What we learned from Durham's Danchenko investigation

Jerry Dunleavy

October 22, 07:43 AM October 22, 07:43 AM

Special counsel John Durham's investigation was dealt a blow earlier this week with a second not-guilty verdict, but his trial against Igor Danchenko revealed a host of new details about the FBI’s deeply flawed Trump-Russia investigation — and left some questions unanswered.

Danchenko on FBI payroll

Danchenko was on the FBI's payroll as a confidential human source from March 2017 to October 2020 before he was charged in November 2021 with five counts of making false statements to the bureau.

FBI supervisory intelligence analyst Brian Auten, who testified during the trial, was one of the agents who interviewed Danchenko in January 2017, and he was there when the Justice Department provided Danchenko with partial immunity.

FBI agent Kevin Helson, who was the handler for Danchenko while he worked as a paid informant for the bureau, sought to reward Danchenko lucratively.

Helson made an October 2020 request to pay Danchenko a lump sum of $346,000, and his testimony revealed that would have brought the total amount the Russian lawyer and analyst had been paid by the bureau over a few years up to a total of $546,000. The lump-sum payment request was denied.

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It was revealed during the trial that Auten was inquiring about Danchenko through the Baltimore field office in 2012, so when Danchenko was identified by the FBI as former British spy Christopher Steele’s main source by December 2016, he was already known to at least one Crossfire Hurricane member.

Steele dossier unverified

Auten said neither Danchenko nor Steele ever provided corroborating information for the dossier. The analyst revealed the FBI had offered Steele an incentive of up to $1 million if he could prove the allegations of collusion in his dossier, but the FBI analyst said the former MI6 agent was unable to corroborate the claims following the October 2016 meeting. Auten and multiple other FBI officials testified during the trial that neither Steele nor Danchenko was ever able to back up any of the dossier’s claims, and Auten also testified that other U.S. intelligence agencies looked into the dossier's claims, but none could confirm them.

Auten and others would feed questions about the dossier to Helson to ask Danchenko, but Helson testified that the dossier-related questions “dwindled” as time went on. He said Danchenko never provided any corroboration for the dossier claims.

Helson admitted he knew nothing about the dossier when he was made Danchenko’s handler. He also testified he told Danchenko to delete messages and “scrub” his phone. He said he believed 80% of the dossier’s contents came from Danchenko, adding that “it was a significant majority of the dossier.” Danchenko bragged in private messages that 80% of the dossier’s “raw intelligence” and 50% of its “analysis” came from him.

Mueller investigated the dossier

Durham’s trial against Danchenko revealed that Robert Mueller’s special counsel team was investigating the discredited Trump dossier despite congressional testimony from Mueller that Steele and his dossier were outside his purview, but the team couldn't corroborate a single key claim.

Amy Anderson, a supervisory special agent, and Brittany Hertzog, a former FBI intelligence analyst, both testified that, as members of Mueller’s team specifically tasked with scrutinizing the dossier, they believed the FBI should interview and further investigate Charles Dolan, a longtime ally of Bill and Hillary Clinton, partly due to his business connections with Danchenko and with Russian business and government officials.

The Mueller team members also testified that they were concerned about Dolan’s links to Danchenko’s friend Olga Galkina, who had been identified as a subsource for Danchenko related to the dossier, although she denies being such a source. Galkina was interviewed by the FBI in Cyprus in August 2017, but she was very hesitant about speaking about Dolan.

Despite Dolan’s potential dossier links through Danchenko and Galkina, as well as his associations with Russian officials, Anderson and Hertzog said their efforts to investigate Dolan were shut down by their Mueller team superiors. Auten said Steele had brought up Dolan during the October 2016 meeting as being among people who might be knowledgeable about the dossier allegations.

Danchenko suspected as a Russian spy

A member of the FBI's Human Intelligence Validation Unit suggested Danchenko may have been part of Russian intelligence services, according to court testimony, and Durham highlighted how Helson apparently did not do his due diligence in looking into the Russian analyst’s background before signing him up as a confidential human source.

