Testimony in the Sussmann trial repeatedly referenced a familiar name to followers of the Russiagate saga. Joe Pientka, a Supervisory Special agent at the FBI forwarded the information on the Alfa server received from Sussmann to Curtis Heide on September 19th, 2016. A week later, it was Pientka that the team was reaching out to asking to be connected to the source of the Alfa server allegations.
It was Pientka on September 21st, working at the FBI headquarters who seemed to be plugged into the FBI leadership writing to Heide, “People on 7th floor to include Director are fired up about this server.”
There is more to the story on Pientka. In looking at footnote 223 and 461, we see he received the “List of Trump associates” and also received the information from the former CHS that McCabe ordered to be shut down.
It is likely he would’ve heard about the additional CHS’s (Joffe, etc) bringing forward Alfa related allegations.
We learned last week that on this list was Sergei Millian.
Joe Pientka would later be briefed by the New York field office on October 12, 2016 that they were opening a counterintelligence investigation into Millian. This may have been influenced by Christopher Steele reporting to Bruce Ohr on September 23rd that Millian had “used” the server. We must now ask what information Pientka relayed to the NYFO related to Millian appearing on a very unusual and timely “list” just weeks prior.
Inexplicably, in an October 3, 2016 meeting Steele would inform Michael Gaeta that Sergei Millian was a source for the dossier. It remains unclear where that 302 would have circulated.
Pientka would then interview Bruce Ohr in December 2016, who informed him that Glenn Simpson had informed Ohr that Millian was a source for the dossier.
It is here that I recalled a phenomenal twitter thread by the great Undercover Huber who posed this simple question.
If Pientka had known for sure by December of 2016 that Millian was alleged to be a source of the dossier, why didn’t they inform the FISA court that they had opened a counterintelligence investigation into Millian - the supposed source? Pientka knew all about it.
We must now add the peculiarities around Millian appearing on this list of Trump associates. Questions must’ve been asked.
After ambushing General Flynn at the White House weeks later, Pientka immediately resigned from the Crossfire Hurricane investigation.
Was he being pressured from the start? What does he know?
People say Pientka asked off CH like it bothered him,
He ended up in SF office where the Seth Rich laptop landed.
Coincidence?
Very interesting. How was Pientka's testimony posture? I believe LMG said he was basically giving FU testimony with him not 'remembering' even his last job description/title and being deliberately unhelpful.