John Durham inquiry trial: FBI wanted to suspend analyst who interviewed Steele source
ALEXANDRIA, Virginia —The FBI’s internal investigation unit sought to discipline and suspend the FBI analyst who interviewed Igor Danchenko in January 2017 and who was special counsel John Durham’s first witness this week in the false statements trial against the main source for British ex-spy Christopher Steele’s discredited anti-Trump dossier, new court testimony revealed.
Auten had been referred by FBI Director Christopher Wray to the Office of Professional Responsibility for disciplinary action following the December 2019 release of Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz's report on Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act abuse. Wray has said those proceedings were slowed down to cooperate with Durham’s criminal investigation.
Horowitz’s report undermined the Steele dossier claims, and the watchdog criticized the DOJ and the FBI for at least 17 “significant errors and omissions” related to the FISA warrants against Page and for the bureau's “central and essential” reliance on Steele’s dossier. The FBI soon made Danchenko a paid confidential human source starting in March 2017 through October 2020, as revealed by Durham in court filings. Horowitz said FBI interviews with Danchenko “raised significant questions about the reliability of the Steele election reporting."
The dossier was created after Steele was hired by the opposition research firm Fusion GPS, which was itself hired by Perkins Coie through Marc Elias, the general counsel for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign. Steele hired Danchenko. Auten testified Wednesday that he believed Danchenko should have handed over to the FBI relevant emails he had sent to Millian and exchanged with Dolan but said the Russian lawyer did not do so.
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