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GOP Senators Press DOJ On Russia Hoaxer Susan Hennessey’s Role In Durham Probe

Susan Hennessey

Now that she works in the Justice Department, GOP legislators are concerned by Hennessey’s history of echoing partisan talking points.

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Republican Sens. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin are demanding answers from President Joe Biden’s Justice Department about the role Russia collusion hoaxer Susan Hennessey will play in its National Security Division (NSD).

In a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, the GOP legislators express concern that Hennessey’s willingness to echo partisan talking points and boost lies about the Trump administration will hinder her ability to approach current investigations such as Special Counsel John Durham’s investigation.

“As a general matter, all government employees must avoid situations that create even the appearance of impropriety and impartiality so as to not affect the public perception of the integrity of an investigation,” the senators wrote. “Ms. Hennessey’s partisan comments show a clear political bias that undercuts her ability to impartially work on some matters within the NSD’s purview, including the Durham inquiry.”

Hennessey, who formerly worked for Democrat think tank and Russia collusion hoax organization the Brookings Institution, previously deleted hundreds of rants peddling lies about Michael Flynn, Carter Page, and FISA, boosting the Steele dossier, and pushing other leftist collusion statements which the senators find concerning.

In one of these statements from December 2020, Hennessey accused Durham of being part of a “partisan silliness” which the senators say she said, “without any first-hand knowledge of Durham’s ongoing work, including its true scope and the extent of the evidence acquired at that time.”

“Ms. Hennessey’s apparent bias against Durham’s inquiry presents a clear conflict that makes it impossible for her to be objective and credible with respect to any elements relating to the Durham inquiry, should she have access to any of it,” the senators continued. “Ms. Hennessey also expressed copious public views in support of the fundamentally flawed Crossfire Hurricane investigation and vouched for the Steele Dossier which, as our joint investigation unveiled, was infected with Russian government disinformation and demonstrably false information.”

In addition to claiming that Steele was ‘a person whose work intelligence professionals take seriously,” Hennessey also “said that the 2018 memo from then-House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes exposing Crossfire Hurricane’s fundamental flaws would need to be ‘debunk[ed]’ before she had opportunity to read the memo.”

Lastly, the senators wrote, “she attacked the IG’s credibility before the [Crossfire Hurricane] report was even completed in an effort to discredit it.”

“This is extremely irregular,” Hennessey said. “There are growing signs that there are serious problems with the IG report and questions as to whether this is designed to be an honest accounting of the views of the IG or a political document driven by Barr’s conspiracy theories.”

These comments, the senators, concluded have prompted a series of questions about Hennessey. In addition to asking Garland if Hennessey has “authorization to access any aspect of the Durham inquiry, including records” and if she has used it, the GOP senators also press the attorney general on whether the Russia hoaxer will recuse herself from the Durham probe.

The senators continued by asking the DOJ if it was “aware of Ms. Hennessey’s previous partisan statements when considering hiring her to work at DOJ” and asking when the Durham inquiry will be completed and if it will be publicly disseminated.”