian intelligence.

      His role as PSS for Steele's dossier could have been coincidental with whatever role he had with Russian Intelligence, if any.

      What's missing is evidence Russian intel fabricated the disinfo, and fed it to Danchenko, or Danchenko's putative sources, and told Danchenko what to do with it.

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    3. "...a rather unstable individual."

      As opposed to Strzok, Page, Comey, Brennan, Weissmann who are all bedrock steady. The saying about inmates running the asylum doesn't do justice to this Charlie Foxtrot.

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    4. Because I doubt Danchenko functions all that well on a day to day basis.

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  8. Sundance has a theory that AG Barr is using the Flynn case as a reason to release information on this conspiracy.

    I don’t understand the politics of why release now, and not previously. Perhaps so it’s before the Sept 29 Oral Arguments Judge Sullivan ordered?

    I’m guessing Judge Sullivan does not have any deadline for making a decision, such as dismissing the case.

    And Sydney Powell has threatened to appeal to SCOTUS, I’m not sure if she set a deadline for doing so.

    I wonder what Durham’s timing is?

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    Replies
    1. Based on the date of the Barnett 302 it sounds like Jensen is having to plow through an enormous amount of data that was dumped not too long ago.

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    2. > was dumped not too long ago

      Any guesses on Who is Probably is behind this document dump? And why now?

      This is getting stranger and stranger, and it would be unbelievable, except it’s true.

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    3. I suspect that the release dates have less to do with politics and more to do with the tie-in to Durham's investigation. That is, they tried to release the minimum documentation necessary to justify the motion to dismiss the Flynn case without showing Durham's hand, and each subsequent release increments closer to the meat of Durham's investigation.

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  9. It's interesting. Danchenko is at Brookings in D.C. trying to recruit fellow employees (for Russian intelligence the FBI believes) at the same time the Chapman gang is in New York cozying up to Chelsea Clinton. He skips the country the same time they get busted and deported. But there's no flag put on him by either CBP or TSA. Maybe with all the other Russian espionage networks being hit at the time, he totally slipped the FBI's mind once he snuck out of the country?

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    Replies
    1. Good catch. Strzok made his name working one of those illegals cases, so the connection should have occurred to him immediately.

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    2. Or maybe Danchenko was working for Brennan by then. Sundance thinks so.

      "Even “the great Lou Dobbs” buys into the obvious lie, of “Russian misinformation”. There were never any Russians actually doing anything. (Deripaska laughed at them; Danchenko is NOT Russian, only Deep State. It was all and always CIA misinformation, deliberate and treasonous)."

      https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2020/09/24/lindsey-graham-the-primary-source-for-the-steele-dossier-was-likely-a-russian-agent/#more-200316

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    3. That might depend on how much involvement and control Brennan had with Fusion GPS/Steele. I'm open to that, but have no specific facts beyond Nellie Ohr's past as a CIA contractor.

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  10. In the linked article Sundance also seems to believe that Lindsey is promoting a theory that the FBI didn’t know the source for the dossier was a “Russian agent”, that they were duped, and therefore what they and the DoJ did from there on out was just business as usual with no ill intent. Huh?

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  11. Link to copy of letter from Barr to Graham yesterday re Danchenko

    https://www.scribd.com/document/477389920/AG-Letter-to-Chairman-Graham-9-24-2020#fullscreen&from_embed

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  12. This is Lindsey's--and every FBI booster's--wet dream. He can point out that the Steele Dossier's primary source was at one point suspected by the FBI of being a Russian spy, and therefore imply there really was a Russian disinformation campaign and the FBI got tricked. It was a couple biased agents that kept pushing this Russian disinformation forward not a conspiracy the FBI and CIA cooked up sua sponte using Russians as red herrings.

    Never mind the fact that Danchenko came to us when he saw the Dossier published, and disavowed it, and that we've never picked him up for espionage even though he'd be a pretty easy patsy.

    Never mind that the tale told in the Steele Dossier is fundamentally identical to the tale Steele told Michael Gaeta in the 2006 FIFA case before he'd even met Danchenko. The only role Danchenko played in this drama was be the Russian guy Steele knew and could point to to say, "see I got a guy with sources in Russia." Same role Oleg Smolenkov played for Brennan. What do you want to bet Vladimir Putin is as confused about what the hell is going on as all the rest of us?

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  13. The Barnett 302 is jaw-dropping.

    Q. for MW: do you think the large redacted passages marked "Pending unsealing by Court" denote matters for which Durham already has indictments or plea deals?

