{"id":1687722,"date":"2022-10-13T08:53:53","date_gmt":"2022-10-13T12:53:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1687722"},"modified":"2022-10-13T08:59:43","modified_gmt":"2022-10-13T12:59:43","slug":"fbi-analyst-battered-by-both-sides-in-trial-of-steele-dossier-source-danchenko","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/fbi-analyst-battered-by-both-sides-in-trial-of-steele-dossier-source-danchenko\/","title":{"rendered":"FBI Analyst Battered by Both Sides in Trial of Steele Dossier Source Danchenko"},"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\">26<\/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%2Ffbi-analyst-battered-by-both-sides-in-trial-of-steele-dossier-source-danchenko%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=1687722&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 class=\"p1\">ALEXANDRIA, Va.\u2014Russian business analyst <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-igor-danchenko\">Igor Danchenko<\/a> may be the defendant, but the government\u2019s first witness called to testify against him often appeared to be the one on trial during the first two days of often confounding and dense deliberations delving into the dusky origins of the debunked Steele Dossier.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">FBI supervisory counterintelligence analyst Brian Auten was on the stand for more than nine hours on Oct. 12 and 13 before U.S. Eastern District of Virginia Judge Anthony Trenga.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Auten, who supervised analysts in the 2016 Crossfire Hurricane investigation, was grilled by both the defense and the prosecution after being presented with emails and other documents he did not know of, or failed to pursue, while probing Danchenko\u2019s alleged role as the primary \u201csub-source\u201d in funneling salacious concoctions about former President Donald Trump and his 2016 presidential campaign to former British intelligence agent Christopher Steele, who went on to compile 17 discredited \u201creports\u201d included in the dossier.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The Steele Dossier was paid for by Hillary Clinton\u2019s 2016 presidential campaign and orchestrated by FusionGPS, a Washington, D.C.-based \u201cstrategic intelligence\u201d firm implicated in a range of alleged skullduggery on behalf of Clinton and the Democratic National Committee during the 2016 campaign.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Danchenko, a Russian national and Virginia resident, is charged with five counts of making false statements to Auten and FBI special agent Stephen Somma during three January 2017 interviews. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges, which could carry a 25-year prison sentence if convicted.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">According to Auten, Danchenko lied to him and Somma in concealing his contacts with Charles Dolan, Jr., a longtime Democrat \u201coperative,\u201d Clinton family associate, and billionaire founder of Cablevision and HBO who is now senior vice president of kglobal, which describes itself as \u201ca full service communications and creative agency based in Washington, D.C., with clients around the globe.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Danchenko is also accused of lying about an alleged July 2016 meeting with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-sergei-millian\">Sergei Millian<\/a>, a Belarusian-American businessman and former president of the Russian-American Chamber of Commerce, arranged during a phone call from a Russian-speaking man who never identified himself.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">As a result of the phone call, which the FBI maintains there is no record of and never happened, Danchenko told Auten and Somma that he went to New York City for the arranged meeting with the anonymous caller, who he assumed was Millian, but never claimed to be certain who it was.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The meeting was a bust because no one but Danchenko showed up, he told Auten and Somma during interviews Jan. 24-26, 2017<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Danchenko\u2019s attorneys\u2014Danny Oronato and Stuart Sears of Washington, D.C.-based Schertler, Oronato, Mead &#038; Sears LLP\u2014maintain he told the truth in interviews and ripped Auten for not asking follow-up questions to clarify his responses to what they describe as vague queries.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Special Counsel John Durham, appointed in 2020 by then-U.S. Attorney General William Barr to investigate the FBI\u2019s 2016 counterintelligence probe into Trump, his campaign, and Russia, also hammered Auten, especially just before he left the stand at the 6 p.m. close of proceedings on Oct. 13.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">When Onorato and Durham weren\u2019t jabbing at each other before Trenga and the jury\u2014despite frequently conferring congenially while seated 3-feet apart\u2014they were a tag-team and Auten was the foil, with both presenting undiscovered emails as new evidence in the case that the counterintelligence supervisor had not seen until last week while preparing to testify or while he was in the witness stand.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">Durham asked Auten if he or Somma \u201cknew what role Dolan played\u201d in the affair when they met with Danchenko in January 2017.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Auten said Danchenko never mentioned Dolan during those three days of interviews but, by then, Dolan was \u201ca person of interest with the Crossfire Hurricane team\u201d so neither he nor Somma raised Dolan\u2019s name.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Auten said in January 2017 he was not aware that Danchenko had met with Dolan in Moscow in June 2016 and October 2016, where they both attended a conference staged by YPO, \u201ca global leadership community of chief executives\u201d based in Irving, Texas.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/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\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy size-medium 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-1227758016-600x400.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-3513849\" src=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2020\/09\/25\/GettyImages-1227758016-600x400.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" \/><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a> Former UK intelligence officer Christopher Steele in London, UK, on July 24, 2020, refused an offer of $1 million from the FBI to name the sources who proved the debunked allegations in the infamous 2016 \u2018Steele Dossier.\u2019 (Tolga Akmen\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/figure>\n<p class=\"p1\">Only last week, he admitted, did he learn of a series of August 2016 email exchanges between Danchenko to Dolan, including one on Aug. 16 where Danchenko refers to Dolan as \u201cChuck\u201d and states, \u201cI am working on a related project against Trump\u201d and asks for assistance.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">On Aug. 19, 2016, Dolan responded, \u201cLet me dig around\u201d and followed through the next day with an email that recounted sharing \u201ca drink with a GOP player\u201d who told him that then-former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski \u201cplayed a lot of people and wanted (then-Trump campaign manager Paul) Manafort gone. I will let you know if I learn anything else.