{"id":1685476,"date":"2022-10-12T12:32:11","date_gmt":"2022-10-12T16:32:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1685476"},"modified":"2022-10-12T12:32:44","modified_gmt":"2022-10-12T16:32:44","slug":"takeaways-from-day-1-of-steele-dossier-source-igor-danchenkos-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/takeaways-from-day-1-of-steele-dossier-source-igor-danchenkos-trial\/","title":{"rendered":"Takeaways From Day 1 of Steele Dossier Source Igor Danchenko&#8217;s  Trial"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/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%2Ftakeaways-from-day-1-of-steele-dossier-source-igor-danchenkos-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=1685476&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--><p>ALEXANDRIA, Va.\u2014The primary source for the anti-Donald Trump dossier struck an immunity agreement with the government that he breached by not fully disclosing information, special counsel John Durham said on Oct. 11.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-igor-danchenko\">Igor Danchenko<\/a>, who fed information to dossier author <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-christopher-steele\">Christopher Steele<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/igor-danchenko-was-paid-fbi-informant-said-he-was-working-against-trump-filing_4728922.html\">was employed by the FBI for years<\/a>, Durham previously revealed. During that time, Danchenko had an immunity agreement, Durham said during the first day of Danchenko\u2019s trial in federal court in Virginia.<\/p>\n<p>Prosecutors will introduce \u201can immunity agreement that was entered into by the defendant with the government in which he was told specifically that he agreed to make full and complete disclosure of information,\u201d Durham said.<\/p>\n<p>The agreement was presented to Danchenko in January 2017, when the FBI interviewed Danchenko about his role in the dossier.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe only requirements of that agreement, the only requirements was that the defendant provide complete and truthful information, that he not withhold any information, and that he not attempt to protect any person through false information or omission,\u201d Michael Keilty, an assistant special counsel, told jurors.<\/p>\n<p>Danny Onorato, a lawyer representing Charles Dolan, later pointed at Durham and told the jury that the prosecution was lying about the agreement.<\/p>\n<p>Durham objected, noting that the agreement has been entered as an exhibit.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo for the defense counsel to stand here and tell this jury that the government lied is highly inappropriate,\u201d Durham said.<\/p>\n<p>U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga, a George W. Bush appointee overseeing the case, struck Onorato\u2019s comments from the record.<\/p>\n<p>Danchenko is charged with five counts of lying to the FBI. He\u2019s accused of falsely saying he didn\u2019t source information he later provided to Steele from Dolan, a longtime Clinton family associate.\u00a0Hillary Clinton helped pay for the dossier. Danchenko also lied when he said he thought he spoke with Sergei Millian, a pro-Trump businessman, and had plans to meet with Millian in New York, according to prosecutors.<\/p>\n<p>Danchenko has pleaded not guilty and the defense says he told the truth in interviews, blaming FBI agents for not asking follow-up questions.<\/p>\n<p>Here are other takeaways from day 1 of the trial.<\/p>\n<h2>Jurors Picked<\/h2>\n<p>Jury selection <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/jury-selected-in-trial-of-key-source-for-anti-trump-dossier_4789023.html\">was finished by lunch break<\/a>\u00a0with 12 jurors and four alternates chosen.<\/p>\n<p>Trenga struck a number of jurors after objections from Stuart Sears, another defense lawyer, and Durham.<\/p>\n<p>Sears objected to Joseph Messina, who told the court in a questionnaire that he was involved in politics but only said he was involved in campaigns for Rick Santorum and George Allen \u201cin the distant past.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Social media posts show Messina was a campaign manager for a Republican in Virginia \u201cjust recently,\u201d which \u201cgives us concerns about whether or not he maybe misrepresented that information in order to not be struck for cause,\u201d Sears said.<\/p>\n<p>Sears also raised concerns about a potential juror who struggles with English and a potential juror who was wearing hearing aids.<\/p>\n<p>Durham noted that some of the potential jurors mentioned deadlines or medications that could challenge their ability to concentrate. He also said one potential juror,\u00a0Adrienne Edmond, said in the questionnaire that \u201cI hold biases against Donald Trump, his administration, that may influence my decision-making.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And he pointed to another potential juror who indicated she would have trouble staying off of social media.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYour Honor was good enough to include in the questionnaire questions related to use of social media. Some people, arguably, are addicted to it at this point,\u201d Durham said.<\/p>\n<p>Trenga struck all of the potential jurors who were brought up by the defense and prosecution as well as others who said they had conflicts, such as one saying his wife has cancer and that he\u2019s her caregiver.<\/p>\n<h2>Steele Was Offered Payment<\/h2>\n<p>Brian Auten, a senior FBI analyst who took the stand, revealed that the bureau <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/fbi-offered-christopher-steele-1-million-to-prove-dossier-allegations-against-trump-senior-fbi-analyst-fbi-offered_4790577.html\">offered Steele<\/a> $1 million if he could prove the allegations in the dossier.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes, it did,\u201d Auten told Durham when asked if the FBI offered Steele any incentive to provide evidence to back up his claims.<\/p>\n<p>Auten said he was offered the money for\u00a0\u201cany information, documentary, or of that sort, that could confirm the allegations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Steele declined, Auten testified.<\/p>\n<p>Steele said \u201cno\u201d and would only discuss \u201csource characterizations but not source names,\u201d Auten said.<\/p>\n<p>The exchange took place during a meeting with top FBI agents outside the United States in October 2016.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3513849\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2020\/09\/25\/GettyImages-1227758016-1200x800.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3513849\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy size-large wp-image-3513849\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/themes\/eet\/images\/white.png\" data-src=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2020\/09\/25\/GettyImages-1227758016-1200x800.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-3513849\" src=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2020\/09\/25\/GettyImages-1227758016-1200x800.