    Also, would you assume Barnett has been cooperating with Durham for a long time, and only this past week did Durham let Barnett interview with Jensen?

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    Replies
    1. I'm working through a write-up on the 302 currently. The relationship between Durham and Jensen is a bit of a puzzler for me. Did Barr and Durham really only turn to the Flynn case when Powell started kicking up dust? It should have been clear all along that it was a frame job. Or was Durham working on it and only when it gained critical mass was Jensen brought in? My guess is that Joe Pientka has been cooperating extensively for a long time. It's hard to say about Barnett. He's a logical interview target, and it's possible that this interview was done for a specific purpose--the Flynn hearing. What I mean is, Barnett may have been interviewed multiple times already, with multiple 302s, different focuses. Very hard for me to believe that this is really it, or that it's taken Jensen that long to get to the case agent.

      Re the sealed portions, hopefully a former prosecutor like SWC will weigh in on what that means. One way or another, it would appear to mean action is anticipated in the relatively near future. Remember re indictments, once you do an indictment the clock starts running for a trial. You can't just get an indictment and let it sit.

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    2. MW wrote:

      >> What I mean is, Barnett may have been interviewed multiple times already, with multiple 302s, different focuses. Very hard for me to believe that this is really it, or that it's taken Jensen that long to get to the case agent. <<

      Exactly what I suspected.

      Since the redactions occur in an interview of Barnett by Jensen and associates, one must assume the redactions relate to things they asked Barnett about, and thus were things he potentially had knowledge of.

      Since Jensen's focus was the handling of the Flynn case, and most of Barnett's experience at FBI that overlaps Jensen's focus would also be the Flynn case, one might suspect the redactions, if related to sealed indictments, must be of people involved in the Flynn investigation and prosecution.

      ;-)

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    3. AG Barr explained on Mark Levin’s program a few weeks ago that bringing in Jensen was his idea. Mentioned Jensen’s history with FBI. Unable to watch this again right now, but this is when he talked about bringing in Jensen and ultimately dismissing the charges against Flynn:

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhHwm9Yr6jg

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    4. According to this twitter thread, Durham started something in April/May 2017. Not sure if it's this case though.

      Contains screenshots by somebody (Strozk/Page?)
      “I’m going to continue to postpone my interview with Durham” 5/17/17"

      https://twitter.com/drawandstrike/status/1309294620136951808

      Frank

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    5. https://meaninginhistory.blogspot.com/2020/09/how-long-has-durham-been-on-job.html

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    6. How quickly they forget...

      Interesting screenshots though...

      Frank

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  14. Here's Mr. Wonderful's recent Political article from his recent book justifying his existence as the best prosecutor in the U.S.

    In his words "Barr’s letter (March 24, 2019) was a shot across the bow, signaling that the checking function Mueller provided on the actions of the president had come to an abrupt end."

    Weissmann's thinking here is that the SOC was intent on sticking around for the long haul to serve as a separate function to prepare to pounce on the Executive branch for the term.

    Unbelievable.

    https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/09/25/andrew-weissmann-book-excerpt-special-counsel-421441

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  15. "...checking function...on the actions of the president...."

    Would seem to be an absolute crystal clear admission of an attempt to over throw the constitutional order. Bureaucrats are not a constitutional branch of government.

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    Replies
    1. Talk to Alexander Vindman about that.

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    2. That's Lieutenant Colonel Vindman, if you don't mind! ;-)

      I still want to know who made the decision not to Art. 32 that scumbag. I've seen enlisted men court-marshaled for far less egregious insubordination while he waltzes away and lives fat, dumb (literally), and happy on the taxpayers dime ($47k per year + med. minimum) for the rest of his life. What a blow to good order and discipline, not to mention morale. Since it's military "justice" Barr can't touch him.

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    3. Vindman could still be recalled to activity for the purpose of his court martial.

      Vindman may have retired for the purpose of avoiding a court martial. If he is retired, it could lessen the interest in subjecting him to a court martial. I doubt a board of higher ranking officers would be very sympathetic.

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  16. Whats the worst case scenario for the General?
    How long can Judge Sullivan and his sidekick Ralph Cramden run interference for the bad guys?

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    Replies
    1. In the end, the charges will be dismissed, and Flynn and his family will sue the shit out of their tormentors and the government. Pretty sure the government will pay a huge number that repays him for all the money he has paid out for legal fees, lost income, loss to reputation, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Also, no telling what the punitive damages will be.

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    2. "no telling what the punitive damages will be."
      *Only* if DJT wins.
      Otherwise, any judge who rules vs. the DS will swiftly suffer a "terrible mishap".

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