(Headline USA) Special counsel John Durham, who was appointed by former Attorney General William Barr to investigate the origins of the Russia-collusion hoax, appears ready to withhold critical information about the debunked Steele dossier, according to The Federalist.
Durham charged Russian-born Igor Danchenko—who was the main source for ex-British spy Christopher Steele’s series of opposition research reports, commissioned by the Clinton campaign—with five counts tied to alleged lies he told the FBI about the anti-Trump dossier. Danchenko has pleaded not guilty, and court proceedings regarding the matter are underway.
Danchenko is seeking to dismiss the charges, arguing the alleged lies he told are irrelevant to Durham’s investigation into the origins of the Russia hoax. His legal team suggested that it is former special counsel Robert Mueller’s fault for failing to unearth those alleged lies originally.
Durham initially submitted a court filing arguing that Danchenko’s lies are “material” to the investigation because, “as the Indictment plainly lays out, had the FBI known that [Hillary Clinton ally] Charles Dolan was a source for the Steele Reports, it is more likely that they would have (or should have) also interviewed Dolan, given Dolan’s (1) relationship to several key players who appear in the Steele Reports and (2) proximity to the defendant at the time the defendant was allegedly gathering information that would later appear in the Steele Reports,” Durham wrote in a court filing.
However, Durham now seems prepared to concede to Danchenko’s demands. Additional pre-trial court filings indicate the special counsel’s office has no intention of telling the jury that Danchenko’s lies were a part of a larger issue, which is that FBI “agents were out to get Trump.”
Durham’s reluctance to tie the Russia hoax to anti-Trump activism is just the latext example of the establishment protecting its own, said The Federalist’s Margo Cleveland.
“What was judicious nearly three and a half years ago proves foolhardy today because … Durham’s discretion taught the left only one lesson: There will be no consequences to those who abuse the justice system to attack conservatives,” Cleveland wrote.
