Enough Russiagate to Go Around

Continuing with the Gen. Michael Flynn developments, Rick Moran at PJ Media reports that Durham Investigation Targeting Media Leaks that Got Michael Flynn Fired

Former Trump national security advisor Michael Flynn was the subject of media leaks in January and February 2017 that ultimately led to his dismissal and eventually, an indictment.

The leaked information was from transcripts of Flynn's telephone calls that are considered highly classified and sensitive. Several high-ranking officials in the government leaked the information on at least two separate occasions to David Ignatius of the Washington Post, according to the New York Times.

The probe into leaks is part of a Justice Department investigation headed by prosecutor John Durham into the origins of the Russia collusion story. Daily Caller:

The report is the first indication that Durham, the U.S. attorney for Connecticut, is focusing on media leaks as part of an expansive probe into issues related to the government’s investigation into possible ties between Trump associates and the Russian government.
Durham has been investigating the FBI’s handling of the Steele dossier and the CIA’s handling of intelligence regarding Russia’s interference in the 2016 election.

The story that the leakers gave Ignatius was explosive.

A column that Ignatius wrote on Jan. 12, 2017, helped stoke conspiracies of collusion between Team Trump and the Kremlin.
Citing a “senior U.S. government official,” Ignatius reported that Flynn spoke in late December 2016 to Sergey Kislyak, who then served as ambassador to Russia.
Ignatius wrote that Flynn “cultivates close Russian contacts,” and questioned whether the retired lieutenant general spoke with Kislyak about sanctions that the Obama administration had placed against Russia.

That Flynn spoke to the Russian ambassador about sanctions is hardly earth-shattering news. But the insinuation that some sort of deal was in the works between the Trump campaign and the Russian government that sanctions would be lifted if Russia helped Trump win the presidency was totally false. And it took a special prosecutor nine long months of investigations to figure that out.

Tom Maguire at JOM, reads the NYT so you don't have to, Catnip From Bygone Days

Who remembers that Russian collusion thing? Barr and Durham, evidently:

Durham Inquiry Includes Scrutiny of a Media Leak
The attorney general has suggested that the Justice Department review of the Russia investigation has uncovered “troubling” findings without going into details.

The leak relates to a January 2017 column by Ignatius in the WaPo about Flynn. This must be it
. . .
Well, OK. His Question 4 should have been asked more often:

Question 4: Finally, what’s the chance that Russian intelligence has gamed its covert action more subtly than we realize? Applying a counter-intelligence lens, it’s worth asking whether the Russians hoped to be discovered, and whether Russian operatives fed the former MI6 officer’s controversial dossier deliberately, to sow further chaos.

No kidding.

And, of course, we probably already know who that leaker was (it was short list). Liz Vaughn at Red State, Little Noticed Whistleblower Story from August 2018 Involving ONA Director, Col. James Baker, Takes on Greater Significance in the Wake of Flynn Filing

While reviewing reader comments on my recent post about General Michael Flynn’s stunning October 24th court filing, I learned of a largely overlooked story reported in August 2018 by the Daily Caller’s Kerry Picket. It gained little traction at the time, but it’s become far more significant in light of the Flynn filing.

The Flynn filing alleges that Col. James Baker, Director of the Office of Net Assessment at the Pentagon (ONA), leaked copies of the transcripts from Flynn’s December 2016 telephone calls to then-Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak to the press. Baker had regularly scheduled lunches with The Washington Post’s David Ignatius whom published an article about the calls in January 2017.

Picket told the story of Pentagon whistleblower Adam Lovinger, then an ONA analyst and a Trump-supporter, whose security clearance had been revoked after “he questioned why politically connected contractors like FBI-informant Stefan Halper, who spied on the Trump campaign for the bureau, received well-paid contracts to conduct “inherently governmental functions.”

More on the Flynn story at Sean Davis' Da Fed, Newly Filed Court Documents Include Exculpatory Evidence For Michael Flynn and James Barret at Da Wire, Mike Flynn, Who Trump Says He May Pardon, Files Court Documents With Evidence He Was ‘Deliberately Set Up’ By FBI. But we don't get to know because it's all redacted, of course.

Matt Vespa at Town Hall, It Appears John Brennan Pulled a Deep State Move to Benefit Hillary Clinton. Turned his (and Vlap Putin's) preferences for Hillary Clinton into a story that Putin was helping Trump, instead of just normal Russian mischief. With a really good Twitter thread:

1/ This report reads like a whitewash, Ken, that is, what can be read - over half of it is blacked out. These para are very troubling. The IC often writes complex assesssments on short timelimes. Why were the analysts for the ICA limited to 2 dozen from only 3 agencies? pic.twitter.com/eAv5nd0tnX

— Fred Fleitz (@FredFleitz) April 21, 2020

also from Matt, What? Christopher Steele, Who Compiled Trump Dossier For Democrats, Said His Emails Were Wiped Funny how things like that keep happening on their side.

Fusion GPS’s services were retained by the Democrats and the Clinton campaign. Fusion then hired Steele to dig up dirt on Trump which was trash. If anything, the Clinton campaign could be accused of Russian collusion since Steele used sources that were still active in the Kremlin. This wasn’t counterintelligence work; it was a political fishing expedition. And now key documents are missing. This dossier was a liberal media lightning rod, with hordes of these idiots peddling it as a legitimate document, despite the fact that it was never fully vetted. MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, who at times is no better than InfoWars when it comes to peddling conspiracy theories, was aggressive on the dossier and it led to her being embarrassed on a grand scale. When you want something to be true, it lands you in trouble.

Beth Baumann at Red State, more lies from the lying liar, Shifty Schiff: Thousands of Americans Are Dead Because We Didn't Successfully Impeach and Remove Trump