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">In his same-day response, Danchenko thanked him and stated his project against Trump\u201c is \u201can important project for me and our goals clearly coincide.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Auten said he \u201cshould have been provided them (emails)\u201d by Danchenko. \u201cIf there was anything in the dossier that Mr. Dolan provided, it would have been important for us to know that\u201d in January 2017, he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Oronato dismissed the significance of the exchange, claiming the Lewandowski-Manafort feud was a news story at the time and it appeared as if the FBI \u201cis taking open-source material and laundering it to make it look like it\u2019s from another source.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">He cited an Aug. 14 Politico article that discussed how Lewandowski \u201chates Manafort,\u201d which Dolan linked to on Aug. 20, the same day he told Danchenko he had gleaned the tidbit while sharing \u201ca drink with a GOP player.\u201d<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>\u201c<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cWhen people tweet, it is available to the public,\u201d it is \u201cin the public domain,\u201d Oronato said. \u201cAnyone could have Googled on Aug. 20 and found that, and that is what Dolan told Danchenko that day. This is not a state secret what Dolan told Mr. Danchenko.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">After more than five hours of direct examination by Durham, who is taking the lead in the case unlike the two previous prosecutions stemming from the investigation, Oronato drilled into Auten for nearly three hours before Durham ended his time on the stand during more than an hour of redirect rebuttal.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">During cross-examination, Oronato introduced several email exchanges dating to May 2016 between Danchenko and several contacts during in a dizzying blitz of names, dates, and internet communications apps such as FaceTime, WhatsApp, and Skype that Millian and others list in their contact information and that would not leave a phone record.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cThe guy who (Danchenko) said he could have received a call from was using these apps,\u201d Oronato said, telling Auten, \u201cEverything (Danchenko) has told you has been corroborated, everything he told you was truthful.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cYes,\u201d Auten said, \u201cI\u2019d say I\u2019m seeing that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Auten repeatedly had to admit he had not seen the evidence newly introduced in the courtroom.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">This information \u201cwould have been of value in assessing the allegations,\u201d Auten said. \u201cAll the emails would be very helpful in understanding the full extent of communications between the parties.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Despite being the first witness in what is likely his penultimate special counsel case, Durham had no sympathy for Auten as a long day in court drew to a close.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cWhile working on Crossfire Hurricane, you were questioned as a witness in the Mueller investigation\u2014you were in the middle of it,\u201d he said. \u201cDid you guys even bother to pull phone records? Travel records? You did none of these things.\u201d<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The evidence gathered in the investigation \u201chad to be reconstructed\u201d because basic investigatory procedures were not followed, Durham said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cAny particular reason why experienced FBI personnel could not request phone records?\u201d He asked, referring to Millian\u2019s phone. \u201cEver run that number down to see phone records?<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Auten said he could not recall if they \u201cpulled those records or not.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Durham mocked Auten for not being more dubious of Danchenko\u2019s alleged attempts to collaborate with Millian in his \u201cproject against Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cMillian was a vocal Trump supporter. Would you find it peculiar that someone who was an avid Trump supporter would provide negative information about the Trump campaign?\u201d he asked. \u201cThat is very peculiar, right? Almost unbelievable, wouldn\u2019t you say?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Auten conceded that it was, indeed, peculiar.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Durham said Auten and his analysts were \u201cmuch too willing and able to accept this information\u201d without proper vetting before launching the investigations that Durham was appointed to investigate.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cThe conduct of you and others involved in Crossfire Hurricane was under close scrutiny\u201d by the Office of Inspector Generals, referencing \u201cerrors of omission\u201d and other \u201csignificant\u201d short fallings.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cYou are under investigation by the inspection division of the FBI. Isn\u2019t it true you got recommended for suspension?\u201d Durham asked Auten, referring to a \u201cwrite-up\u201d for not disclosing all he knew of surveillance applications the FBI filed with various courts, including Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court, during the Crossfire Hurricane probe.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The suspension is under appeal, Auten responded.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Oronato said that when Auten testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee about Crossfire Hurricane on Oct. 29, 2020, he had nothing but praise for Danchenko, which was consistent with his previous statements.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">All that changed after July 26, 2021, his first meeting with Durham\u2019s team, he said. \u201cThat\u2019s when your status changed from witness to subject. That was scary?\u201d<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cYes,\u201d Auten said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cIs that why you had two lawyers with you?\u201d Oronato asked.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cI didn\u2019t have any basis at the time not to believe\u201d Danchenko, Auten replied.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">He still has no basis not to believe Danchenko although, Oronato said.<\/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","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ALEXANDRIA, Va.\u2014Russian business analyst Igor Danchenko may be the defendant, but the government\u2019s first witness called to testify against him often appeared to be the one on trial during the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1687722","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\/1687722","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=1687722"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1687722\/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=1687722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1687722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1687722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}