A key source of the infamous Steele dossier on Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign’s links to Russia has been acquitted of lying to the FBI.
A jury returned four not-guilty verdicts against Igor Danchenko in a damaging verdict for special counsel John Durham’s three-year probe into possible misconduct by law enforcement’s investigation into the former president’s ties to Moscow.
Mr Durham, who was appointed by Mr Trump’s then-Attorney General Bill Barr, has now brought two cases to court, both of which have failed to secure a single guilty verdict.
So far he has secured the conviction of an FBI lawyer for an “inappropriate shortcut” in a warrant application.
Mr Danchenko, who did not even put on a defence case, was originally charged with five counts of lying to the FBI, but a judge threw out one count last week.
Fox News host Neil Cavuto told his audience on the right-wing channel that Mr Durham’s investigation seemed to have “fizzled.”
“You have to wonder if this is Durham’s swan song. There was great expectation here. It’s just fizzled,” Cavuto admitted on air after the verdict was returned in Alexandria, Virginia.
And he added: “I’m wondering in the case of Merrick Garland by not intruding in the case, he’s letting - not that Durham’s imploding, not that I want to imply that – but that this whole case might be imploding.”
Mr Danchenko was hired by retired British spy Christopher Steele to contribute to his report, which contained a string of unproven claims about the one-term president.
His attorney Stuart Sears welcomed the result.
“We’ve known all along that Mr Danchenko was innocent. We’re happy now that the American public knows that as well. We thank these jurors for their hard work and deliberation in reaching the right decision,” he said.
Mr Durham said that he was “disappointed in the outcome” but that his team “respect the jury’s decision and thank them for their service.”
Georgia lawmaker Marjorie Taylor Greene was quick to criticise the jury’s decision.
“There’s justice — and then there’s the DC courts,” the right-wing Republican congresswoman tweeted.
