(PatrioticPost.com)- On Tuesday, after about nine hours of deliberation, a jury in northern Virginia acquitted Steele dossier source Igor Dancheko on all four counts, handing special counsel John Durham his second defeat in court.
In a statement after the verdict, Durham, who handled much of the questioning himself, expressed disappointment in the outcome, adding that his office respected the jury’s decision and thanked them for their service.
John Durham had been appointed in late 2020 by then-Attorney General Bill Barr to look into the FBI’s handling of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation into so-called collusion between Donald Trump and Russia.
Danchenko was Christopher Steele’s primary source, compiling around 80 percent of the information in Steele’s bogus dossier.
The most explosive revelation from the trial was the discovery that the FBI had offered Steele as much as $1 million if he would corroborate the information in his garbage dossier that he put together on behalf of the Democratic National Committee and the 2016 Hillary Clinton campaign as part of their opposition research against Trump.
Last week, the judge in the case, US District Court Judge Anthony Trenga, dropped one of the five counts in the indictment that alleged Danchenko failed to fully disclose the nature of his contacts with Democrat operative Charles Dolan, a source for the so-called dossier.
Danchenko’s is expected to be the final trial in Durham’s probe. He will now present a final report on his findings to the Department of Justice.
Durham’s only other trial also ended in an acquittal. In June, former Clinton campaign attorney Michael Sussmann was also found not guilty of making false statements to the FBI.
Durham’s only victory was a guilty plea in the case against former FBI attorney Kevin Clinesmith who admitted to altering and sending an email in connection with the FISA warrant for Carter Page. For pleading guilty, Clinesmith received a sentence of 12 months probation and 400 hours of community service.
