The Justice Department watchdog’s team “likely” told John Durham it had phones belonging to an ex-FBI general counsel in 2018 after the special counsel suggested the watchdog had not been completely forthcoming, according to a new court filing.
The dust-up between Durham and DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz comes as the special counsel hinted that Horowitz has slow-walked turning over key information related to a criminal case against Democratic lawyer Michael Sussmann.
Durham’s team has charged Sussmann with lying to the FBI in 2016 when pushing phony claims about former President Donald Trump secretly communicating with the Russian Alfa Bank. Sussmann allegedly told FBI General Counsel James Baker he was not working for any particular client despite secretly doing the bidding of Clinton’s campaign and billing his services to her — as well as working on behalf of technology executive Rodney Joffe.
The special counsel said Tuesday that Horowitz had recently revealed a March 2017 meeting he’d had with Sussmann, with Durham also saying he’d only been told earlier this month about two phones belonging to Baker that were in Horowitz’s possession.
NORTH KOREA SAYS IT TESTED MISSILE THAT CAN HIT US BASES IN GUAM AND JAPAN
“In early January 2022, the Special Counsel’s Office learned for the first time that the OIG currently possesses two FBI cellphones of the former FBI General Counsel to whom the defendant made his alleged false statement,” Durham said last week, before submitting “clarifying information” at the end of the week.
Durham said Friday that after Horowitz reviewed the special counsel’s filing, the watchdog office “brought to our attention” that during a separate criminal inquiry led by Durham when he was still a U.S. attorney on Feb. 9, 2018, a special agent with Horowitz’s office informed an assistant U.S. attorney working with Durham that Horowitz’s office had “requested custody of a number of FBI cell phones.”
The special counsel said Friday that DOJ inspector general records “reflect that among the phones requested was one of the two aforementioned cellphones of the then FBI General Counsel.” Durham said the watchdog records also reflect that on Feb. 12, 2018, the DOJ special agent “had a conference call with members of the investigative team, including Mr. Durham, during which the cell phones likely were discussed.”
It is not clear from the filing’s language or context whether the characterization of the phones being disclosed “likely” came from the watchdog records, Horowitz’s office, or Durham’s team. Durham’s office did not respond to a request for comment, and Horowitz’s office declined to comment.
“Special Counsel Durham has no current recollection of that conference call, nor does Special Counsel Durham currently recall knowing about the OIG’s possession of the former FBI General Counsel’s cellphones before January 2022,” Durham contended in the court filing.
The special counsel said members of his current team had a call with the FBI’s Inspection Division on Jan. 5 “to obtain information about call log data” for Baker. The next day, the FBI’s Inspection Division informed Durham’s team that Horowitz’s office was “maintaining custody” of the former FBI’s lawyer’s phones. The day after that, Durham’s office “requested information concerning the cell phones” from Horowitz, and the watchdog office provided details on Jan. 10.
Durham said his team provided forensic reports on Baker’s phones from Horowitz’s office to Sussmann’s lawyers on Friday. The special counsel’s team also said Horowitz’s office “conducted additional forensic examination of those cellphones earlier this month” at Durham’s request. On Wednesday evening, the additional forensic reports were given to Durham.
Baker, who left the FBI in 2018 and says he is currently the deputy general counsel at Twitter, previously defended the flawed Trump-Russia investigation and the FBI’s handling of Steele’s dossier. Steele’s main source, Igor Danchenko, was also indicted by Durham for allegedly lying to the FBI. Baker was involved in the sign-off process of at least the first Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant application targeting Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.
Durham’s team plans to call Baker to testify.
Sussmann was indicted on charges of allegedly lying to Baker while pushing discredited claims of secret communications between a Russian bank and the Trump Organization. He has pleaded not guilty.
In the Tuesday court filing, Durham said he only learned a week ago that Sussmann had a meeting in March 2017 with Horowitz, who conducted his own investigation into Trump-Russia matters, including claims about Trump and Alfa Bank.
Durham’s team said it had met with Horowitz in October and followed up with a discovery request for information relevant to its inquiry of the Russia investigation origins. Horowitz provided records, including a report about a “cyber-related matter” that Sussmann brought to the inspector general’s attention in early 2017.
The cyber report said Sussmann told an agent in Horowitz’s office that one of Sussmann’s clients claimed a DOJ inspector general employee’s computer was “seen publicly” in “internet traffic” and had connected to a virtual private network in a foreign country.
What Horowitz failed to reveal, according to Durham, was that he personally met with Sussmann in March 2017 to discuss the mysterious report. Durham only learned of that meeting during a Jan. 20 call with Sussmann’s lawyers, according to the filing, and the DOJ watchdog discussed it with Durham’s team for the first time the next day after being asked about it. Durham says Sussmann was working on behalf of Joffe related to this “cyber issue.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The Friday filing did not indicate Horowitz disputed that aspect of Durham’s claims.
Horowitz’s lengthy December 2019 report on the flawed Trump-Russia investigation revealed the FBI had concluded no links between the Trump Organization and Alfa Bank by early 2017.
