Special counsel John Durham motivated a new line of inquiry among Republican investigators in Congress who espouse the view that there was collusion between the Democrats, not former President Donald Trump, and Russia during the 2016 election.
The latest indictment in Durham’s investigation against Igor Danchenko, a U.S.-based and Russian-born analyst who was the main source for British ex-spy Christopher Steele’s now-discredited anti-Trump dossier, is drawing renewed scrutiny on Fiona Hill.
Hill, who has criticized Steele and said his dossier likely contained Russian disinformation, worked at the Brookings Institution with Danchenko for years before serving as the Russia expert on Trump’s National Security Council and testifying during the Ukraine-focused impeachment proceedings against Trump.
Hill also introduced Danchenko to Steele, and, according to Durham, put him in touch with Charles Dolan Jr., a Democratic public relations executive who volunteered for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, has ties to Russia, and was the originator of a false dossier claim he passed to Danchenko who then gave it to Steele.
Her name getting drawn into what the public knows about Durham’s investigation had one leading GOP investigator, Rep. Jim Jordan, saying she deserves another look.
“I’m going to go back and review, now that we’re talking about this, and you made me think,” the Ohio Republican said in an interview with Rep. Devin Nunes on his podcast, which was published on Friday.
“I should go back and — we should go back — and our staffs, go back and review her deposition,” Jordan added. “I want to see what exactly she said to us when you and I got a chance to ask her questions — what was now a couple years ago.”
Also on Friday, former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, who is a former congressman himself, said he is working with Jordan on the Russia matter.
“Jim Jordan and I worked on this when we were in Congress. We’re actually going back over interviews that we have, where we’ve actually interviewed some of these people, to start looking at — based on what was just done over the last 24 hours — so that we can actually look in another direction that we believe will provide some real fruit,” he told OANN, referring to the Danchenko indictment.
Danchenko was charged Thursday “with five counts of making false statements to the FBI” that Durham claims he made about the information he provided for Steele’s dossier. He has indicated that he plans to plead not guilty.
