A top aide to U.S. Attorney John Durham in his Russia probe has resigned, in part out of concern investigators are being pressed by Attorney General William Barr to produce a report before the election, the Hartford Courant reported Friday.
Federal prosecutor Nora Dannehy, who’s worked with or for Durham for decades, told colleagues in the U.S. Attorney’s office in New Haven, Conn., of her resignation from the Department of Justice by email Thursday night, the Courant reported.
The short email was a brief farewell message and said nothing about political pressure, her work for Durham or what the Durham team has produced, the Courant reported, citing unnamed people who got the post.
Durham had no immediate comment, the news outlet reported.
Durham recruited Dannehy to join his team after he was appointed by 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 Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russian efforts to meddle in the election.
Dannehy joined his team in the spring of 2019.
According to the Courant, Danny, who is not a Trump supporter, became concerned in recent weeks by what she believed was pressure from Barr - who appointed Durham - to produce results before the election.
They said she has been considering resignation for weeks, conflicted by loyalty to Durham and concern about politics.
Durham is notoriously circumspect and neither he nor members of his team have revealed anything about the direction of their work, the Courant reported.
But according to the news outlet, associates of Durham — none of whom have specific knowledge of his probe — believe he is under pressure to produce something before the presidential election in November.
Dannehy was told to expect an assignment of from six months to a year when she agreed to join Durham’s team in Washington, colleagues said. The work has taken far longer than expected, in part because of complications caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
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