MAJORLY UPDATED: Bruce Ohr Resigns--A Day Before He Would Have Been Fired

Catherine Herridge breaks the story:

Catherine Herridge

@CBS_Herridge

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1h

SCOOP: A person familiar with the matter tells

@CBSNews

that Bruce Ohr is no longer working at DOJ. He resigned the day before he was going to be terminated by DOJ over his conduct cited in IG Horowitz report. Ohr was faulted for becoming a kind of backchannel linking dossier author Christopher Steele to the FBI after Steele's termination by Bureau as a source. Timing: Ohr left DOJ in recent weeks + seeking his comment

Note that Ohr would have been fired for cause. I'm no expert on employment law and civil service protections, but getting fired for cause isn't so easy to do unless you've done something pretty wrong. One way to accomplish that might be "lack of candor" issues. In other words, without actually committing perjury, you failed to be forthcoming when you were required to be.

My assumption is that Ohr was most likely allowed to resign--which may or may not preserve some pension rights as well as make it easier to be rehired elsewhere--as a favor in return for his long term cooperation with the Barr/Durham investigation.

I anticipate we'll be updating this post as details come out surrounding the terms of his resignation.

UPDATE: SWC agrees with my take, with a bit more specificity. He says it's "just a guess" but obviously I think it's a good guess:

shipwreckedcrew

@shipwreckedcrew

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6m

Re Bruce Ohr -- just a guess.

He was referred by the IG to both DOJ on a criminal referral, and to OPR for disciplinary review.

The disciplinary review was likely stayed pending a decision on the criminal referral. I have always assumed he was cooperating with Durham.

His cooperation is likely complete, and the OPR process played itself out with a determination that he would be terminated. He retired ahead of that action being taken. And before anyone asks, he gets to keep his pension. No one loses what is vested even if they get fired.

So, the decision not to prosecute Ohr would have been based on his cooperation. It's not clear to me, but my suspicion is that, had he been prosecuted he then might have lost his pension. The further decision to allow him to retire before being fired was another reward for his cooperation, but the biggie was not being prosecuted.

This is probably very bad news for some major players in the Russia Hoax. As #3 at DoJ and in close cooperation with the Comey/McCabe FBI, Ohr would have been privy to most of what was going on in the plot against Trump. That could be key to building the big picture conspiracy case.

On the other hand, this should be regarded as good news for the rest of us.

UPDATE: Techno Fog has turned up the OPR summary of the Ohr case, which sundance includes in a much longer post. Techno Fog points out that, based on the date of this summary, Ohr probably left DoJ in late July or early August. As I expected, Ohr's recommended firing was based on "lack of candor." "Failed to provide a complete disclosure" = lack of candor. Here's the OPR summary:

INVESTIGATION OF ALLEGED LACK OF CANDOR

OPR received a referral from another Department entity regarding allegations that a senior Department attorney [Ohr] failed to apprise his supervisor [Sally Yates?] of his interactions with a law enforcement agency [the FBI] and a source [Steele] concerning the subject matter of an ongoing high-profile investigation [the Russia Hoax, aka, Crossfire Hurricane].  Although the attorney eventually recognized the need to inform his supervisor, who was overseeing the investigation, of his involvement and provided some information about the general topic, [Ohr] failed to provide a complete disclosure of his role as a conduit of information between [Steele] and the [FBI]. As a result, the supervisor was unaware of the attorney’s activities related to the investigation until learning of them through other means.

OPR opened an inquiry, which it converted into an investigation, focusing on [Ohr's] incomplete disclosures to his supervisor about his ongoing activities related to [Steele] and the [FBI]. Following its investigation, OPR concluded that [Ohr] committed reckless professional misconduct by providing materially incomplete information to his supervisor, which constituted a misrepresentation.

The summary doesn't mention recommended disciplinary action or the final disposition. However, from what we now know that probably followed pretty shortly after completion of the investigation, since Fox tells us that Ohr agreed with the decision to resign--i.e., he didn't attempt to appeal.

I recommend a close reading of sundance's post: The Laundry Operation – Bruce Ohr Left DOJ Shortly Before Being Terminated: Likely in July. The details of Ohr's firing you already know. However, when sundance refers to "the laundry operation" he's referring to the fact that Ohr's 302s--dated in the first half of May, 2017--detail information regarding the collusion involving Chris Steele, Dan Jones, Glenn Simpson of Fusion GPS, and Senator Mark Warner of the SSCI--the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence--as well as with the FBI and DoJ. Recall that Jones worked as an investigator for the SSCI for years. Sundance walks through all this, but it seems clear that there would have been other major players involved.

Now you can see: 

why Bruce Ohr's cooperation with Durham is so important;

why Dan Jones' subpoena to appear before the grand jury is so important;

why we all need to cut Barr and Durham some slack--they really are fixing to fry some big fish;

and why Mark Warner and other major Deep State players have every reason to be worried.

The time frame involved has to do with the firing of Comey and also with the appointment of Mueller. 

Here's another interesting matter. The 302s are redacted, including the names of the FBI agents who interviewed Ohr. The interviews took place at the FBI's Washington Field Office (WFO) and were conducted by an SA ("street agent") and an SSA (Supervisor). Joe Pientka was an SSA at WFO, and William Barnett was an SA on Pientka's squad. That seems to hang together, and everyone should feel free to speculate as what Pientka and Barnett may have been talking to Durham about for the last couple of years--beyond what we know from Barnett's Flynn-related 302 that was released recently. Also feel free to speculate about Rod Rosenstein's role in all this and what he may have been discussing with John Durham.

This is really big.