{"id":1463788,"date":"2022-05-04T13:14:44","date_gmt":"2022-05-04T17:14:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1463788"},"modified":"2022-05-04T13:14:54","modified_gmt":"2022-05-04T17:14:54","slug":"bogus-dossier-author-chris-steele-looms-over-durham-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/bogus-dossier-author-chris-steele-looms-over-durham-trial\/","title":{"rendered":"Bogus Dossier Author Chris Steele Looms Over Durham Trial"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fbogus-dossier-author-chris-steele-looms-over-durham-trial%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1463788&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><\/div>\n<div class=\"RichTextArticleBody\">\n<div class=\"RichTextArticleBody-body\">\n<p><span class=\"ArticlePage-articleBody-firstLetter\">C<\/span>hristopher Steele looms large over John Durham\u2019s trial against Michael Sussmann as the special counsel says the <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/christopher-steele-holds-firm-on-defending-discredited-dossier\">dossier author<\/a> is at the \u201cintersection\u201d of Trump-Russia <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/bidens-disinformation-chief-is-trump-dossier-author-fan-and-hunter-laptop-doubter\">collusion efforts<\/a>, while the Democratic lawyer calls the evidence about him an unfair \u201clightning rod.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Sussmann was <u><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/courts\/sussmann-wants-durham-filing-about-trump-white-house-snooping-stricken-from-record\">indicted<\/a><\/u> in September for allegedly <u><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/durham-grand-jury-indicts-lawyer-allegedly-lying-fbi-concealing-ties-clinton-campaign\">concealing<\/a><\/u> his clients (Hillary Clinton&#8217;s 2016 campaign and \u201cTech Executive-1\u201d <u><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/tech-exec-1-says-he-will-plead-the-fifth-in-durham-case\">Rodney Joffe<\/a><\/u>) from FBI general counsel James Baker in September 2016 when he presented internet data that suggested a now-discredited back-channel link between the Trump Organization and Russia\u2019s Alfa Bank. He has pleaded not guilty. <\/p>\n<div class=\"Enhancement\">\n<div class=\"Enhancement-item\"><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>His lawyer Sean Berkowitz <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/democratic-lawyer-sussmann-doesnt-want-steele-dossier-brought-up-during-durham-trial\">spoke<\/a> about Steele during a Wednesday court hearing, arguing that \u201cinvoking even his name is a lightning rod\u201d and that \u201ceven the implication of Mr. Steele\u2019s name we think would be unduly prejudicial.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Durham prosecutor Andrew DeFilippis said Steele is on the government\u2019s witness list but is unlikely to testify because he is overseas. He said the prosecution would likely only introduce \u201climited\u201d evidence on Steele, but repeatedly pointed to the \u201cstrong intersection\u201d of Steele\u2019s efforts and the Alfa Bank efforts. He said Sussmann met with Steele in the summer of 2016, and then Steele was immediately tasked by the opposition research firm Fusion GPS with researching Alfa Bank, which he did. <\/p>\n<p>Steele is best known for his discredited anti-Trump dossier, which Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz <u><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/doj-inspector-general-criticizes-fbis-entire-chain-of-command-in-carter-page-fisa-process\">concluded<\/a><\/u> in December 2019 played a &#8220;central and essential&#8221; role in the FBI&#8217;s effort to obtain wiretap orders against former Trump campaign associate Carter Page. <\/p>\n<p>Steele created his now-discredited dossier after being hired by Fusion, which was itself hired by Perkins Coie and Marc Elias, the <u><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/steele-dossier-funder-marc-elias-testified-before-john-durhams-grand-jury\">general counsel<\/a><\/u> for Clinton\u2019s campaign. Sussmann worked for Perkins at the time too, and both he and Elias met with Steele in 2016. <\/p>\n<p><b><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\">CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/a><\/b> <\/p>\n<p>Steele <u><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/christopher-steele-claims-clinton-lawyer-fed-him-debunked-claim-about-russian-collusion-in-2016\">testified<\/a><\/u> in a British court that Sussmann provided him with other claims about Alfa Bank\u2019s purported ties to Russian President <u><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/vladimir-putin?utm_campaign=autolink&#038;utm_source=internal&#038;utm_medium=autolink\">Vladimir Putin<\/a> <\/u>during a late July 2016 meeting. These allegations made their way into a September 2016 memo that became part of the dossier. <\/p>\n<p>DeFilippis said Wednesday that Sussmann\u2019s meeting with Steele is \u201cincredibly probative and relevant\u201d because the meeting shows that Sussmann was \u201cintegrated\u201d with the broader effort. He said the prosecution\u2019s goal is to show \u201cthe intersection between Mr. Steele\u2019s efforts and the Russian Bank-1\u201d claims. <\/p>\n<p>The prosecutor said Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook \u201ctold the government that he viewed Steele\u2019s opposition research and Alfa Bank research as intermixed\u201d and part of the same &#8220;work stream&#8221; of Fusion and Perkins. The prosecutor pointed out that the same law firm and opposition research firm were the ultimate sources of the Steele reporting and the Alfa Bank allegations. <\/p>\n<p>Berkowitz argued conversely that Sussmann had a \u201crelatively innocuous\u201d conversation with Steele and that \u201che doesn\u2019t recall ever seeing Steele again.