ALEXANDRIA, Va.—FBI agents investigating the anti-Donald Trump dossier should have done a better job investigating the truthfulness of its source, special counsel John Durham said in closing arguments for the source’s trial on Oct. 17.
FBI agents should have performed a “detailed review” of Igor Danchenko, the source, and his statements, including a behavioral assessment, an examination of Danchenko’s finances, and a polygraph test, Durham said, at least some of which were recommended by FBI experts.
With the evidence presented during the trial, jurors could conclude that the FBI “mishandled the investigation,” Durham said.
But “the government is not here to defend the FBI’s performance in these matters,” he added.
Of import is how the probe started, he also said.
Danchenko has taken credit for the bulk of the information in the dossier, a collection of rumors, lies, and innuendo that painted Trump as potentially under the thumb of Russian President Vladimir Putin, which was hyped by Trump rival Hillary Clinton, who was later revealed as being one of the document’s funders.
Danchenko allegedly lied to FBI agents when he told them he did not speak with Charles Dolan, a Clinton associate, about information in the dossier, even though an email from Dolan to Danchenko made its way nearly word-for-word into the finished product. Defense lawyers said Danchenko understood the word “talked” as communicating orally, an argument that helped convince the judge overseeing the case to toss the charge.
Danchenko was also charged with making false statements about thinking he spoke with Sergei Millian, a pro-Trump businessman, over the phone. No phone records support communications between the pair and Danchenko later wrote emails to Millian and at least one other person as if he had never spoken with Millian.
In one email, for instance, Danchenko wrote that “Sergei doesn’t respond,” with no mention of a call or a planned meeting.
The false statements impacted the bureau’s investigation into the dossier, Durham’s team alleges.
The focus of deliberations should be whether the statements “affected the FBI’s actions,” Michael Keilty, an assistant special counsel, told the jury before deliberations began. “That is all you need to consider.”
Danchenko told dossier author Christopher Steele, a Clinton supporter and ex-British spy, that he met Millian in person but informed FBI agents he actually lied to Steele, according to the agents.
Stuart Sears, one of Danchenko’s lawyers, said Danchenko made clear to Steele that the information he was passing on was “rumor and speculation” and that Danchenko told agents he didn’t know if anything in the dossier was true. He described his client as being “shocked and upset” by how Steele presented the information in the dossier, which was utilized by the U.S. government to get warrants to spy on former Trump campaign associate Carter Page and in other aspects of Crossfire Hurricane, which Durham was tasked with probing by former Attorney General William Barr.
Sears also noted that Kevin Helson, Danchenko’s handling agent, actually told Danchenko to erase information from his phone after his identity as a source became known to the public.
And Danchenko was clear that he believed, but was not sure, that the person on the phone was Millian. Further, FBI agents didn’t ask detailed follow-up questions, Sears said.
From The Epoch Times