{"id":1494325,"date":"2022-05-27T08:44:55","date_gmt":"2022-05-27T12:44:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1494325"},"modified":"2022-05-27T08:44:57","modified_gmt":"2022-05-27T12:44:57","slug":"fbi-agents-who-opened-discredited-trump-russia-investigation-testify","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/fbi-agents-who-opened-discredited-trump-russia-investigation-testify\/","title":{"rendered":"FBI Agents Who Opened Discredited Trump-Russia Investigation Testify"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ffbi-agents-who-opened-discredited-trump-russia-investigation-testify%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1494325&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><\/div>\n<div class=\"RichTextArticleBody\">\n<div class=\"RichTextArticleBody-body\">\n<div class=\"Enhancement\">\n<div class=\"Enhancement-item\"><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><span class=\"ArticlePage-articleBody-firstLetter\">T<\/span>he FBI opened a full-fledged counterintelligence <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/michael-sussmann-wont-testify-in-durham-trial\">investigation<\/a> into <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/hillary-clinton-signed-off-on-sharing-debunked-alfa-bank-claims-with-the-media\">since-discredited Trump-Russia collusion claims just days after Clinton campaign Michael Sussmann <\/a><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/sussmann-told-cia-similar-client-lie-in-2017-durham-says\">pushed<\/a> the allegations to the bureau \u2014 with the launch document containing \u201ctypos.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>As revealed in trial that is part of John Durham&#8217;s special counsel inquiry, the electronic communication marking the opening of the investigation wrongly cited a nonexistent \u201creferral\u201d from the Justice Department rather than correctly saying the Alfa-Bank allegations came from a <u><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/baker-wouldnt-have-met-with-sussmann-if-he-admitted-he-was-representing-clinton\">lawyer<\/a><\/u> for Hillary Clinton\u2019s 2016 presidential campaign. The <u><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/durham-trial-baker-100-confident-sussmann-told-him-he-was-acting-alone\">opening communication<\/a><\/u>, titled \u201cAlfa Bank,\u201d was authored by FBI agents <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/alfa-bank-investigator-under-fbi-review-over-role-in-papadopoulos-fisa-case\">Curtis Heide<\/a> and Allison Sands, both of whom testified this week in Washington, D.C., and the investigation initiated on Sept. 23, 2016, four days after Sussmann&#8217;s meeting with FBI General Counsel James Baker. <\/p>\n<p>Sands and Heide both referred to the <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/fbi-opened-alfa-bank-inquiry-based-on-referral-from-doj-but-it-came-from-sussmann\">glaring errors<\/a> as \u201ctypos\u201d and Heide suggested it was possible they may have conflated the FBI\u2019s Office of General Counsel \u2014 which Baker led \u2014 with the Justice Department. The closing communication for the investigation in January 2017 also wrongly claimed the Alfa Bank allegations were referred to the bureau by the Justice Department rather than from Sussmann. <\/p>\n<p>Sussmann, a former Perkins Coie lawyer who represented the Democratic National Committee when it was hacked in 2016, is on trial after being <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/durham-stripping-bare-incestuous-relationship-in-clinton-campaign-lawyer-case-chaffetz\">charged with lying<\/a> to the FBI about whom he was representing when, in September 2016, he presented internet data that suggested a <u><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/democratic-lawyer-sussmann-fights-durham-use-of-fbi-expert-testimony-on-alfa-bank-data-accuracy\">since-debunked<\/a><\/u> link between former President Donald Trump and Russia\u2019s Alfa-Bank. In particular, Sussmann was <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/courts\/sussmann-wants-durham-filing-about-trump-white-house-snooping-stricken-from-record\">indicted<\/a> on charges of allegedly <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/durham-grand-jury-indicts-lawyer-allegedly-lying-fbi-concealing-ties-clinton-campaign\">concealing<\/a> his clients \u2014 <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/durham-asks-judge-to-review-clinton-campaign-claims-of-attorney-client-privilege\">Clinton&#8217;s 2016 presidential campaign<\/a> and \u201cTech Executive-1,\u201d known to be former Neustar executive <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/tech-exec-1-says-he-will-plead-the-fifth-in-durham-case\">Rodney Joffe<\/a> \u2014 from FBI general counsel James Baker. Sussmann denies lying to the FBI and has <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/michael-sussmann-wont-testify-in-durham-trial\">pleaded not guilty.<\/a> <\/p>\n<p>Sussmann had worked at the Justice Department in the past, and testimony from Baker last week stated that he had a badge that allowed him access to the FBI. <\/p>\n<p>A number of top FBI officials were copied on the flawed launch document, including Deputy Assistant Director <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/years-later-trump-dossier-still-frustrates-verification-efforts\">Jonathan Moffa<\/a>, agent Joseph Pientka, since-fired agent Peter Strzok, and two others. Strzok authored the opening electronic communication for Crossfire Hurricane in July 2016. Heide was working on part of that Trump-Russia investigation too. <\/p>\n<p>The opening document was also approved by Chicago field office supervisory special agent Daniel Wierzbicki and three other FBI officials. <\/p>\n<p><b><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/hillary-clinton-signed-off-on-sharing-debunked-alfa-bank-claims-with-the-media\">HILLARY CLINTON SIGNED OFF ON SHARING ALFA-BANK CLAIMS WITH MEDIA<\/a><\/b> <\/p>\n<p>Sands was a probationary agent at the time \u2014 in fact she had been on the job for just three and a half months \u2014 but was made the lead case agent for the Alfa Bank investigation. Heide was her training agent, and he described them as co-leads on the case.