Although his probe of the Russia hoax has been notably tight-lipped and leak-free, Special Counsel John Durham filed a motion in court last Friday that some interpret as a strong indication he may be zeroing in on the failed Clinton campaign.
Durham asked the district court in Alexandria, Va., to investigate a potential conflict of interest involving a law firm that represents both a known criminal defendant and Hillary Clinton‘s 2016 presidential campaign, Just The News reported.
The filing states that attorneys Danny Onorato and Stuart Sears, both of whom work at Schertler Onorato Mead & Sears, may not properly represent their criminal defendant, Igor Y. Danchenko, in an effort to protect their colleague’s client, the Clinton campaign.
Onorato and Sears do not represent the Clinton campaign, but one of their colleagues at the law firm does.
Onorato and Sears have claimed “that their law firm colleague representing the Clinton Campaign has had no involvement to date in this criminal case against the defendant.”
The Clinton campaign paid Danchenko to gather defamatory information that he transmitted to former British spy Christopher Steele.
Steele then compiled his eponymous dossier, also commissioned by lawyers representing the Clinton campaign, in an effort to torpedo Republican candidate—and later president—Donald Trump.
Danchenko now faces criminial charges for repeatedly lying to the FBI.
Durham’s indictment further alleges that Danchenko’s statements in the Steele dossier “were knowingly and intentionally false.”
Durham’s filing asserts that neither Danchenko nor the Clinton campaign will willingly accept responsibility for gathering the false information.
“For example, the Clinton Campaign and the defendant each might have an incentive to shift blame and/or responsibility to the other party for any allegedly false information that was contained within the Company Reports and/or provided to the FBI,” Durham’s team stated in the filing.
The “Company Reports” refers to the Steele dossier, which the filing describes as the Clinton campaign’s “attempt to gather and disseminate derogatory information about Donald Trump.”
“Moreover, it is possible that one of these parties might also seek to advance claims that they were harmed or defrauded by the other’s actions, statements, or representations,” the filing continued.
Durham also suggested for the first time that “one or more former representatives of the Clinton Campaign” may be “called to testify at any trial or other court proceeding.”
