The 2023 GOP Congress may be the last chance for transparency

Uncovering Durham's charging declinations is imperative to understanding how he viewed and navigated the investigation

The New York Times reported today that John Durham’s last active Grand Jury had expired. Along with citing anonymous sources saying there were no plans to convene another one. Now we all remember the words of people like John Ratcliff, and Bill Barr who said they expected more indictments to come based on information they had seen. It was unlikely that the charges they were referring to would be the single false statement charge of Michael Sussmann, or that of the now former Confidential Human Source (CHS) Igor Danchanko. This revelation was hidden for years and possibly from the Inspector General as access to the FBI’s Sentinel System which stores CHS information is heavily restricted and the IG’s report made no mention of the FBI hiring the dossier’s primary sub-source. 

Now we enter a point where more questions must be asked, like who was Igor’s handler? Were/are they under scrutiny by Durham? Why would the FBI keep Igor on its payroll for months after the Mueller investigation had concluded in 2019, and only terminate that relationship the month Durham was appointed Special Counsel status in November 2020? Hopefully Durham will address these and more in his report which is now expected to be turned in by the end of the year. Back to the main implications of this news, no more indictments. We know that crimes were committed in seeking the FISA application on Carter Page as exemplified by the guilty plea of FBI Lawyer Kevin Cliensmith. However, as the statute of limitations passed on the fourth FISA application, Durham remained silent. 

If we use the Mueller report as an outline for what we may get from Durham, there should be a section that includes his charging declinations. This section, however, may be partially/fully redacted due to privacy concerns of uncharged persons who were investigated. That is why it is a must that in 2023 the GOP Congress calls Durham to testify on his investigation. They should already be compiling a list of questions and topics that Durham should have covered in his investigation, but we have learned nothing about due to no charges stemming from them, and the fact that Durham’s team has been leak free for years. Answers to questions about the way he conducted his investigation should also be a primary feature, like why by April 2021 Durham had not conducted interviews of key members of the FBI team he was charged with investigating like James Comey, Andrew McCabe, and Peter Strzok. Alas we cannot rely on the GOP to do their job, in which case FOIA requests for Durham investigation materials will be the last chance for truth.

It has been over 6 years since the inception of Russiagate and we should not have to wait any longer for answers.