In the case brought forward by John Durham, Special Counsel John Durham, against Igor Danchenko (primary sub-source for Steele dossier), for making false statements to the FBI, the verdict is in.
The Clinton campaign paid for the dossier through the Perkins Coie legal firm.
The verdict, in this case, is not surprising after the Michael Sussmann verdict. There are now two levels of justice.
After two days of deliberations, Danchenko was cleared of four false statements charges.
Durham’s November 2021 Indictment states that Danchenko anonymously claimed to have sourced a false claim about Trump’s 2016 campaign manager Paul Manafort. However, in a major blow to Durham, the judge dismissed the charge before the jury could make a decision. The indictment against Danchenko also alleges that he lied to the FBI about a call he claimed he received from someone he believed to be Sergei Millian. This was a Belarusian citizen and businessman who Steele sources had claimed told him about a well-developed scheme of cooperation between Donald Trump and the Russians. The special counsel said this is false.
Durham sent an email to release a statement.
We are disappointed with the verdict, but we respect the decision of the jury and thank them for their services,” the statement stated. “I want to thank the investigators as well as the prosecution team for their tireless efforts in finding truth and justice in this matter.
Although he didn’t get a conviction in the case, Durham did bring the FBI and its actions to trial.
It was revealed in the case that Danchenko had been on the FBI payroll before he was charged with lying. Brian Auten, an FBI intelligence analyst supervisor, testified that Christopher Steele was offered a $1 million incentive if he verified the dossier. However, he was unable.
They continued to use Danchenko despite the fact that the dossier couldn’t be verified. Auten also stated that they did not have any evidence to support the dossier, but used it in order to obtain FISA warrants for Carter Page.
Helson requested that Danchenko be paid a lump sum in October 2020. His testimony showed that this would have increased the amount the bureau had paid the Russian lawyer over the years to $546,000. The request for a lump-sum payment was denied.
According to testimony from the FBI’s Human Intelligence Validation Unit, Danchenko was also mentioned by a member. Durham also highlighted the fact that Helson did not conduct proper research into the background of the Russian analyst before signing him up for confidential human sources.
Kevin Clinesmith, an FBI lawyer, did plead guilty to Durham for falsifying a document in order to obtain a FISA warrant against Page.