<b> <\/b>Sands said she first learned of the Alfa Bank claims when Heide sent her a white paper and told her they were going to open a case. <\/p>\n<p>Sands said it was her understanding at the time that the information had come as a referral from DOJ, though she said she later learned it had come to Baker at the FBI. She did not learn the identity of the anonymous third party. Sands testified that the directive to open the case came from the FBI leadership, saying the investigation had \u201cheadquarters interest.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We had asked numerous times\u201d who the source was \u201cand we elevated to headquarters,\u201d Sands said. \u201cWe were told that headquarters was working on it, that they were aware, and that we should at the division level focus on the technical analysis,&#8221; Sands also said. <\/p>\n<p>The case identification was \u201cAlfa Bank, Russia \u2014 Contacts \/ Agents, Sensitive Investigative Matter,\u201d and the opening document said it \u201cdocuments the opening of a Full Field Investigation into the network communications between a U.S.-based server and the Russian ALFA BANK organization.\u201d Enclosed was a \u201cWhite Paper.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>\u201cOn or about September 19, 2016, FBI received a referral of information from the U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, detailing an unusually configured email server in Pennsylvania belonging to the TRUMP ORGANIZATION,\u201d the FBI wrote in September 2016. \u201cIn that referral, the DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE provided the FBI with a white paper that was produced by an anonymous third party. According to the white paper, a U.S.-based server that is owned by the TRUMP ORGANIZATION has been communicating with the Russian-based ALFA BANK organization in Moscow, Russia.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Sussmann provided Baker with <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/sussmann-billed-clinton-campaign-for-thumb-drives-he-gave-to-fbi-pushing-alfa-bank-allegations\">two thumb drives<\/a> and a number of white papers in hard copy form, including one drafted by opposition research firm Fusion GPS. Clinton campaign General Counsel Marc Elias hired Fusion, which in turn also hired British ex-spy <u><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/democratic-lawyer-sussmann-doesnt-want-steele-dossier-brought-up-during-durham-trial\">Christopher Steele<\/a><\/u> in 2016. <\/p>\n<p>The Alfa Bank investigation was closed in January 2017 and the closing communication was written by Sands. It also contained multiple errors. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cChicago opened captioned Preliminary Investigation on alleged covert communications between Russian based ALFA BANK and an email domain affiliated with the TRUMP ORGANIZATION,\u201d Sands had written. \u201cOn or about September 19, 2016, FBI received a white paper that was produced by an anonymous third party from the U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Sands testified, \u201cBy January I knew \u2026 that it came at least from the FBI from James Baker.\u201d It also wasn\u2019t a preliminary investigation, but a full investigation. Sands said \u201cthat\u2019s just a mistake.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>She said, \u201cIn hindsight, I would\u2019ve changed the typos in the ECs.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Sands said that \u201cthe fact that it came from the Department of Justice\u201d \u2014 or rather the fact that she thought it did \u2014 \u201cgave it a lot more weight and credibility.&#8221; She said that \u201cthe fact that it came to me from the Department of Justice\u201d and the fact that she was ordered to open the investigation by FBI headquarters meant \u201cthere was no chance for us to do a sanity check.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Sands said she believed the referral had come from the DOJ when she opened the case, although she now knows it came from Baker. She said the incorrect information came to her from Heide. She believed at the time that an \u201canonymous third party\u201d provided information to the DOJ which then gave it to FBI. She said she did not believe Heide had lied to her, nor that someone had lied to him, and had not heard of any criminal investigation into why that information was wrong. <\/p>\n<p>Durham prosecutor Brittain Shaw raised the possibility that she may have thought that the FBI\u2019s Office of General Counsel was part of the Justice Department, but Sands said she didn\u2019t know. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t recall,\u201d Sands said, adding, &#8220;I would never be intentionally vague in an EC.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Heide was also doing work at that time on the Crossfire Hurricane investigation, specifically related to Trump campaign associate George Papadopoulos. He admitted at trial that the FBI is reviewing whether he intentionally withheld potentially exculpatory information related to the investigation. <\/p>\n<p>On the Alfa Bank matter, Heide said that currently \u201cit\u2019s my understanding it was provided to the FBI by an anonymous source and that it was provided to our office\u201d through Baker. He said he never learned who the anonymous source was <\/p>\n<p>Heide recalled drafting the opening communication, and called it \u201ca mistake on our paperwork.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI believe the information may have been conflated when it was provided to us,\u201d Heide said when asked how that mistake was made. \u201cWe may have been conflating the Department of Justice and the Office of General Counsel.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Heide said that he and Sands \u201cmay have both drafted portions of it.