Nora Dannehy, a federal prosecutor who is a top aide to U.S. Attorney John H. Durham in his Russia investigation, abruptly resigned on Friday from the probe, according to The Hartford Courant.
The resignation is raising eyebrows. Dannehy’s resignation was at least partly out of concern that the investigative team is “being pressed for political reasons to produce a report before its work is done,” her colleagues tell the Courant.
“Durham recruited Dannehy to join his team after he was appointed by Attorney General William Barr more than a year and a half ago to examine the the FBI’s legal justification for a disputed counterintelligence investigation that looked for ties between President Donald J. Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russian efforts to meddle in the election,” the Courant explained.
Legal experts raised concerns over the abrupt resignation. Here’s what they had to say:
!!!
This is big.
U.S. prosecutor Nora Dannehy resigns from John Durham's Russia investigation, in part due to concerns that Barr is pressuring the team to produce results before the election.https://t.co/rkLGM5dihI
— Breanne Deppisch (@breanne_dep) September 11, 2020
Nora Dannehy is highly regarded. She investigated the firings of 9 US Attys during the Bush administration & is widely viewed as a non-partisan professional. https://t.co/jla0svnMxJ
— Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) September 11, 2020
Dannehy managed as politically-sensitive a probe as you can imagine, the Bush era firing of US attorneys, for both Mukasey and Holder. Says a lot that she can't do it for Barr.
— Matthew Miller (@matthewamiller) September 11, 2020
Red Alert:
Nora Dannehy, Connecticut prosecutor who was top aide to John Durham’s Trump-Russia investigation, resigns amid concern about pressure from Attorney General William Barr https://t.co/lcgtczWwW0
— Ken Dilanian (@KenDilanianNBC) September 11, 2020
🚨🚨
Canary in coal mine dead.
Looks like profound corruption in Barr-Durham probe—attempted October surprise.
Top Durham aide, Nora Dannehy resigns partly because “team is being pressed for political reasons to produce a report before its work is done”!https://t.co/JvXtU8k4bY
— Ryan Goodman (@rgoodlaw) September 11, 2020
Here we go folks. Please remember that, whatever Durham does or does not find, Bill Barr will “spin”, “mischaracterize” & lie about, just as Federal Judge Reggie Walton concluded regarding Barr’s lies about the Mueller report. Our eyes are open to Barr’s nefarious game. https://t.co/knyInHkecM
— Glenn Kirschner (@glennkirschner2) September 11, 2020
Let there be no doubt: Barr is pushing the Durham probe to gift Trump an October surprise. https://t.co/tYOgFOmlN2
— Elie Honig (@eliehonig) September 11, 2020
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