Durham got Helson to admit that he submitted paperwork in early 2017 on Danchenko, which wrongly stated there was no derogatory information available on the Steele dossier source. In reality, it has been revealed that Danchenko was the subject of an FBI counterintelligence investigation for being a potential national security threat from 2009 to 2011. The inquiry unearthed links between the defendant and Russian intelligence officers.

Helson nevertheless testified that, from 2017 through 2020, Danchenko had provided assistance in 25 ongoing FBI investigations and contributed to at least 40 intelligence reports. The FBI agent testified that these investigations and reports largely or entirely related to combating Russian malign influence.

Durham's loss and what remains unanswered

According to Durham, Danchenko anonymously sourced a fabricated claim about Trump 2016 campaign manager Paul Manafort to Dolan. But the judge threw out that charge before the jury could decide on it.

Durham also accused Danchenko of lying to the FBI about a phone call he claims he received from someone he believed was Sergei Millian, a Belarus-born U.S. citizen and businessman whom the Steele source had said told him about a well-developed conspiracy of cooperation between former President Donald Trump and the Russians — which the special counsel says is false. Danchenko was found not guilty of those charges.

Auten revealed that “Mr. Millian at one time had been a source” for the FBI.

It appears Durham may be done with his criminal charges, raising questions about how the FBI agents and officials involved in the Trump-Russia investigation's wrongdoing will be held accountable.

The special counsel is expected to submit a final report to Attorney General Merrick Garland, who vowed to make it public.

Durham inquiry trial: FBI needed to suspend analyst who interviewed Steele supply

Jerry Dunleavy

Oct 12, 10:34 PM October 12, 10:34 PM

ALEXANDRIA, Virginia —The FBI’s interior investigation device sought to self-control and suspend the FBI analyst who interviewed Igor Danchenko in January 2017 and who was distinctive counsel John Durham’s very first witness this 7 days in the bogus statements demo from the main source for British ex-spy Christopher Steele’s discredited anti-Trump file, new court testimony disclosed.

FBI supervisory intelligence analyst Brian Auten, who disclosed Wednesday that Durham informed him in 2021 that he was a “subject” of the unique counsel’s prison evaluation of the Trump-Russia investigation, verified that the FBI had proposed he get a suspension because of to his actions as a member 1st of the Crossfire Hurricane crew and then of particular counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into ties between then-prospect Donald Trump and the Russian authorities.

Durham reported the FBI’s inspection division investigated Auten’s carry out and advisable that he be suspended. “That is being appealed," Auten countered from the witness stand.

Auten experienced been referred by FBI Director Christopher Wray to the Place of work of Expert Responsibility for disciplinary motion following the December 2019 launch of Justice Office Inspector Normal Michael Horowitz's report on Overseas Intelligence Surveillance Act abuse. Wray has claimed these proceedings were being slowed down to cooperate with Durham’s criminal investigation.

Auten was the “Supervisory Intel Agent” in Horowitz’s report and is stated 106 moments by the inside watchdog. The FBI analyst continuously downplayed his involvement in the FISA process to get hold of research authority to snoop on onetime Trump campaign aide Carter Page, who was never ever billed with any wrongdoing, admitting only that he reviewed the Webpage FISA on an “ad hoc basis” and reviewed the application’s footnotes.

Durham contended that Auten’s refusal to be wholly sincere about the whole extent of his involvement in the Web site FISAs was one of the motives he was proposed for suspension, but Auten disputed that characterization. Durham seemed overtly annoyed with Auten’s testimony about how dossier promises had been utilised in the application for surveillance, but the FBI analyst insisted, “I was not the just one who carried it above into the FISA application.”

FBI Made available STEELE UP TO $1 MILLION IF HE COULD Verify Dossier Statements

The FBI analyst briefly reviewed Horowitz’s report, which Durham explained as “scathing,” with the FBI analyst employing a lot softer language. Auten famous that “the report was really extensive” and thorough “quite a selection of glitches and omissions.” Vehicle included: “I believe that the [Office of Inspector General] described [the errors] as major.”

