On October 11th, 2022 in the Eastern District of Virginia, the trial of Igor Yurievich Danchenko will begin. Danchenko is the third individual whom Special Counsel John H. Durham has indicted as part of his investigations into the origins of Crossfire Hurricane, the Mueller Special Counsel, and whether any individual, government official or not, engaged in any wrongdoing as relates to the 2016 Presidential Campaigns and the President Trump Administration.
Danchenko
Igor Danchenko is a Ukrainian born Russian citizen and resident of the United States who studied law in Russia at Perm State University, Political Science at the University of Louisville in Kentucky, and wound up working at the Brookings Institution in 2005. There he would work for Fiona Hill who had this to say about him:
“Igor is a highly accomplished analyst and researcher,” Hill noted on his LinkedIn page in 2011. “He is very creative in pursuing the most relevant of information and detail to support his research.”
Danchenko would come under investigation by the FBI in May of 2009 after receiving information that a “research fellow for an influential foreign policy advisor for the Obama administration” was approached by the individual, later identified as the dossier sub-source, who allegedly inquired about their future “access to classified information” and if they “wanted to make a little extra money.”
This investigation was seemingly never completed, but “not for lack of evidence,” according to Durham. Rather, it seems that Danchenko leaving the United States in 2011 resulted in the investigation going cold. Or, perhaps there is more to it than that. As it turns out Danchenko had not actually left the United States…
Beginning in March 2016, Danchenko was hired by former MI6 Intelligence Officer Christopher Steele to work for Orbis Business Intelligence and to investigate Donald Trump, Paul Manafort, Carter Page, Michael Cohen, and others in or associated with the Trump Campaign. Information that Danchenko provided was placed into the Steele Reports or Company Reports.
He became Steele’s Sub-Source.
Some of that information would later be used as part of FISA warrant applications targeting Carter Page and the Trump Campaign.
One problem, though. Well, as regards this case, one REALLY REALLY BIG problem for ole Igor, here.
He lied. A lot.
The charges against Danchenko are all violations of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 1001(a)(2) which makes it a Federal crime to “knowingly and willfully… [make] any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representation” to any member of the Executive, Legislative, or Judicial branch of the Government of the United States.
Danchenko’s specific violations are as follows:
The Key Players
The PR Executive-1 in Count One from the indictment is Charles “Chuck” Dolan Jr, a long time Clintonista and Democrat Party apparatchik. Dolan was a founding executive of the Democratic Governors Association in 1983, a member of Bill Clinton’s presidential exploratory committee, state chairman for the Clinton-Gore campaign in 1992 and in 1996, was appointed by Bill Clinton to two terms as vice-chairman of the State Department’s Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy, served as senior communications director for John Kerry’s presidential campaign in 2004, and worked for Hillary Clinton as an advisor on her presidential campaign in 2008.
Dolan would go on to become a senior vice president at the PR firm Ketchum which at the time was contracted with the Russian government to handle public relations for the Kremlin and Gazprom. He then moved to another PR firm, PrismGroup, before landing at KGlobal where he was vice president at the time of his interactions with Danchenko.
Dolan is currently a board member at IFES, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems.
Dolan was Danchenko’s primary source for the false information he gave to Steele.
Chamber President-1 from Counts Two thru Five is Sergei Millian, a Belarussian-American who created the Russian-American Chamber of Commerce (RACC) in 2006. Millian has claimed the Chamber represents some 200 businesses mostly within the United States. He has also claimed to have met Donald Trump in 2007 and that Trump later introduced him to Michael Cohen. Additionally, he has claimed that he had a working relationship with the Trump Organization to be their “exclusive broker” in the former Soviet Union. Cohen has denied meeting Millian and denied that he has any working relationship with the Trump Organization.
There was some correspondence between Millian and Cohen, though, but the latter would testify to the Senate Intel Committee that he responded to Millian’s emails “just… to be kind.” Millian attempted to arrange for Trump to attend an event in Switzerland and Cohen ignored him, stating to the Committee that, “I believed he was a complete con artist and I just wasn't in the mood to deal with him.” He went on to testify that he never met Millian and that the Trump Organization had no relationship with Millian.
