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New Attorney Joins Durham Team Ahead Of New Trial

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OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.


John Durham’s team has gotten a new member as it prepares for its next trial.

Adam Small was added to the team after Andrew DeFilippis, an assistant special counsel, withdrew from the team ahead of the trial of Russian national Igor Danchenko, The Washington Examiner reported.

Small’s LinkedIn says he is a “Trial Attorney with experience prosecuting Espionage Act, trade secret/economic espionage, sanctions/export control, FARA, wire fraud, money laundering, cyber, and RICO offenses.”

It says that he works for the United States Department of Justice.

Before his removal, DeFilippis had played a prominent role in the Danchenko case since the November indictment, including during appearances in court, virtual hearings, and legal filings.

Danchenko was charged last year with five counts of making false statements to the FBI. Durham says the comments were about the information Danchenko provided for the dossier. The Department of Justice’s watchdog concluded that Danchenko eventually undermined Steele’s unfounded claims of a “well-developed conspiracy” between former President Donald Trump and Russia.

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Durham did the talking for the prosecution during a brief Danchenko hearing in early August, and he filed a short notice with the federal court, saying: “I appear in this case as counsel for the United States of America.” Durham also told the judge the Danchenko trial was expected to last five or six days. A court filing by Durham last month requested that the court issue 30 subpoenas for possible witness testimony for the trial starting Oct. 11.

While the special counsel was often present in the courtroom during the May trial against Democratic cybersecurity lawyer Michael Sussmann, Durham never spoke, so his actions this month were a marked departure.

The Danchenko trial in October comes after Sussman was found not guilty by a Washington DC court.

Just The News founder John Solomon believes that Special Counsel John Durham is preparing to go after the FBI.

During an interview on Fox News, Solomon and host Maria Bartiromo spoke about the special counsel’s investigation into the Trump-Russia witch hunt and what Durham’s next move might be.

Russian-born analyst Igor Danchenko — key source for the unverified Steele dossier that alleged ties between Donald Trump’s campaign and Russia — was arrested by federal agents last year as part of the Durham investigation.

Solomon explained that he believes Durham is dealing with “two buckets.”

In one “bucket,” there are the last two indictments against officials who were connected to Hillary Clinton and their plan to feed the FBI false information about Trump-Russia conspiracies.

Solomon said the other “bucket” focuses on the FBI and whether agents knowingly mislead the FISA court to obtain warrants to spy on members of Trump’s 2016 campaign.

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“But Durham developed really significant evidence that red flags, the stop-now warning signs go all the way back to August when Bruce Orr, in 2016 came to the FBI and said Christopher Steele is dumping a dossier. He hates Trump. He’s hired by Hillary Clinton and most of his information is raw and uncorroborated,” he said.

“A month after the CIA sends a warning to the FBI, this is something John Ratcliffe declassified, saying Hillary Clinton is trying to play a dirty trick on Donald Trump to tie him to Russia to get out of her e-mail thing. All through the fall, they keep a spreadsheet of what’s right and wrong with the Steele dossier. It’s all wrong. Can’t corroborate, they can’t collaborate the information. The FBI never should have started the investigation and I think that’s where John Durham’s investigation is focused right now,” he added.

Last week, a jury found former Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann not guilty on Tuesday of making a false statement to the FBI in September 2016 when he claimed that he was not working on behalf of any client when he brought information alleging a covert communications channel between the Trump Organization and Russia’s Alfa Bank.

“After a two-week trial, and more than a day of deliberations, the jury found that Special Counsel John Durham’s team had not proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Sussmann’s statement was a lie and that he was, in fact, working on behalf of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and technology executive Rodney Joffe when he brought two thumb drives and a white paper alleging a Trump-Russia connection,” Fox News reported.

“The jury included one federal government employee who told the judge they donated to Democrats in 2016 and another government employee who told the judge they strongly dislike former President Trump. Both of those jurors told the judge they could be impartial throughout the trial,” the report added. “The jury also included a teacher, an illustrator, a mechanic, and more. One juror had a child who was on the same high school sports team as Sussmann’s child.”

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