Senate Intelligence Committee Leaders 'Very Concerned' About John Durham Review
By Daniel Chaitin
WashingtonExaminer.com
The bipartisan duo leading the Senate
Intelligence Committee are likely "very concerned"
about the Justice Department review of the Russia
investigation, according to former U.S. Attorney Joe
DiGenova.
DiGenova, a lawyer whose work has been caught up in
the Ukraine-impeachment controversy, said Republican
Chairman Richard Burr of North Carolina and
Democratic Vice Chairman Mark Warner of Virginia
appear to be under scrutiny by U.S. Attorney John
Durham's team.
"I also think that Burr and Warner are very, very
concerned about where the Durham probe is going in
looking into activities of those two senators with
various lawyers and nonlawyers, including
journalists in the run-up to the leaking of the
Carter Page affidavit," DiGenova told WMAL’s
Mornings on the Mall this week.
DiGenova appeared to be alluding to the case of
James Wolfe, a longtime Senate Intelligence
Committee aide who pleaded guilty in late 2018 to
lying to investigators looking into leaks of
classified information.
Burr, Warner, and former Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein
of California urged a federal judge to show leniency
as Wolfe faced two years in prison sought by federal
prosecutors. A plea deal was struck, which resulted
in a two-month prison sentence, after Wolfe's
lawyers sent letters to senators on the panel
notifying them they might need to testify as part of
a criminal trial.
Wolfe misled the FBI in December 2017 when they were
investigating leaks to the media. The FBI's inquiry
appeared to center on disclosures of information
about a secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act
warrant obtained to wiretap Carter Page, who had
been an adviser to President Trump's 2016 campaign,
as part of the Crossfire Hurricane
counterintelligence operation.
Durham, the top federal prosecutor in Connecticut,
was appointed last year by Attorney General William
Barr to review possible misconduct that took place
in the Russia investigation that targeted Page, an
American citizen suspected of being an agent for the
Kremlin but who was never charged with any
wrongdoing, and other members of the Trump team.
Little is known about Durham's effort, except for
clues dropped by Barr and the occasional news
report, including those who said the review turned
into a criminal investigation in the fall, allowing
the U.S. attorney the power to impanel a grand jury
and hand down indictments.
Republican allies of the president hope Durham will
sniff out the "dirty cops" they believe were trying
to undermine Trump's candidacy and presidency, while
Democrats have criticized the review as a
politically motivated scheme to undermine the work
of former special counsel Robert Mueller and attack
Trump's perceived enemies. Only one person is
publicly known to be under criminal investigation by
Durham's team: former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith,
who altered a key document in FISA filings related
to Page.
Trump recently appeared to evoke the Wolfe case when
criticizing prosecutors' original prison
recommendation for GOP operative Roger Stone, who
eventually received a 40-month prison sentence for
impeding a congressional investigation into Russian
interference in the 2016 election.
"A swamp creature with 'pull' was just sentenced to
two months in jail for a similar thing that they
want Stone to serve 9 years for. A phony Mueller
Witch Hunt disgrace. Caught!" Trump tweeted last
month.
DiGenova has been in the news in recent months as
details emerged about his and his wife Victoria
Toensing's work with Trump's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani,
to uncover evidence that former Vice President Joe
Biden held up to $1 billion in loan guarantees from
Ukraine to help his son escape a potential
corruption investigation. Trump pressing Ukraine to
announce investigations into his political rivals,
including the Bidens, was the subject of
impeachment, which ended in an acquittal of the
president in the Senate last month.
A vocal Trump defender who claims to have insider
information on matters such as leaks, DiGenova told
WMAL that Burr is a "dicey" Republican who was
reluctant to support Trump's pick for director of
national intelligence, Texas congressman John
Ratcliffe. DiGenova suggested that Burr came around
because he was "frightened" by the presence of
acting Director of National Intelligence Richard
Grenell, whom he called "a serious, serious
bureaucratic infighter who knows how to fire
people."
Following House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam
Schiff, a prominent Trump critic, Burr and Warner
asked Grenell to declassify information about the
killing of Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi.
Grenell said he will step down as ambassador to
Germany if the Senate confirms Ratcliffe to take on
the spy chief role permanently. DiGenova predicted
Ratcliffe will be confirmed.