The indictment of Danchenko exonerates Millian as a source for the Steele Reports, but curiously, despite being subpoenaed as a witness for the trial, Millian refuses. Why? Because he fears the FBI will arrest him.
“Millian has repeatedly informed the Government that he has concerns for his and his family's safety (who reside abroad) should he testify… Millian also informed the Government that he does not trust the FBI and fears being arrested if he returns to the United States.”
He is currently in the UAE, it seems, and had this to say about the possibility of testifying:
“If they bring the rogue Christopher STEELE, crazy Simpson & co, Maremont to the trial, approve my lawyer, US Marshal’s & my military friends’ protection I requested instead of FBI & bring my family to USA under a federal program, I will just do it for all of America, folks.”
Perhaps Millian’s concerns about being arrested are not so unfounded…
And, he is a known associate of the recently indicted Oleg Deripaska.
Millian was exonerated by this indictment. He did not call Danchenko and he did not meet Danchenko in New York. But for some reason, Danchenko would lie to the FBI and say that he had gotten a call from Millian. I’d sure like to know why he would do that? Why finger Millian?
Edit: I’ve been pondering Sergei Millian’s role in all this for awhile now. It always seemed strange to me that Danchenko would 1) try to contact Millian, 2) lie to agents that Millian called him, and 3) that Millian refuses to testify in the trial.
After I completed this stack previewing the Danchenko trial, and my head hit the pillow, a light bulb suddenly lit up in my mind.
I think I’ve got a theory which explains it all.
Watch this- https://rumble.com/v1ne1ic-ive-got-a-theory-about-why-danchenko-tried-to-contact-millian-and-why-he-li.html
Why It Matters.
Igor Danchenko served as a primary sub-source for The Steele Dossier or Steele Reports. The reports contained many false allegations and stories about President Trump which were used by media and politicians to slander and disparage him and members of his campaign, transition team, and administration.
More consequentially, the FBI would come to rely on information obtained from Danchenko and the Steele reports in obtaining FISA warrants on Carter Page. From Just The News,
“The revelation that Christopher Steele’s primary sub-source for his dossier was an American resident tied to a liberal think tank close to the Obama administration has triggered new investigative interest.
“The identification of Igor Danchenko as Steele’s subsource — reported by Real Clear Investigations and then confirmed by Danchenko's lawyer to the New York Times — means Steele’s dossier relied on someone who wasn't based in Russia, despite claims to the contrary by the FBI.
“In at least two of the applications for its Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant targeting Trump adviser Carter Page, the FBI referred to the primary sub-source of the document as ‘truthful and cooperative’ and ‘Russian-based,’ according to Justice Department inspector general Michael Horowitz's report last December.”
What We Have Learned Since The Indictment Dropped And What To Expect At The Trial
Danchenko intends to use classified material in his defense at trial.
But there has been and appears to still be some issue preventing all of the classified information from being declassified and turned over in a timely manner. There have been several extensions of deadlines related to this and when the final deadline came, Danchenko’s defense team had this to say in a filing:
“At the time of this filing, the Special Counsel has produced a portion of the declassified materials that were previously litigated as a result of Mr. Danchenko’s first CIPA Section 5 notice. It is expected that the remaining requested materials will be declassified and produced in time for use at trial.
“However, because some materials have not yet been produced and the defense, therefore, has not been able to determine whether the Special Counsel’s proposed summaries and redactions are acceptable, Mr. Danchenko may ask leave of the Court to file a supplemental CIPA Section 5 notice should it become necessary. All parties continue to act in good faith to resolve any classified information issues without the need for intervention by the Court and it is expected that no further litigation will be necessary. Nevertheless, the Special Counsel has informed undersigned counsel that he will not object to the filing of a renewed or supplemental CIPA Section 5 notice should the need for one arise.”
I would not be at all surprised if this comes up at trial and I am very curious as to what the delaying factor(s) is/are.
