Special Prosecutor John Durham's investigation into the origins of the Trump-Russia hoax is sure to yield more than the three indictments brought thus far, former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe said.
"Many more indictments are coming. Anyone involved in creating and peddling the dossier is in danger," Ratcliffe told host Maria Bartiromo on Fox News's Sunday Morning Futures.
Igor Danchenko, the principal source in the compilation of the bogus Christopher Steele dossier, was indicted last week on five counts of lying to the FBI.
The indictment of Danchenko "further illustrates that Durham has his sights set on the Clinton campaign," former assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew McCarthy wrote for the New York Post on Nov. 4.
"Durham’s charging instruments suggest that the Clinton campaign used its agents to peddle the Trump-Russia rumors to the government and the media, then used the fact that Trump was being investigated as part of its campaign messaging," McCarthy noted.
Danchenko, a Russian emigre living in the U.S., "seems unlikely to be the Durham investigation’s apex defendant," law professor Jonathan Turley noted. "In fact, Durham describes him at points more like a shill than a spy, an 'investigator' who was fed what to report by Clinton operatives such as (Charles) Dolan."
Dolan, a close adviser to Hillary Clinton, reportedly wrote inside a copy of a Hillary Clinton biography to a Russian figure in Moscow: "To my good friend ... A Great Democrat."
News reports identify Dolan as the mysterious “PR-Executive 1” in Durham's indictment of Danchenko. The indictment states that Dolan “frequently interacted with senior Russian Federation leadership whose names would later appear” in the dossier, such as Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov and then-Russian ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak.
According to the indictment, Dolan and Danchenko were on speaking terms by April 2016, having discussed a “potential business collaboration” involving Dolan’s new PR firm, kglobal.
In August of 2016, Danchenko emailed Dolan, saying he was working on a “project against Trump” and asking for “[a]ny thought, rumor, allegation” related to (Paul) Manafort, who had recently resigned as Trump’s campaign chairman amid media investigations of his past work for pro-Russia Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovych.
Related: Kash Patel decodes Durham: More indictments are coming, September 26, 2021
The details of Durham’s three indictments so far "have assembled an impressive list of 'great Democrats' who contributed directly or indirectly to the creation of the Russia collusion scandal," Turley wrote in a Nov. 6 op-ed. "Indeed, the collusion case increasingly is taking on a type of 'Murder on the Orient Express' feel, in which all of the suspects may turn out to be culprits. While the statute of limitations may protect some, Durham has shown that he can use the crime of lying to federal investigators (18 U.S.C. 1001) as a handy alternative. Targets must admit to prior misconduct or face a new charge."
Durham "clearly seems to be making a meticulous case that the Steele dossier was a political hit job orchestrated by Clinton operatives. His latest indictment connects Danchenko to several intriguing figures and groups that, in turn, relate to the Clinton campaign," Turley added.
As Ratcliffe told Bartiromo: "It was a crime to investigate President Trump because there was no probable cause."
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