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William Barr; Robert Mueller

Top prosecutor on DOJ's investigation of the Russia probe just resigned out of fear of Bill Barr

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William Barr and Robert Mueller Getty Images/Salon

Federal prosecutor Nora Dannehy has been an important figure in the U.S. Department of Justice, serving as an aide to John Durham in his Russia investigation. But Dannehy, the Hartford Courant reported Friday, has resigned from that probe.

The Courant's Edmund H. Mahony reports that Dannehy, according to her colleagues, is stepping down "at least partly out of concern that the investigative team is being pressed for political reasons to produce a report before its work is done."

Mahony explain "Dannehy, a highly regarded prosecutor who has worked with or for Durham for decades, informed colleagues in the U.S. Attorney's office in New Haven of her resignation from the Department of Justice by e-mail Thursday evening. The short e-mail was a brief farewell message and said nothing about political pressure, her work for Durham or what the Durham team has produced, according to people who received it."

In 2019, Attorney General William Barr hired Durham to investigate the FBI's probe of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election — an investigation of an investigation — and Durham picked Dannehy for his team.

According to Mahony, "Colleagues said Dannehy is not a supporter of President Donald J. Trump and has been concerned, in recent weeks, by what she believed was pressure from Barr — who appointed Durham — to produce results before the election. They said she has been considering resignation for weeks, conflicted by loyalty to Durham and concern about politics."

So far, the most important development in Durham's investigation has been the arrest, in August, of former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith — who was accused of altering an e-mail from the Central Intelligence Agency that concerned a former Trump campaign adviser, Carter Page, who was placed under surveillance.

 

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