(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . John Durham turned the House into an Abbott and Costello routine [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-06-22 Excuse me, what?! In the where? D: "You may be beyond the depth of my knowledge.." D: "You may be beyond the depth of my knowledge.." Schiff asked Durham "Kilimick provided this info to Russian intel while they had a campaign to use social media and stolen docs to influence the election?" Schiff asked Durham "Kilimick provided this info to Russian intel while they had a campaign to use social media and stolen docs to influence the election?" Holy Shit. Seems like exactly the point to me. Schiff: "While [Campaign Chariman] Manafort was giving [GRU Operative] Kilimnick info - Russian intelligence was helping the Trump campaign weren't they?" Schiff: "While [Campaign Chariman] Manafort was giving [GRU Operative] Kilimnick info - Russian intelligence was helping the Trump campaign weren't they?" Fucking hell!" Durham: "I know the very general facts, yes. Do I know that particular fact myself? No. I know that I've read that in the media." Durham: "I know the very general facts, yes. Do I know that particular fact myself? No. I know that I've read that in the media." Schiff: "You don't know those basic facts of the investigation?" Schiff: "You don't know those basic facts of the investigation?" Aren't you supposed to be like, an "investigator?" Schiff:" Don Jr. was offered "very high level and sensitive information" about Hillary Clinton by Russians "Did you know that?" Durham "People get phone calls all the time from individuals who claim to have information like that." Schiff:" Don Jr. was offered "very high level and sensitive information" about Hillary Clinton by Russians "Did you know that?" Durham "People get phone calls all the time from individuals who claim to have information like that." They what now? Foreign nationals just regularly call up people in an American Campaign with some hot tips on how to defeat their opponent? NO. Really, they don’t because its. a. crime. Schiff: "Are you really trying to diminish the significance of what happened here? And the secret meeting that Trump's son set up in Trump Tower to receive this information?” Schiff: "Are you really trying to diminish the significance of what happened here? And the secret meeting that Trump's son set up in Trump Tower to receive this information?” Durham: "I'm saying that people can make phone calls with claims all the time." Durham: "I'm saying that people can make phone calls with claims all the time." Schiff: "You said that it's not uncommon to get offers of help from a hostile foreign government to [the candidate's] son?" Schiff: "You said that it's not uncommon to get offers of help from a hostile foreign government to [the candidate's] son?" Durham: "I don't think that is unique in your experience." Durham: "I don't think that is unique in your experience." Schiff: "The son of a Presidential candidate gets calls all the time from a foreign government offering dirt on their opponent?" Schiff: "The son of a Presidential candidate gets calls all the time from a foreign government offering dirt on their opponent?" Durham: "I don't think that was a well-advised thing to do." Durham: "I don't think that was a well-advised thing to do." Schiff: "You think it's insignificant that he had a meeting with Russians for the purpose of getting dirt on Hillary Clinton? And the only disappointment was that the dirt wasn't better - you don't think that's significant?" Schiff: "You think it's insignificant that he had a meeting with Russians for the purpose of getting dirt on Hillary Clinton? And the only disappointment was that the dirt wasn't better - you don't think that's significant?" What's the name of the guy on third base? What's the name of the guy on third base? This has become an Abbot and Costello routine. This has become an Abbot and Costello routine. Durham: "If you're asking me If I would do it I hope I wouldn't do it". Durham: "If you're asking me If I would do it I hope I wouldn't do it". Schiff:"Not well advised? Well, that's the understatement of the year. You think that's merely inadvisable?" Schiff:"Not well advised? Well, that's the understatement of the year. You think that's merely inadvisable?" You hope? Schiff:"It is illegal to conspire to get incriminating opposition research from a hostile government that is of financial value to a campaign, wouldn't that violate campaign laws?" Schiff:"It is illegal to conspire to get incriminating opposition research from a hostile government that is of financial value to a campaign, wouldn't that violate campaign laws?" Technically, this is not part of the criminal codes, but it is a violation of law that would be under the perview of the FEC, not neccesarily the DOJ. Either way, it’s illegal. (2) a person to solicit, accept, or receive a contribution or