Durham’s D-Day: Trial for anti-Trump dossier source Igor Danchenko begins this week
by Jerry Dunleavy, Justice Department Reporter |
October 10, 2022 10:05 AM
After losing his first and only other special counsel trial, John Durham's next, and perhaps final, major test begins this week against Igor Danchenko.
The Russian-born lawyer, who was British ex-spy Christopher Steele’s alleged main source for his discredited dossier, was charged last year with five counts of making false statements to the FBI, which Durham said he made about the information he provided to the former MI6 agent. Jury selection starts Tuesday.
The 2021 indictment said Danchenko anonymously sourced a fabricated claim about Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort to longtime Hillary Clinton ally Chuck Dolan, who spent years, including 2016, doing work in Russia. Danchenko also allegedly lied to the FBI about a phone call he claimed he received from Sergei Millian, a Belarus-born U.S. citizen and businessman who Danchenko claimed told him about a debunked conspiracy of cooperation between former President Donald Trump and the Russians, which the special counsel said was false.
Danchenko has pleaded not guilty.
Durham appears to be nearing the end of his criminal investigation, with his grand jury in the nation’s capital reportedly expiring recently, so the Danchenko trial may be his final shot at redemption in a courtroom after losing another false statements case earlier this year. But the judge handling the case has indicated the trial may be difficult for the special counsel.
Judge Anthony Trenga, who is presiding over the Danchenko case, ruled in late September that he wouldn’t dismiss Durham’s indictment, but he expressed skepticism about the charges. The judge said he would revisit his ruling after Durham’s team had presented its full case during the trial. Trenga, a George W. Bush appointee who has sat on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, added, “I think it’s an extremely close call, particularly with count one,” which is related to the charge tied to Dolan.
The special counsel has previously highlighted how Danchenko was the subject of what he said was a botched FBI counterintelligence investigation as a national security threat from 2009 to 2011, and Durham wanted findings from that investigation, which unearthed links between the defendant and Russian intelligence officers, to be used at trial. But Trenga denied Durham’s request last week.
The judge also denied the special counsel’s request to provide evidence showing Danchenko allegedly misled about the sourcing for the unfounded “pee tape” claims that Steele put into his anti-Trump and Democratic-funded dossier, as well as limited a host of other evidence Durham had sought to show the jury related to Danchenko’s alleged propensity to fabricate sources or be dishonest.
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https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/justice/durhams-d-day-danchenko-trial-begins-this-week