\u201d He called the error \u201ca mistake,\u201d but stressed \u201cI don\u2019t believe we did know\u201d at the time that it was wrong. <\/p>\n<p>Heide said he thinks the first time he learned about the error was at an October 2018 meeting as part of a DOJ watchdog investigation of the matter. \u201cI believe they brought it to my attention and asked if it was accurate,\u201d Heide said. He testified, \u201cWe may have conflated the Office of General Counsel and the Department of Justice.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Heide repeatedly referred to the glaring mistake as a \u201ctypo.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>He also spoke about the closing electronic communication, noting that \u201cI believe we knew\u201d by then that the allegation had not been referred by DOJ, but that it was \u201cimproperly documented.\u201d He said the \u201ccouple of mistakes\u201d may have been \u201ccopy and pasted.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Pientka wrote to Heide on Sept. 21, 2016, \u201cPeople on 7th floor [FBI leadership] to include Director are fired up about this server \u2026 Did you guys open a case? Reach out and out tools on? \u2026 If not I will call Dan as Priestap says its not an option \u2014 we must do it.\u201d Heide replied, \u201cRoger, we are opening CI [counterintelligence investigation] today.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>\u201cDan\u201d was a reference to Wierzbicki, Heide\u2019s boss in Chicago. Bill Priestap was the assistant director of the FBI Counterintelligence Division, and he testified this week that he doesn\u2019t recall this and doesn\u2019t remember being involved in the opening. <\/p>\n<p>Ryan Gaynor, currently an FBI special agent in charge of national security in Norfolk, Virginia, said he volunteered to assist FBI headquarters with the Alfa Bank investigation a few days after the FBI received the information in 2016. He offered to \u201ctrack\u201d the case for headquarters. <\/p>\n<p>Heide emailed Gaynor on Oct. 3 that \u201cwe really want to interview the source of all this information.\u201d Wierzbicki agreed, saying, \u201cAn interview with the source of information \u2026 may allow us to understand the \u2018what\u2019 and \u2018why\u2019 of the white paper.\u201d Gaynor replied the next day \u201cgot it and being discussed at headquarters.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>Gaynor said Monday that FBI headquarters leadership \u201cmade the decision not to share the identity of Mr. Sussmann with the field.\u201d He repeatedly described what he believed he\u2019d been told was a \u201cclose hold\u201d preventing the disclosure of Sussmann\u2019s identity. <\/p>\n<p>Defense attorney Sean Berkowitz grilled Gaynor on his October 2020 interview with the prosecution, during which he had apparently said there wasn\u2019t a deliberate instruction for a close hold. He testified Monday that he just did not recall at the time that there was a close hold. <\/p>\n<p>Gaynor apparently said in October 2020 that it was possible he told FBI Chicago that they couldn\u2019t interview the source but he couldn\u2019t remember specifically. He said Monday that he thought there was a lot of \u201cconflation of issues\u201d during the 2020 discussion and believed he was a witness at the 2020 meeting, but that after talking about his interactions with the Chicago team the government told him he might no longer be a witness and might be a subject back then. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI felt I had woefully ill-prepared for the meeting,&#8221; Gaynor said, adding that after the government told him about his status shifting he felt that he &#8220;was in significant peril.\u201d He added, \u201cI was told that after I confirmed that I knew the identity of the person who provided the information was Michael Sussmann.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>He said that his memory was refreshed after reviewing a to-do sheet he had written in September 2016, and that he told the prosecution in December 2020 that he remembered about the close hold. Gaynor said that by the conclusion of that meeting, he believed that his status had changed back to being a witness. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think that the facts I had found reestablished my credibility as a witness,&#8221; Gaynor testified. <\/p>\n<p><b><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\">CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/a><\/b> <\/p>\n<p>Gaynor said he had a September 2016 meeting with Moffa during which he was told Sussmann had pushed the allegation to Baker, and was told Sussmann was an attorney for the Democratic National Committee. He testified he left the meeting with the impression \u201cthat he had been affiliated with the Democratic Party, but that he had come representing himself.\u201d He said Moffa told him senior FBI leadership had put \u201cclose hold\u201d on the fact that the information came from Sussmann and so it couldn\u2019t be provided to the Chicago field agents. He said he couldn\u2019t remember the reason for the close hold. <\/p>\n<p>He said Moffa, Strzok, and himself talked about a close hold at some point. <\/p>\n<p>Bosworth accused Heide of concealing Sussmann\u2019s identity, but Gaynor testified, \u201cThe leadership did not allow me to share the information with the Chicago field office.&#8221; He said the close hold order \u201cmust have come down from\u201d Baker and so the National Security Branch must have known. \u201cI was told that it came from above, so above Pete Strzok,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The FBI opened a full-fledged counterintelligence investigation into since-discredited Trump-Russia collusion claims just days after Clinton campaign Michael Sussmann pushed the allegations to the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":498,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1494325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1494325","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/498"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1494325"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1494325\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1494325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1494325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1494325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}