We don’t know yet what this means, but it’s an interesting development:
A top aide to Connecticut U.S. Attorney John Durham, who is conducting a politically sensitive investigation into the origins of the federal investigation into potential ties between the Trump campaign and Russia, has resigned from the Justice Department amid mounting pressure from President Donald Trump and his allies to publish results from the probe before the November election.
Veteran federal prosecutor Nora Dannehy, who returned from the private sector to assist Durham soon in March 2019, exited the government in recent days, according to a Durham spokesman.
“We can confirm that she’s resigned from the Department of Justice,” the spokesman, Tom Carson, said Friday.https://tpc.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-37/html/container.html
A spokeswoman for Barr, who tapped Durham to assess the basis for and conduct of the initial probe, referred questions about Dannehy’s departure to Durham’s office.
The Hartford Courant first reported the development and said her resignation was “at least partly out of concern” that investigators are facing political pressure to complete a report on their findings before the election.
POLITICO asked Durham’s spokesman last week about Dannehy’s status with the office. “Nora Dannehy is employed by our office,” Carson replied Saturday. Dannehy did not respond to messages seeking comment on her plans.
The Courant said Dannehy sent an email to colleagues Thursday announcing her departure. Carson said Friday that Friday was her last day with the office.
Carson declined to comment on other issues related to Dannehy’s exit, such as whether pressure to produce a report in the coming weeks contributed to her decision. While the office issued a press release last year announcing her return to government service and it was widely reported that she was assisting in the Russia-related inquiry, Durham’s office never confirmed that publicly.
In recent interviews, Trump has expressed impatience with the Durham inquiry, suggesting that it should be producing more prosecutions as well as disclosures of information the president contends will be damaging to his political rivals. The situation also seems to have put a chill in Trump’s relationship with Barr.
“Bill Barr has the chance to be the greatest of all time, but if he wants to be politically correct, he’ll be just another guy, because he knows all the answers, he knows what they have, and it goes right to Obama and it goes right to Biden,” Trump said last month in an interview with Fox Business Network’s Maria Bartiromo.
Last month, Barr predicted “significant developments in the probe before the election” and he has indicated he sees Justice Department policy as presenting no obstacle to releasing a report on Durham’s findings in advance of the November vote.
It seems likely that Barr really is pushing to get Durham’s report or indictments or whatever, out before the election, most likely sometime in October. He’s signaled as much:
Asked by NBC’s Pete Williams in an interview Wednesday whether Durham is wrapping up his probe, the attorney general declined to say.
“I’m not going to characterize exactly where he is. I’ll just leave it at that,” Barr said.
When Williams asked if it was unlikely there will be further charges, the attorney general replied: “No, I wouldn’t say that at all, no.”
And pressed on whether the public might see a final report or even an interim report from Durham before the election, the attorney general remained Sphinx-like.
“I’m not gonna get into that either,” Barr told NBC. “I’m not going to get into what there might be. … I’m conscious of the election, and I don’t think any of the things that are being worked on are going to have an adverse effect on that. And … also there’s, you know, strong public interest involved as well.”
The “public interest” could wait until after the election — unless his interpretation is that the public needs to know the result before they vote.
This is outrageous, if true. Comey did what he did and was met with massive disapprobation by almost everyone — including Bill Barr! Yet Barr seems to be planning to do the same thing.
This prosecutor quitting may end up being about something entirely different. At thins point there just isn’t much information. But most of the DOJ observers say that it would be highly unusual for this woman to quit in the middle of a big case like this unless there was something very wrong. It really looks like Barr has just lost all constraints and will literally do anything to help Donald Trump’s re-election.