![]() The Dossier gave never-Trumpers the tantalizing excuse that Trump’s collusion with the Kremlin caused the unlikely defeat of Hillary Clinton. On January 11, 2017, BuzzFeed, a frequently contentious media platform, published a confidential report, titled “Republican candidate Donald Trump's Activities in Russia and Compromising Relationship with the Kremlin.” Purportedly gathered by former MI-6 agent, Christopher Steele, from high-level informants from within Vladimir Putin’s (and Trump’s) inner circles, Steele claimed, in effect, that Trump, was an agent of Putin’s Kremlin. Let’s go back to the beginning and my own small role in the matter: We’ll find proof if we follow the clues that Steele has given us. It suggests, yes, there must be something to the charge that Trump colluded with an enemy power. The widespread use of the term “roadmap” is telling. Let’s review the story of the Steele Dossier and ask whether clear-thinking unbiased persons in media or government would have taken the charges in the Dossier so seriously as to use it as the roadmap to Russian government officials’ purported alliance with Trump employees and campaign aides to help his election. The only “verified” information that Horowitz found was available from public sources. He found that the Dossier was compiled from hearsay and third-hand gossip from two low-level sources and that they denied the testimony attributed to them. Inspector General Michael Horowitz drove the final stake through its heart. We now know that the Steele Dossier is bogus. They were a knowing and willing part of the Democratic and media smear of a presidential contender, and then president, that paralyzed U.S. That our most sophisticated government officials acted as if the Dossier were legitimate leads to only one conclusion. Any residual doubt would have vanished after learning that its author, Christopher Steele, was an opposition researcher paid by the Democrats to dig up dirt on Trump. Sears also emphasized that Danchenko never told the FBI that the caller was definitely Sergei Millian but rather "only said he thought it could be Sergei Millian," and that this reflected his belief at the time.A cursory examination of the Steele Dossier should have convinced the CIA or the FBI that it was fake news. In his closing arguments, defense attorney Sears contended that the phone records did not prove Danchenko did not receive a call since, he said, the call may have come through an internet app – a possibility evidence showed Danchenko mentioned in one of his initial interviews with the FBI. ![]() "There was no call with Millian and there was no call with any individual and these phone records prove that," prosecutor Michael Keilty told the jury in the closing argument. Prosecutors allege no call took place, and that Danchenko lied to investigators to stay consistent with what he had told Steele. Danchenko told the FBI he believed the call was placed to him by the then-head of the Russian-American Chamber of Commerce, Sergei Millian. The four charges remaining against Danchenko surround a phone call he told the FBI he received from an unidentified Russian male in July of 2016 relaying allegations later contained in Steele's dossier. The judge ruled that Danchenko's denial was "literally true" because the communication occurred over email and not via the spoken word. Trenga dismissed one count: the prosecutions' accusation that Danchenko falsely told the FBI that he never spoken with "a long-time participant in Democratic Party Politics" about any allegations included in the dossier. Judge Anthony Trenga to dismiss all five counts in the indictment against Danchenko, saying that Durham did not prove Danchenko lied to the FBI and obstructed its investigation into Trump's alleged Russian ties. ![]() We thank these jurors with their hard work and deliberation for reaching the right result."Īfter the prosecution rested its case Friday, the defense asked U.S. We are happy now that the American public knows that as well. In a statement outside of court after the ruling, Danchenko defense attorney Stuart Sears said, "We've known all along Mr. In a November 2021 indictment, prosecutors accused Danchenko of misleading FBI agents about his sources of information. He became a primary source to what came to be known as the "Steele dossier," which included explosive and unproven claims about Trump. A federal jury in Alexandria, Virginia, delivered a verdict of not guilty on all four counts against Igor Danchenko, the Russian national accused of lying to federal investigators about information he collected in 2016 for former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele that was included in Steele's now-infamous "dossier" detailing Donald Trump's alleged ties to Russia.Ī Washington-based think tank analyst, Danchenko was hired by Steele to contribute intelligence information to Steele's research. ![]()
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