Top aide to John Durham’s Trump-Russia investigation resigns

• It will also likely raise concern among Democrats, who have sought interviews with Durham over allegations that Attorney General Bill Barr has intervened with DOJ cases that concern the president.
• "Whether Mr. Barr and Mr. Durham plan to take public investigative steps close to the election, flouting a longstanding Justice Department practice of avoiding overt activity within 60 days of an election if it could have a political impact on the vote, has been the subject of growing scrutiny," the New York Times writes.

Context: In 2019, Barr chose Durham to conduct the sweeping investigation into the origins of the FBI's 2016 Russia probe .

• Trump and his allies have long claimed the probe was a political hit job engineered by former FBI director James Comey and other Obama-era officials.

The big picture: Dannehy told her colleagues in the U.S. Attorney’s office in New Haven of her resignation from the DOJ in an email Thursday evening, though she did not give a reason, according to the Courant.

• Trump has expressed impatience with Durham's investigation in recent interviews and has suggested that it should be prosecuting more people and disclosing more developments, according to Politico.
• Durham's inquiry produced its first charge in August of Kevin Clinesmith, a former FBI lawyer who pleaded guilty to altering an email used to obtain a surveillance warrant for former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.