Special Counsel John Durham tried to use Russian intelligence memos that were suspected of containing disinformation in his investigation of Russiagate.
In Mr. Durham’s case, the dubious sources were memos, whose credibility the intelligence community doubted, written by Russian intelligence analysts and discussing purported conversations involving American victims of Russian hacking, according to people familiar with the matter.
The memos were part of a trove provided to the C.I.A. by a Dutch spy agency, which had infiltrated the servers of its Russian counterpart. The memos were said to make demonstrably inconsistent, inaccurate or exaggerated claims, and some U.S. analysts believed Russia may have deliberately seeded them with disinformation.
Mr. Durham wanted to use the memos, which included descriptions of Americans discussing a purported plan by Mrs. Clinton to attack Mr. Trump by linking him to Russia’s hacking and releasing in 2016 of Democratic emails, to pursue the theory that the Clinton campaign conspired to frame Mr. Trump. And in doing so, Mr. Durham sought to use the memos as justification to get access to the private communications of an American citizen.
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Durham was turned down by a judge who would not allow the memos to be used as evidence. Both Durham and former Attorney General William Barr believed that the Russia investigation into Trump was a conspiracy to frame Trump by the intelligence community.
The John Durham investigation was a sham, but it was even worse than previously reported. The Durham investigation didn’t go where the facts took it. They tried to find facts to support the conspiracy theory that Trump was framed by the intelligence community.
The Russiagate scandal is the opposite of a hoax.
However, the Durham investigation looks like an abuse of power by Trump and Barr to cover up potential crimes.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
