The federal case against Steele dossier primary source Igor Danchenko ended Monday with closing arguments and jury deliberations, but without a verdict being reached.
The jury is set to resume deliberations Tuesday morning.
The case went to jury after Special Counsel John Durham blasted the FBI for its handling of the informant and its entire Russia collusion probe, saying the bureau had a “certain mindset” and clearly didn’t do things as it should have.
The judge in the case told Durham to end his criticism of the bureau and conclude his closing argument.
Developing …
Special Counsel John Durham’s trial of Russian information specialist and Steele dossier source Igor Danchenko is expected to conclude Monday with closing arguments, sending the verdict to a 12-member jury in a federal court in Northern Virginia.
Danchenko was indicted on five federal charges of lying to the FBI about his connections to sources whom he used to contribute to the dossier, named for former British spy Christopher Steele, who compiled the report for the bureau as it probed possible collusion between Russia and the 2016 Trump presidential campaign.
However, Danchenko supplied about 80% of the content.
On Friday, District Judge Anthony Trenga dropped the charge that Danchenko lied to the FBI about speaking with source Charles Dolan, a Democrat operative.
Danchenko has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.
Durham was appointed special counsel in 2020 by then-Attorney General William Barr to look into the FBI’s conduct in its Russia collusion probe, originally called operation Crossfire Hurricane.
The dossier, which was essentially opposition research on then-GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, has now been largely discredited.
Reporting from Just the News.