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" \/><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a> Former UK intelligence officer Christopher Steele in London, UK, on July 24, 2020. (Tolga Akmen\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/figure>\n<h2>Identities Revealed<\/h2>\n<p>Danchenko \u201cwas already known\u201d to Auten, Durham told the court.<\/p>\n<p>Danchenko was investigated by the FBI in 2009 and 2010 for allegedly offering to connect colleagues with money in exchange for classified information. The probe was closed in 2010 because agents thought Danchenko had left the country.<\/p>\n<p>In 2012, Auten was emailing agents in Baltimore, Maryland, where the investigation was based, according to Durham.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMr. Auten himself was inquiring about Mr. Danchenko with the Baltimore office, who had opened the file on Mr. Danchenko in 2012. So when Mr. Danchenko\u2019s name came up in December of 2016, he was a person that was known to the FBI,\u201d Durham said.<\/p>\n<p>The special counsel also identified Danchenko\u2019s handling agent as\u00a0Kevin Helson.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe believe that the testimony from Mr. Danchenko\u2019s handling agent, Special Agent Helson, will be that he also talked to Mr. Danchenko about the information contained in this report, and Mr. Danchenko attributed it to Sergei Millian. I don\u2019t want to overstate that. We\u2019ll have to see what the testimony is.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Millian Was FBI Source<\/h2>\n<p>Auten told Durham that Millian was an FBI source for some time.<\/p>\n<p>Millian provided information to the bureau\u2019s Atlanta Field Office, Auten said.<\/p>\n<p>Millian\u2019s status as a source was closed because he moved out of the area for which the office is responsible, according to the analyst.<\/p>\n<p>Asked if Auten\u2019s comments were accurate, Millian told The Epoch Times in a message, \u201cNo comments.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Auten said that the only people who tried linking Millian to the dossier\u2019s information were Steele and Danchenko.<\/p>\n<p>The FBI opened a file on Millian but that was closed without charges and without any sign of wrongdoing, Auten said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWas there any wrongdoing in terms of him assisting in the interference in some way with the 2016 presidential election?\u201d Durham asked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo,\u201d Auten said.<\/p>\n<h2>Opening Arguments<\/h2>\n<p>In opening arguments, prosecutors told jurors that the FBI\u2019s conduct on Crossfire Hurricane, the counterintelligence probe into Trump, was caused in part by Danchenko\u2019s alleged lies.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe evidence in this trial will show that the Steele dossier would cause the FBI to engage in troubling conduct that would ultimately result in the extended surveillance of the United States citizens. And the defendant\u2019s lies played a role in that surveillance,\u201d Michael Keilty, one of the prosecutors, said.<\/p>\n<p>The FBI \u201crelied on\u201d Danchenko\u2019s lies when it investigated alleged collusion between Trump and his campaign and Russia, Keilty added later.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou see the FBI needed to know where the defendant was getting his information. They needed to know so they could evaluate that information and vet that information. So agents asked him questions about his sources. And in two important respects, instead of telling the agents the truth about that information and those sources, the defendant lied,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Onorato told jurors that Danchenko\u2019s statements were truthful.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe evidence is going to establish that Igor Danchenko told government agents the truth when he was asked about two simple things about the Steele dossier. The first is whether he had talked, talked\u2014so listen to that word \u2018talked\u2019\u2014to a man named Charles Dolan about anything in the Steele dossier. He told the truth,\u201d Onorato said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSecond, he was truthful when he said that he received an anonymous phone call in July of 2016, and he formed the subjective belief that it could have been from a person named Sergei Millian, who, in context, that\u2019s who he concluded it could have been. The facts will show, not only were his conclusions reasonable, but they are actually probably correct.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>Correction: A previous version of this article misstated the date of the meeting involving FBI personnel\u00a0and Steele. It was in October<\/em><em>\u00a02016. The Epoch Times regrets the error.<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"author_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"one_author_block round\">\n<div class=\"top_row\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/author-john-haughey\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2022\/03\/17\/WEB_JohnHaughley.jpg\" alt=\"John Haughey\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Follow<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>John Haughey has been a working journalist since 1978 with an extensive background in local government, state legislatures, and growth and development. A graduate of the University of Wyoming, he is a Navy veteran who fought fires at sea during three deployments aboard USS Constellation. He\u2019s been a reporter for daily newspapers in California, Washington, Wyoming, New York, and Florida; a staff writer for Manhattan-based business trade publications.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"author_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"one_author_block round\">\n<div class=\"top_row\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/author-zachary-stieber\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2020\/07\/22\/WEB_ZacharyStieber-1.jpg\" alt=\"Zachary Stieber\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Follow<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Zachary Stieber covers U.S. and world news for The Epoch Times. He is based in Maryland.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ALEXANDRIA, Va.\u2014The primary source for the anti-Donald Trump dossier struck an immunity agreement with the government that he breached by not fully disclosing information, special counsel John Durham said on<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1898746,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1685476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1685476","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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1685476"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1685476\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1898746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1685476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1685476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1685476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}