The exposure of the elaborate and now-confirmed conspiracy against a sitting U.S. president continues incrementally despite subdued coverage by a media establishment that used it to effectively sabotage the administration of President Donald Trump.
In his third related arrest, Special Prosecutor John Durham's investigation into the origins of the Trump-Russia hoax indicted the primary sub-source who funneled information to Christopher Steele for inclusion in the bogus Trump-Russia dossier.
Federal agents arrested Igor Danchenko on Thursday. The arrest is linked to a federal grand jury indictment in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
Durham charged Danchenko, a Russian citizen who lives in Virginia, with five counts of making false statements to the FBI.
Kimberly Strassel of the Wall Street Journal provided context:
... [T]he bigger story of the indictment is Democrats’ central role in every aspect of the dossier and the FBI investigation.
Never forget the original claim. According to the FBI, Democrats and the media, Mr. Trump harbored secret and nefarious ties with Russia. We knew that because — as Mother Jones explained in a 2016 article that became the reigning story line — Christopher Steele was a “credible source with a proven record of providing reliable, sensitive, and important information to the U.S. government.” He had come across “troubling” evidence of Trump collusion and brought it to U.S. law enforcement.
It took a year for congressional investigators to reveal the dossier had in fact been commissioned by the opposition-research firm Fusion GPS, working for the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton’s campaign. It took two more years for Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz to expose that Mr. Steele had relied on a Russian source who said he’d never expected Mr. Steele to present his info as facts, since most of it was “hearsay.”
Never forget the original claim. According to the FBI, Democrats and the media, Mr. Trump harbored secret and nefarious ties with Russia. We knew that because — as Mother Jones explained in a 2016 article that became the reigning story line — Christopher Steele was a “credible source with a proven record of providing reliable, sensitive, and important information to the U.S. government.” He had come across “troubling” evidence of Trump collusion and brought it to U.S. law enforcement.
It took a year for congressional investigators to reveal the dossier had in fact been commissioned by the opposition-research firm Fusion GPS, working for the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton’s campaign. It took two more years for Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz to expose that Mr. Steele had relied on a Russian source who said he’d never expected Mr. Steele to present his info as facts, since most of it was “hearsay.”
Previous reports have said Danchenko is the primary sub-source for Steele's bogus dossier which served as the basis for Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants against Trump campaign aide Carter Page. The dossier was funded by the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign through the Perkins Coie law firm.
Gen. Michael Flynn noted in a Telegram post: "As we’ve known all along, the entire 'Russia-Gate' collusion was one big set up. Democratic operatives were actually colluding with Russia … Look at what they did to me, my entire family and our country. We have all known or certainly felt it, but now Durham has confirmed it. By their grotesque abuse of the law, the DEMs changed the course of history by their egregious actions and lies. Forcing me out of the NSA position was job #1 for them because they knew I would stop this dead in its tracks. The DEMs and their thug henchmen on the left tried to destroy the country over the past four years. And even now they’re trying to get away with stealing the nation. They won’t, and may all these evil bastards rot in hell."
In September, Michael Sussmann, a lawyer bankrolled by Hillary Clinton and the DNC and a key cog in peddling the Trump-Russia hoax was indicted by Durham on a single charge of making a false statement to the FBI.
Related: Durham indicts Perkins Coie attorney paid by Hillary; But what about all those co-conspirators?, September 17, 2021
The first indictment out of Durham's investigation was of former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith, who in August pleaded guilty to falsifying an email used to support the surveillance of Carter Page.
According to the indictment of Danchenko, he made false statements in March, May, June, October and November of 2017 regarding the sources of certain information that he provided to a UK investigative firm that was then included in reports prepared by the UK investigative firm and subsequently passed to the FBI.
The June 15, 2017, false statement count alleges that Danchenko denied that he had spoken with a particular individual about material information contained in one of the "Company Reports" when he knew that was untrue.
The March 16, 2017, May 18, 2017, Oct. 24, 2017, and Nov. 16, 2017, counts involve statements made by Danchenko on those dates to FBI agents regarding information he "purportedly had received from an anonymous caller who he believed to be a particular individual, when in truth and in fact he knew that was untrue," Durham's office said Thursday.
"The information purportedly conveyed by the anonymous caller included the allegation that there were communications ongoing between the Trump campaign and Russian officials and that the caller had indicated the Kremlin might be of help in getting Trump elected," Durham's office said in a statement.
"The Special Counsel's investigation is ongoing," Durham's office said.
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