Who knows what to think of this, except that to all appearances Durham is committed to doing a thorough job. The big question, of course, is whether these interviews—done by investigators/prosecutors, not in front of a Grand Jury—were the result of specific suspicions or were done more or less on speculation. By that last I mean, interviews done because the interviewee was in proximity to the suspected criminal activity or was a close associate of, for example, a person suspected of or charged with a crime. Sussmann is an obvious example, but there are lots more who haven’t been charged.
Follow the link for more discussion of developments in the Sussmann case--especially the ongoing dispute re attorney client privilege. Basically it comes down to this:
Team Clinton--because that's what we're really talking about, even though they're not parties to this case--is asserting that just about everyone remotely connected to the campaign was acting in some legal capacity and therefore large numbers of docs (~1000) that discuss their campaign activities are privileged, i.e., Durham can't see them.
While there are complexities (which Cleveland discusses) the basic idea of attorney client privilege is that it only applies to communications “that a client conveys to his attorney for the purpose of security for an opinion on law, legal services, or assistance in a legal proceeding.” Clinton is claiming that that's what Fusion GPS was doing (Cleveland discusses the rationale). Durham has strong arguments against--Fusion was engaged in a PR hit job, not in any legal capacity.
My guess is that he and his fellows violated his government contract's regulations forbidding him to snoop on individuals. Apparently, the US Government granted to Joffe and to his fellows extraordinary capabilities to study Internet communications. For sure, the US Government restricted very strictly the use of such capabilities.
Despite such restrictions, Joffe and his fellows snooped on Donald Trump and on his associates.
That is why Joffe is pleading the Fifth Amendment.
My guess is that Joffe started down the wrong road when he was persuaded to look for communications between 1) some particular computers in Trump Tower and 2) Alfa Bank.
I speculate that this stupid idea originated from the FBI's investigation of a Russia-based international gambling ring that had a work location in Trump Tower before 2016. It's likely that that gambling ring used Alfa Bank for many financial transactions.
The FBI broke up that gambling ring and was able to study that ring's communications and records and to interview some of its participants. During this study, there was some suspicion that Donald Trump himself might be involved somehow. However, no evidence was discovered.
Nevertheless, some stubborn person(s) could not give up the idea that there must be some connection between Trump, Alfa Bank and bad guys in Russia. Looking for such a connection became, for some people, like the search for the Holy Grail.
Anyway, I speculate that some such person eventually persuaded Joffe to join that search. Joffe apparently thought he could do this in some clever manner that would not get him into trouble for violating his government research contract. Eventually, though, Joffe's sneaky effort blew up in his face.
That's my speculation about the Alfa Bank part of this history.
According to the BBC article about the FISA applications against the two Russian banks, a sequence of events began in April 2016.
[quote]
Last April [2016], the CIA director [John Brennan] was shown intelligence that worried him. It was - allegedly - a tape recording of a conversation about money from the Kremlin going into the US presidential campaign. It was passed to the US by an intelligence agency of one of the Baltic States ....
[end quote]
I suspect that the Baltic intelligence agency had nothing to do with the "tape recording of a conversation about money from the Kremlin going into the US presidential campaign".
A Baltic intelligence agency was involved elsewhere in the events, but the "tape recording" came from Oleg Smolenkov, the CIA's spy in the Kremlin's Presidential Administration.
It's plausible that Smolenkov might have provided a tape recording of some high-level official saying that the Kremlin money was being sent from the Kremlin to Trump's campaign.
However, money was not a problem for the Trump campaign. After all, Trump was a billionaire. This Russian money would not be a significant factor for Trump's campaign.
Russian money might be significant, however, for an individual or two on Trump's campaign staff. For example, the Russian money might be significant for Carter Page and/or Paul Manafort. In other words, the Russian money was intended to pay a secret agent or two on the campaign staff. The Kremlin's intention might be to prepare an "October Surprise" in which Hilary Clinton's e-mails would be revealed a few days before Election Day -- thus enabling Trump to defeat Clinton.
I think that the US Intelligence Community feared such an October Surprise and suspected that one or two members of Trump's campaign staff might be involved.
It was in this situation that the investigation of Alfa Bank began -- no later than June 2016, the month when the first FISA application was submitted. Perhaps Estonian Intelligence was involved at around that time. Perhaps Estonian Intelligence was able to monitor some Alfa Bank transactions.
FISA applications against Alfa Bank were rejected, however, in June and July 2016. The only FISA application that ever was approved in this situation was in October 2016. By that time, only Carter Page remained as a FISA target.
Frustrated by the inability to get a FISA warrant against Alfa Bank, someone asked Joffe to study Alfa Bank's communications with Trump Tower. It seems that this study was done in September and October 2016.
Durham is also in a continuing legal battle to obtain docs that HFA is trying to block with dubious attorney client arguments. That just shows how justice can be delayed with the power of money. Durham is continuing.
>> https://twitter.com/McAdooGordon/status/1514397449435197454 <<
Sussmann motion to dismiss charges swept away by judge.