Internal messages between FBI agents will be introduced at trial:
Durham will prove that Danchenko knew the “anonymous caller.”
Durham has Danchenko’s phone records.
Danchenko's Defense plans to call government witnesses, presumably FBI agents, to testify “that Mr. Danchenko was a vital source of information to the U.S. government during the course of his cooperation, and was relied upon to build other cases and open other investigations.”
That’s ‘investigations.’ Plural.
Charles “Chuck” Dolan Jr will be testifying at trial!
Which is super interesting because the biggest news to come out of court filings by far is that Danchenko was hired by the FBI as a Confidential Human Source in March of 2017 and stayed in that role as a CHS until October of 2020!
And the reason I suspect they made him a CHS is evidenced below:
Danchenko informed the FBI:
—he travelled with Dolan
—Steele knew of Dolan
—Dolan was doing work with Olga Galkina
—Dolan had high up connections in the Kremlin
—and he provided information to FBI that was used to support an investigation into Dolan!
Are we going to find out at trial that Danchenko was made a CHS in order to get this information on Dolan? Because it sure seems to me that he was informing on him subsequent to being made a CHS.
Who else might Danchenko have been informing on between March 2017 and October 2020?
The Trial
Here are the questions I have turning over in my mind as we head into this trial:
As I detailed earlier in this article, Dolan is Clinton inner-circle.
Recall in the Sussmann trial, we learned that Rodney Joffe was under investigation and refused to testify unless given immunity. I wonder if something similar is going on here with Dolan, except he has agreed to testify.
-Is Dolan still under investigation?
One of the biggest booms to come out of the Sussmann trial, if not THE biggest, was the admission of former Clinton Campaign Manager Robbie Mook that Hillary herself approved the sharing of the Alfa Bank Hoax with the media.
-Will we get a similar boom out of Dolan? One that connects the Clinton Campaign to Danchenko’s actions and/or that of Steele and perhaps Dolan himself?
As I detailed in this recent substack,
‘Some folks have gone apoplectic over such sentences (as shown in the above screenshot), such ideas that the FBI was deceived. This is where much of the “Durham is a coverup for the DOJ/FBI and Deep State!” reactions are coming from. People cannot accept that the FBI was deceived on any level.
Whether they were, and I believe at certain points certain people in the FBI were, is inconsequential to this case. What is consequential is that the defendant, Igor Danchenko, “engaged in an over-arching ‘plan’ to deceive the FBI.”’
-Will we learn which agents learned what about Danchenko and when they learned it?
-Will we learn that they are now under investigation by the Special Counsel, the IG, and/or the OIG? (That’s what happened with a couple of agents who took the stand in the Sussmann trial.)
Durham plans to call Danchenko’s handling agent. There is a popular assumption that this agent must be corrupt or at least unethical in hiring Danchenko as a CHS.
-But is that necessarily true? What if this hiring was justifiable?
-What if Danchenko was actually flipped in March of 2017 and began informing on Dolan? Sure seems he did.
-Did he inform on anyone else?
-What if the CHS status, which hid Danchenko from being revealed to Congressional investigators, ALSO HID THE FACT THAT HE HAD FLIPPED and therefore, allowed him to continue informing on targets up until October 2020?
In the Sussmann trial, Durham called 17 witnesses to the stand during the case in chief. He has asked the judge in the Danchenko trial for 30 subpoenas for testimony in this case. We know Dolan and a few FBI agents will be among them and the Millian has refused.
-Who will be called to the stand?
Counts Two thu Five deal with lies about contact with Sergei Millian.
-Why did Danchenko lie about these calls? Who was REALLY on the other end of the line?
And of course, the big question:
-Will Durham get a conviction of Danchenko?
I will be streaming on DLive, Foxhole, and Rumble every morning at 9:30 EDT during the course of this trial, recapping the previous day’s happenings as well as providing some coverage throughout the day and evening via my Telegram and Truth Social pages.
Thank for all the diligent work and coffee-saturated presentation. This senior “normie “ is learning a lot.