donation described in subparagraph (A) or (B) of paragraph (1) from a foreign national. (C) an expenditure, independent expenditure, or disbursement for an electioneering communication (within the meaning of section 30104(f)(3) of this title); or (A) a contribution or donation of money or other thing of value, or to make an express or implied promise to make a contribution or donation, in connection with a Federal, State, or local election; Schiff is correct, it is a violation of campaign laws under 52 U.S.C. 30121. Careful, that just might piss off the MAGAs. Durham: "I don't know all those facts to be true." Durham: "I don't know all those facts to be true." Schiff:"The only difference between his investigation and yours is that he refused to bring charges where he couldn't prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, and you did." Schiff:"The only difference between his investigation and yours is that he refused to bring charges where he couldn't prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, and you did." And, scene. Lord, God. Whew. Ahem. Here are some of my other notes from the hearing: My comments are in brackets. Durham stated during the opening of in his testimony that the "threat from Russia was serious." [So, not a "hoax" then.] Durham stated in response to a question from Rep Johnson that Peter Strzok had a "personal bias" against Trump, but he ignores that the Inspector General found that Strzok didn't let his personal feelings impact his professional work. Durham stated "not that I know of" when asked if there was any "evidence of collusion" or "contact with Russian Intelligence"by the Trump campaign . [Yeah, except for Papadopoulos with Tamofeev, Manafort with Kilimnick, and Don Jr. with Veselnitskaya there was no contact at all. Also Roger Stone going through a reporter from RT to reach and communicate with Wikileaks. ] Under questioning from Nadler he agreed that his reports states that the FBI had an "affirmative obligation" to investigate reports of links between the Trump and Russia. He repeated "there was a real Russian threat" when asked by Nadler that he agreed with the 2017 Intel assessment that Putin had ordered a political influence campaign against Hillary Clinton, and in favor of Trump. Under questioning from Rep. Fry Durham agreed that the Crossfire Hurricane investigation suffered from "confirmation bias" and rejected evidence that conflicted with their narrative. Responding to Rep. Lofgren he stated that looking at the hacking of the DNC was "outside the scope" of what he was asked to do, which is weird because that hack was tied directly to why the investigation was started by the report from Ambassador Downer. He also said he was not asked to look at the meeting in Trump Tower between a Russian lawyer - who brought a GRU agent with her -and Don Trump Jr., Jared and Manafort. Lofgren asked about whether they investigated a report from Italian officials who told him and Barr that Trump was involved in "financial crimes" but he stated he wasn't allowed to answer by DOJ rules. Adam Schiff — who had been granted time by Lofgren before his own actually question time — pointed out that Durham violated DOJ protocols to criticize the Inspector General for saying that the Russia Investigation had been properly predicated. [Speaking of confirmation bias.]. x x YouTube Video He answered, "I didn't know I was violating some policy." [Face palm!] Here’s more of that conversation from Raw Story. "Mr. Durham, you're aware of Donald Trump's public statements along the lines of, hey, Russia, if you're listening, hack Hillary's emails, you'll be richly rewarded by the press," the lawmaker reminded the witness. "I'm aware of that," Durham admitted. "You're aware that Mueller found that hours after he made that plea for Russian help, the Russians, in fact, tried to hack one of the email servers affiliated with the Clinton campaign or family?" Schiff pressed. "If that happened, I'm not aware of that," the former special counsel replied. “If” that happened? Yes, it fucking happened. It was the Clinton Campaign. The Russians tried to hack their way in to her campaign that same night that Trump said to do it. They were literally taking orders from him. "You're not aware of that in the Mueller report?" Schiff gasped. "When you say you're not aware of evidence of collusion in the Mueller report, it's because apparently you haven't read the Mueller report very well." "I'm not aware of that fact," Durham repeated. After a barrage of questions recalling how Russia worked to benefit the Trump campaign, Schiff concluded by offering a new definition of collusion. "They don't want to call collusion," Schiff said of Republicans. "Maybe there's a better name for it. Maybe they would prefer we just call it good old-fashioned GOP cheating with the enemy. Maybe that would be a little bit more accurate description." "Because this is what