Durham Accused Of Stoking Trumpy Conspiracy Theories In Blistering Counterattack By Target Of His Probe
Durham did not specify in the filing under what administration the alleged “gathering” by the tech executive —
identified by the New York Times and others as Rodney Joffe — took place. But the narrative seemed to tee up a conclusion that conservative outlets quickly leapt to: that the White House had been monitored during the Trump administration.
This led to an outpouring of rage on the right, which cast the filing as proof that Trump was right about the spying allegations all along.
Kash Patel, the former Devin Nunes operative, said that Durham had revealed a plan to “infiltrate” Trump Tower and the White House. Fox News used that quote to headline an article
claiming that the filing demonstrated that the Clinton campaign masterminded the effort.
Per Sussmann’s and Joffe’s attorneys, that is not true.
“The Special Counsel is well aware that the data provided to Agency-2 pertained only to the period of time before Mr. Trump took office, when Barack Obama was President,” reads the filing from Sussmann. (Agency-2 is widely reported to be the CIA, to which Durham alleged Sussmann relayed Joffe’s findings.)
Joffe’s attorneys separately told the New York Times that Joffe only examined data from the Executive Office of the President while Obama was in office, and that it was part of an attempt to see whether there was malware on White House servers — a job for which he had been hired.
Sussmann’s attorneys added that Durham didn’t allege anything to do with the supposed spying scheme in the initial indictment, and questioned how it was relevant to the case.
“Sadly, the Special Counsel seems to be succeeding in his effort to instigate unfair and prejudicial media coverage of Mr. Sussmann’s case,” the filing reads. “Indeed, since the Motion was filed, numerous outlets published stories suggesting that the Special Counsel’s latest filing revealed a vast conspiracy involving Mr. Sussmann and the Clinton Campaign.”
Special counsel John Durham is using court filings to spread conspiracy theories...
talkingpointsmemo.com
Now just a minute. Durham, the guy Billy the Bagman picked to discredit the FBI's investigation for the Orange Messiah's sake, is doing Trumpy things!! Perish the thought.