Key Steele dossier source acquitted of lying to FBI charges

axios ^ | Oct 18, 2022 | Jacob Knutson

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

A jury acquitted Igor Danchenko, an analyst hired to compile parts of the Steele dossier that alleged ties between Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and Russia, of charges of lying to the FBI on Tuesday.

Why it matters: It is a major blow to special counsel John Durham's multi-year investigation into the origins of the Russia probe and possible misconduct by U.S. law enforcement.

Danchenko was the third person charged, and subsequently indicted, in the investigation. This trial is expected to be the last stemming from Durham’s investigation before it is concluded.

The jury began deliberating on whether to convict or acquit Danchenko on Monday.

Context: Danchenko was charged with five counts of lying to the FBI in November 2021, though a judge later dropped one of the counts, saying the specific charge wasn’t strong enough to go before the jury, according to the Washington Post.

[TBP]

He did lie, and Durham prettyk much proved it, but his exposure of the FBI's misconduct reduced his chances to convict Danchenko.

It was actually a brilliant plan by the Russians -- use one of their operatives to plant a story that they were actually trying to help the candidate they were trying to hurt, and vice versa.

Kudos to John Durham for exposing the truth of ‘Russiagate’

[Chewbarkah]

“Institutional Preservation – Bill Barr applied the Bondo to the rusted framework of the DOJ and FBI, and John Durham applied the spray paint by not targeting anyone inside the justice department.

John Durham only focused, perhaps because he was only allowed to focus, on the external participants to the originating schemes. One thing is clear, John Durham never once mentioned the corrupt nature of the Robert Mueller and Andrew Weissmann coverup operation.”

The obvious question is “where do we go from here to reform fatally corrupt security institutions?” That even a serious man like Durham can KNOW how mortally corrupt the DoJ/FBI has become, yet structure his work around “Preserving the institution”, demonstrates the reach of the rot. Congress will not reform these institutions out of fear that they will then be blamed for every terrorist incident the security state can miss (as if they don’t miss most of them already) or create.