Media Shame Durham After Danchenko Verdict, But It’s Russia Hoaxers Who Should Be Embarrassed
By: Margot Cleveland
October 19, 2022
Jury verdicts are not an indictment of John Durham, and he is not the one who should be embarrassed.
A Virginia jury acquitted Steele dossier’s primary sub-source Igor Danchenko on Tuesday of charges he lied to the FBI about a supposed telephone call he received in the summer of 2016. On numerous occasions during the Crossfire Hurricane and Special Counsel Robert Mueller investigations, Danchenko told the FBI he had received an anonymous telephone call from an individual he believed was Sergei Millian.
Among other things, Danchenko maintained the caller revealed there was a well-developed “conspiracy of cooperation” between the Trump campaign and Russian officials — claims Christopher Steele incorporated into his infamous dossier, which the FBI then used to obtain four Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, court orders to intercept Carter Page’s telephone and email conversations.
Tuesday’s non-guilty verdict came after a day-and-a-half of deliberation and following a four-day trial at which Special Counsel John Durham’s team presented evidence that Danchenko did not know Millian and had not received any telephone calls during the relevant time frame that might fit the description of the call Danchenko claimed he received.
Danchenko’s defense attorneys skillfully countered that Danchenko had told the FBI that the anonymous call may have been received on an internet app and thus there would be no record of the call. The defense team also provided the jury with evidence showing that Danchenko and Millian were both in New York during the time frame in which Danchenko claimed they had scheduled a meeting.
The jury’s acquittal followed the dismissal on Friday by presiding Judge Anthony Trenga of the special counsel’s false-statement count premised on Danchenko’s claim to the FBI that he had never “talked” to Charles Dolan — a Democrat booster and Clinton crony — about portions of the dossier. In tossing that count, Trenga reasoned that because Danchenko’s relevant exchanges with Dolan were via email, it was literally true that Danchenko had not “talked” with him about the material contained in the dossier.
more
https://thefederalist.com/2022/10/19/media-shame-durham-after-danchenko-verdict-but-its-russia-hoaxers-who-should-be-embarrassed/