happened, but they seem allergic to calling it for what it is," he asserted. [Jezzzus!] Rep. Barbara Lee got Durham to admit that although he was supposed to be "independent" he had far more than a dozen interactions with AG Bill Barr. Admittedly, this was before he was Special Counsel - so his independence was from Merrick Garland, not Bill Barr. Rep. Cline got Durham to agree that the FBI "didn't have an adequate basis to start Crossfire Hurricane" [Except that he had previously stated they did because "Russia was a serious threat."] He stated that Papadoplous wasn't told anything about "emails" only a "suggestion of a suggestion." [Then why did Ambassador Downer go to the FBI after he heard that the DNC had been hacked? Because he’d been told Trump staffer Papadopoulos that Russian operatives had previously claimed credit for the hack. And somehow Paps wasn’t told about emails? How's that work?] Durham then claims the discussion in Trump Tower with Don Jr was about "adoptions." [It was about dropping the Magnitski sanctions on Russia in exchange for political dirt - allegations that Clinton had received illegal campaign contributions from Russia via whistleblowing U.S. businessman Bill Browder, who had been Magnitski’s boss when he was murdered in a Russia Jail. Putin had canceled US adoptions in retaliation for the sanctions. But apparently, Durham just doesn’t know any of this shit.] Rep Cohen asked why Durham didn't investigate Manafort's connection to Kilimnick and their discussion of internal polling data? "[Kilimnick] met with a lot of people." [He did what? Manafort associate Alex Van Der Zwaan was prosecuted and convicted for lying about Manafort assistant Rick Gates being in contact with Kilimnick, but Durham says “he met with a lot of people?” Fuck!] Cohen asked "Why didn't you look into that [collusion]?" Durham answered "My assignment was to look into the conduct of the intelligence agencies, not to conduct a separate investigation that was done by the Senate, House of Mueller." [So exactly how the fuck are you determining there *wasn't* Collusion then?] Under questioning from Rep. Johnson, Durham admits that he was only able to indict two persons (both of which cases he lost). He wasn't able to indict James Comey, CIA Director Brennan, Barack Obama, Joe Biden or Hunter Biden. "That's correct." Durham argues back and grumbles "a Grand Jury indicted him" when Johnson points out the Clinton lawyer Robert Sussman was "acquitted by a jury of 12." When asked if he charged anyone with being part of a "hoax against Donald Trump" he responds "I wouldn't say that." [!!!! He charged two cases of “Lying to the FBI.” He lost them both, no allegations of any “plot” was in the charges. Durham's “theory of the case” had been that Clinton paid for Steele Dossier wrongly started the FBI investigation, and they should have found it “not credible” and dropped everything right away. He prosecuted Sussman for telling the FBI there was a link between a Trump and Russian server. Which was true. They prosecuted Danchenko under the theory that he had worked with Clinton and supplied info to Steele under the idea that he fed him a fake story about the Moscow Ritz Carlton and the hookers. Trump’s bodyguard Keith Schiller testified that he *was* Durham's “theory of the case” had been that Clinton paid for Steele Dossier wrongly started the FBI investigation, and they should have found it “not credible” and dropped everything right away. He prosecuted Sussman for telling the FBI there was a link between a Trump and Russian server. Which was true. They prosecuted Danchenko under the theory that he had worked with Clinton and supplied info to Steele under the idea that he fed him a fake story about the Moscow Ritz Carlton and the hookers. Trump’s bodyguard Keith Schiller testified that he *was* in the Hotel on that night and he was offered Four Hookers — so again, not a hoax that came from Hillary Clinton. There was no “Plot” to frame Trump.] Johnson continues "You referred in your report to Sussman and Danchenko as if they had been convicted at trial, when they were acquitted and your allegations disproven. Do you think it's ethical to state something as a fact in an official document when the court found that you could not prove the allegation?" Durham answered "Well if you looked at the report we talked about the trial and all the evidence, including some that was not admissible" [if it’s not admissable, then it doesn't fracking count a Constitutional Evidence.] Johnson: "You failed to find the investigation was politically motivated and a Deep State conspiracy..." Durham: "That is not what I was investigating." [Say what now?] Johnson: "You found it to be false, isn't that correct:?" [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/6/22/2176908/-John-Durham-turned-the-House-into-an-Abbott-and-Costello-routine Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/