Horowitz’s report undermined the Steele file claims, and the watchdog criticized the DOJ and the FBI for at the very least 17 “significant glitches and omissions” connected to the FISA warrants from Site and for the bureau's “central and essential” reliance on Steele’s dossier.

Auten, who interviewed Danchenko in early 2017 and was there when the Justice Office established up a partial immunity arrangement with the Steele supply, was also amongst the FBI personnel who interviewed Steele abroad in early Oct 2016 as the FBI sought additional specifics on the file. Auten discovered the FBI had provided Steele an incentive of up to $1 million if he could verify the allegations of collusion in his dossier, but the FBI analyst reported the former MI6 agent was unable to corroborate the statements. Steele also declined to supply the identification of his sources, which include Danchenko.

The FBI analyst circulated a February 2017 intelligence memo to top rated FBI officials about the Danchenko job interview he had carried out a month prior, but Horowitz explained it “did not explain the inconsistencies” from the FBI job interview in January 2017.

The FBI quickly designed Danchenko a compensated private human supply starting up in March 2017 by means of Oct 2020, as discovered by Durham in court docket filings. Horowitz reported FBI interviews with Danchenko “raised important concerns about the reliability of the Steele election reporting."

All through his Wednesday courtroom testimony, Auten agreed with Danchenko’s defense law firm, Danny Onorato, that it was “scary” to be informed that he experienced been named a subject of Durham’s investigation during his 1st meeting with the specific counsel workforce in late July 2021. The FBI analyst claimed that when he had fulfilled with Horowitz’s investigators, it had been as a “witness” and not a “subject.” Auten claimed he recognized the time period “subject” to be “somewhere involving a witness and a target” of an investigation.

The FBI analyst added that he was not right threatened with achievable prosecution but said that is comprehended to be a risk when you are the topic of a prison investigation. Auten stated he experienced hardly ever been the subject of an investigation prior to that stage. The FBI analyst mentioned he finished up meeting with Durham’s investigators a few or 4 moments total, including 2 times previous 7 days.

The dossier was developed following Steele was employed by the opposition research company Fusion GPS, which was itself hired by Perkins Coie by Marc Elias, the standard counsel for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 marketing campaign. Steele employed Danchenko.

According to Durham, Danchenko anonymously sourced a fabricated declare about Trump 2016 marketing campaign supervisor Paul Manafort to Charles Dolan, a Clinton ally who put in decades, like 2016, executing get the job done with Russian corporations and the Russian federal government.

Durham's indictment also said Danchenko lied to the FBI about a cellphone get in touch with he claimed he received from Sergei Millian, a Belarus-born U.S. citizen and businessman who the Steele resource had claimed advised him about a conspiracy of cooperation in between Trump and the Russians — which the special counsel mentioned is bogus.

Auten testified Wednesday that he thought Danchenko ought to have handed around to the FBI relevant e-mail he experienced sent to Millian and exchanged with Dolan but claimed the Russian lawyer did not do so.

Soon soon after remaining referred to the FBI’s Office environment of Experienced Responsibility, Auten was involved with the bureau’s inquiry into Hunter Biden, the adult son of now-President Joe Biden, with his August 2020 investigation getting used in component to justify the choice to "shut down investigative exercise."

Wray stated this summer time that he observed the whistleblower promises that the FBI had improperly labeled the youthful Biden proof as disinformation to be “deeply troubling.”

Danchenko's October trial will come after Democratic lawyer Michael Sussmann was found not guilty in Might on a wrong statements demand of concealing his illustration of Hillary Clinton’s presidential marketing campaign from the FBI when he pushed considering that-debunked Trump-Russia collusion claims about Alfa-Financial institution to the bureau in 2016. Testimony in the course of the demo unveiled Hillary Clinton personally signed off on her campaign sharing the Alfa-Bank promises with the media.

Horowitz mentioned in 2019 that Auten “told us that he factored the Alfa-Bank/Trump server allegations into his evaluation of Steele's reporting.”

Putin-allied oligarch who employed Christopher Steele indicted by DOJ for sanctions evasion

Jerry Dunleavy

September 29, 04:16 PM September 29, 04:17 PM

Putin-allied Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, who beforehand used British ex-spy Christopher Steele, was charged by the Justice Office with conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions imposed on him and his firm.