&#8221; The defense argued there is \u201cno evidence that Mr. Sussmann knew what Mr. Steele was doing\u201d and lamented that this would become a \u201ctrial within a trial about what Mr. Steele was doing and how he was acting.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Elias testified that he was aware of Fusion\u2019s plans to have Steele brief reporters about his anti-Trump research during the 2016 contest, <u><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/clinton-campaign-knew-about-fusion-gps-plan-to-have-christopher-steele-brief-reporters-about-dossier\">met with<\/a><\/u> Steele during 2016, and periodically briefed the campaign about the findings from Fusion and Steele. Elias coordinated with Sussmann on anti-Trump research in 2016. <\/p>\n<p>Sussmann\u2019s lawyers asked a federal judge last month to exclude evidence on \u201cChristopher Steele and information he separately provided to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (including the so-called \u2018Steele Dossier\u2019).\u201d <\/p>\n<p>The defense team argued: \u201cThe single false statement charge brought against Mr. Sussmann surely does not flow from the gathering of data, the accuracy of that data, the accuracy of the conclusions based on that data, or any information Mr. Steele may have provided to the FBI.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>The lawyers argued Sussmann did not have \u201cany awareness\u201d that Steele was \u201cseparately providing information to the FBI.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Durham said Joffe also began tasking employees and associates with mining and assembling internet data that would support an \u201cinference\u201d or \u201cnarrative\u201d tying Trump to Russia, with the tech executive stating in emails that the goal was to please \u201cVIPs\u201d \u2014 apparently referring to Sussmann, Elias, and the Clinton campaign. <\/p>\n<p>The special counsel referred to this as a \u201cjoint venture\u201d last month and laid out evidence that Sussmann \u201ctook further steps to integrate the Russian Bank-1-related allegations into the Clinton Campaign\u2019s opposition research efforts,\u201d which included details about Steele. <\/p>\n<p>The special counsel wrote: \u201cAlthough the defendant [Sussmann] testified before Congress that the purpose of the [2016] meeting was to \u2018vet\u2019 U.K. Person-1 for the Clinton Campaign given the defendant\u2019s knowledge of national security matters, U.K. Person-1 has testified under oath in the United Kingdom that, during the meeting, the defendant told him at the meeting about the Russian Bank-1 allegations.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Horowitz <u><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/storage\/120919-examination.pdf\">criticized<\/a><\/u> the FBI in his December 2019 report for 17 \u201csignificant errors or omissions\u201d \u2014 including a reliance on Steele\u2019s discredited dossier. <\/p>\n<p>Steele pushed the claim that Alfa Bank was a secret conduit between Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and the Kremlin during an early October 2016 meeting with State Department figures Jonathan Winer and Kathleen Kavalec. Steele also told DOJ official Bruce Ohr in late September 2016 that the Alfa Bank server was a link to the Trump campaign. <\/p>\n<p><b><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/bidens-disinformation-chief-is-trump-dossier-author-fan-and-hunter-laptop-doubter\">BIDEN DISINFO CZAR IS DOSSIER AUTHOR FAN<\/a><\/b> <\/p>\n<p>Steele\u2019s alleged main source, Igor Danchenko, was <u><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/steeles-main-dossier-source-arrested-in-durham-investigation-report\">charged<\/a><\/u> \u201cwith five counts of making false statements to the FBI,\u201d which Durham says he made about the information he provided to Steele for the dossier. Horowitz said FBI interviews with Danchenko \u201craised significant questions about the reliability of the Steele election reporting\u201d and <u><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/after-indictment-of-steele-source-question-remains-whether-durham-will-charge-fbi-agents-or-leaders\">concluded<\/a><\/u> Danchenko \u201ccontradicted the allegations of a \u2018well-developed conspiracy\u2019 in\u201d Steele\u2019s dossier. <\/p>\n<p>The Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee were <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/durham-raises-fec-ruling-against-clinton-and-dnc-in-attorney-client-privilege-battle\">recently fined<\/a> by the FBI over their financial filings related to Fusion GPS, which Durham pointed out this week. Steele <u><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/christopher-steele-holds-firm-on-defending-discredited-dossier\">continues<\/a><\/u> to defend his dossier. <\/p>\n<p>The FBI, the CIA, special counsel Robert Mueller, a bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee investigation, and Durham\u2019s team have all <u><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/cia-has-known-trump-russia-collusion-data-not-technically-plausible-since-2017-durham-says\">cast doubt on<\/a><\/u> or shot down the Alfa Bank claims.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Christopher Steele looms large over John Durham\u2019s trial against Michael Sussmann as the special counsel says the dossier author is at the \u201cintersection\u201d of Trump-Russia collusion efforts, while<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":498,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1463788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1463788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/498"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1463788"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1463788\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1463788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1463788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1463788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}