Trial to begin 16 May, assuming no other dilatory motions are filed.
Fight remains for Durham to get FGPS/ Hillary for America docs for which attorney/client privileged/ attorney work product have been claimed.
https://thefederalist.com/2022/04/07/will-the-court-allow-special-counsel-john-durham-to-see-clinton-campaign-documents/
Follow the link for more discussion of developments in the Sussmann case--especially the ongoing dispute re attorney client privilege. Basically it comes down to this:
Team Clinton--because that's what we're really talking about, even though they're not parties to this case--is asserting that just about everyone remotely connected to the campaign was acting in some legal capacity and therefore large numbers of docs (~1000) that discuss their campaign activities are privileged, i.e., Durham can't see them.
While there are complexities (which Cleveland discusses) the basic idea of attorney client privilege is that it only applies to communications “that a client conveys to his attorney for the purpose of security for an opinion on law, legal services, or assistance in a legal proceeding.” Clinton is claiming that that's what Fusion GPS was doing (Cleveland discusses the rationale). Durham has strong arguments against--Fusion was engaged in a PR hit job, not in any legal capacity.
Why has Joffe been pleading the Fifth Amendment?
My guess is that he and his fellows violated his government contract's regulations forbidding him to snoop on individuals. Apparently, the US Government granted to Joffe and to his fellows extraordinary capabilities to study Internet communications. For sure, the US Government restricted very strictly the use of such capabilities.
Despite such restrictions, Joffe and his fellows snooped on Donald Trump and on his associates.
That is why Joffe is pleading the Fifth Amendment.
My guess is that Joffe started down the wrong road when he was persuaded to look for communications between 1) some particular computers in Trump Tower and 2) Alfa Bank.
I speculate that this stupid idea originated from the FBI's investigation of a Russia-based international gambling ring that had a work location in Trump Tower before 2016. It's likely that that gambling ring used Alfa Bank for many financial transactions.
The FBI broke up that gambling ring and was able to study that ring's communications and records and to interview some of its participants. During this study, there was some suspicion that Donald Trump himself might be involved somehow. However, no evidence was discovered.
Nevertheless, some stubborn person(s) could not give up the idea that there must be some connection between Trump, Alfa Bank and bad guys in Russia. Looking for such a connection became, for some people, like the search for the Holy Grail.
Anyway, I speculate that some such person eventually persuaded Joffe to join that search. Joffe apparently thought he could do this in some clever manner that would not get him into trouble for violating his government research contract. Eventually, though, Joffe's sneaky effort blew up in his face.
That's my speculation about the Alfa Bank part of this history.
See my new blog article on the subject:
http://people-who-did-not-see.blogspot.com/2022/04/the-fisa-warrants-against-two-russian.html
According to the BBC article about the FISA applications against the two Russian banks, a sequence of events began in April 2016.
[quote]
Last April [2016], the CIA director [John Brennan] was shown intelligence that worried him. It was - allegedly - a tape recording of a conversation about money from the Kremlin going into the US presidential campaign. It was passed to the US by an intelligence agency of one of the Baltic States ....
[end quote]
I suspect that the Baltic intelligence agency had nothing to do with the "tape recording of a conversation about money from the Kremlin going into the US presidential campaign".
A Baltic intelligence agency was involved elsewhere in the events, but the "tape recording" came from Oleg Smolenkov, the CIA's spy in the Kremlin's Presidential Administration.
http://people-who-did-not-see.blogspot.com/2020/02/the-cias-concerns-about-steeles-dossier.html
It's plausible that Smolenkov might have provided a tape recording of some high-level official saying that the Kremlin money was being sent from the Kremlin to Trump's campaign.
However, money was not a problem for the Trump campaign. After all, Trump was a billionaire. This Russian money would not be a significant factor for Trump's campaign.
Russian money might be significant, however, for an individual or two on Trump's campaign staff. For example, the Russian money might be significant for Carter Page and/or Paul Manafort. In other words, the Russian money was intended to pay a secret agent or two on the campaign staff. The Kremlin's intention might be to prepare an "October Surprise" in which Hilary Clinton's e-mails would be revealed a few days before Election Day -- thus enabling Trump to defeat Clinton.
I think that the US Intelligence Community feared such an October Surprise and suspected that one or two members of Trump's campaign staff might be involved.
It was in this situation that the investigation of Alfa Bank began -- no later than June 2016, the month when the first FISA application was submitted. Perhaps Estonian Intelligence was involved at around that time. Perhaps Estonian Intelligence was able to monitor some Alfa Bank transactions.
FISA applications against Alfa Bank were rejected, however, in June and July 2016. The only FISA application that ever was approved in this situation was in October 2016. By that time, only Carter Page remained as a FISA target.
Frustrated by the inability to get a FISA warrant against Alfa Bank, someone asked Joffe to study Alfa Bank's communications with Trump Tower. It seems that this study was done in September and October 2016.
Durham is also in a continuing legal battle to obtain docs that HFA is trying to block with dubious attorney client arguments. That just shows how justice can be delayed with the power of money. Durham is continuing.