Deripaska was indicted Thursday for sanctions evasion connected to his Standard Aspect Limited business, which was sanctioned by the Treasury Department in 2018 for working on behalf of the Russian govt.

The Russian was billed in a 31-site unsealed indictment alongside fellow Russian Natalia Mikhaylovna Bardakova and U.S. citizen Olga Shriki, who had been accused of assisting in the scheme. The trio was accused of violating the Global Emergency Financial Powers Act, which could land them a utmost sentence of 20 decades in jail.

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Shriki, a New Jersey resident and naturalized American citizen, was also billed with obstruction of justice for deleting electronic records displaying her participation in the unlawful hard work, and she was arrested this morning. Bardakova was additional charged with earning false statements to FBI brokers.

A different Russian, Ekaterina Olegovna Voronina, was charged with earning false statements to Division of Homeland Protection agents when she attempted to enter the United States to give birth to Deripaska’s boy or girl.

A Washington, D.C., mansion tied to Deripaska was raided by the FBI final Oct. Deripaska had sued the Treasury Section in 2019 in an effort and hard work to battle U.S. sanctions against him, and the oligarch unsuccessfully questioned the Supreme Court in June to toss the sanctions.

The Justice Department stated Thursday that Deripaska “conspired with some others to evade and to violate those sanctions in many means and in excess of the program of a number of years” and, as a result of a company reduce-out named Gracetown Inc., the longtime ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin “illegally used the U.S. financial system to keep and keep three luxurious attributes in the United States.”

Prosecutors mentioned Deripaska also used Shriki and Bardakova “to employ U.S. economical establishments to provide hundreds of hundreds of dollars’ value of solutions for his benefit in the United States.”

“In the wake of Russia’s unjust and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, I promised the American folks that the Justice Office would operate to keep accountable these who break our legal guidelines and threaten our nationwide stability,” Legal professional Standard Merrick Garland claimed. “Today’s costs show we are keeping that assure.”

The Thursday indictment explained Shriki facilitated the extra than $3 million sale of a California tunes studio in 2019 that Deripaska had owned by a series of corporate shell firms. Shriki then allegedly attempted to go the tens of millions by way of 1 of the shell organizations, Ocean Studios California LLC, to a Russia-based mostly account belonging to an additional Deripaska organization.

The indictment also mentioned Bardakova, who was mostly based mostly in Russia, directed Shriki to perform unlawful transactions for Deripaska from 2018 to 2020.

“Bardakova instructed Shriki to acquire and mail flower and gift deliveries on behalf of Deripaska to Deripaska’s social contacts in the United States and Canada,” the DOJ claimed. “The deliveries involved, amongst many others, Easter present deliveries to a U.S. tv host, two flower deliveries to a then-previous Canadian Parliament member, and two flower deliveries in 2020 to Voronina although she was in the United States in 2020 to give beginning to Deripaska’s baby.”

The Justice Department also said Shriki and Bardakova served Deripaska’s girlfriend, Voronina, vacation from Russia to the U.S. in 2020 so she could give beginning to their child in The united states, with Deripaska allegedly investing hundreds of countless numbers of dollars "so that his youngster would take edge of the U.S. well being care process and U.S. birthright citizenship."

Prosecutors explained Shriki and Bardakova also attempted to aid Voronina’s return to the U.S. in 2020 to give start to their 2nd baby, while this was "an endeavor that was thwarted."

Deripaska’s website link to one more prison circumstance, special counsel John Durham’s indictment of Steele source Igor Danchenko, is also notable.

Steele was working for Deripaska in advance of, for the duration of, and just after his time targeting Trump in 2016. Deripaska had paid out Steele to investigate potential Trump marketing campaign supervisor Paul Manafort following accusing the GOP operative of stealing tens of millions from him, and Steele sought enable from the opposition study firm Fusion GPS in early 2016.

Steele was quickly employed to put his dossier alongside one another by Fusion, which by itself was employed by Clinton campaign basic counsel March Elias and was compensated by the Clinton marketing campaign.