John Durham is apparently investigating Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign and its former employees, according to a special counsel motion filed on 17 December 2021. The motion stems from the case of Igor Danchenko, a primary subsource of ex-MI6 agent Christopher Steele, the author of an uncorroborated "dirty dossier" on Trump. The former British spook compiled the dossier at the request of Fusion GPS, which, in turn, was hired by the Clinton campaign's legal firm Perkins Coie.
Danchenko was arrested on 4 November in Northern Virginia on a five-count indictment by Durham, who is looking into the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation. Durham's latest motion discusses a potential conflict of interest because of Danchenko changing his legal team: now Steele's former subsource is represented by Schertler Onorato Mead & Sears.
What's more interesting, the blog highlights, is that in addition to their representation of Danchenko, "a separate lawyer at the firm is currently representing the 2016 'Hillary for America' presidential campaign (the 'Clinton Campaign'), as well as multiple former employees of that campaign, in matters before the Special Counsel".
The Reactionary's author, Techno Fog – a nom de plume for an American lawyer and writer - draws attention to yet another excerpt in the motion which indicates that members of the Clinton campaign may also potentially be "called to testify" at Danchenko's trial.
The document reads: "in the event that one or more former representatives of the Clinton Campaign (who are represented by defence counsel's firm) are called to testify at any trial or other court proceeding, the defendant and any such witness would be represented by the same law firm, resulting in a potential conflict".
According to Techno Fog, "it seems like the Clinton Campaign's involvement in the dossier might be deeper than anyone really knows".
6 November 2021, 05:36 GMT
Previously, Durham's unusually lengthy indictment of ex-Perkins Coie partner Michael Sussmann shed light on Clinton campaign operatives' communications with a team of researchers who tried to link the Trump Organisation to Russia's Alfa Bank. The FBI later debunked the Trump-Alfa bank story as groundless.
The indictment of Danchenko also focuses on Steele's subsource's communications with longtime Clinton aide Charles H. Dolan Jr., an American political strategist. Durham pointed out at least one instance of Dolan feeding false information to Danchenko. Then this false information was repeated in the Steele Dossier.
Techno Fog presumes that Hillary Clinton's campaign could have received updates both in the Trump-Alfa bank story and Steele's "dirty dossier". But that is not all the lawyer notes, wondering whether Clinton campaign operatives were also "informing" the work of the investigators.
Techno Fog notes that a similar assumption was cited by The New York Times in September 2021. The newspaper highlighted that "some of the questions that Mr Durham's team has been asking in recent months — including of witnesses it subpoenaed before a grand jury, according to people familiar with some of the sessions — suggest he has been pursuing a theory that the Clinton campaign used Perkins Coie to submit dubious information to the FBI about Russia and Mr Trump in an effort to gin up investigative activity to hurt his 2016 campaign".
Assuming that this is potentially the case it is hardly surprising why the Clinton campaign and its former employees have entered Special Counsel John Durham's crosshairs.