According to the dossier, Russian intelligence officers captured visual evidence of Donald Trump watching Russian prostitutes perform sexual acts involving urination while he stayed at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Moscow during a 2013 visit. It was Democratically-funded and first circulated publicly in January 2017.
#Steele dossier indictments series#
The dossier consists of a series of explosive, unverified memos alleging collusion between the Trump 2016 campaign and the Russian government. The special counsel John Durham, who is investigating the origins of the FBI's Russia probe, dropped a new indictment Thursday that raises questions about the roots of the most salacious allegation in the so-called Steele dossier. It raises more doubts about an unverified allegation involving a rumored Trump pee tape.ĭurham indicted the original source of the rumor and hinted that others did not corroborate his findings. Special counsel John Durham filed a new indictment in his investigation into the FBI's Russia probe.
#Steele dossier indictments trial#
Trenga took the issue under advisement – he said he had concerns about the relevancy of the information compared to its potential for prejudice, and that he would rule on that and other issues of what evidence will be allowed at trial before it begins Oct. “It’s not going to be a sideshow,” he said. Prosecutor Michael Keilty countered that it’s important to show Dolan’s connection to those allegations. But prosecutors want to present evidence to the jury about it nonetheless, and elicit testimony that would suggest Dolan was Danchenko’s source for that allegation as well.ĭefense lawyers say any testimony about it is irrelevant and prejudicial and threatens to “swallow the trial” if it’s allowed in.
Danchenko is not actually charged with lying to the FBI about his sourcing for that specific allegation. The most incendiary allegations in the Steele dossier – that Trump hired prostitutes to engage in sexual activity in the presidential suite of the Ritz-Carlton in Moscow – may not be part of the trial at all. Trenga said he will revisit the issue during trial after the government presents its case. It will be up to a jury to determine whether the government can meet its burden of proving a crime beyond a reasonable doubt, a much higher standard.
The judge, Anthony Trenga, acknowledged that the defense’s theory “can be a very persuasive, strong argument to a jury,” but he said that ultimately the government met its burden to overcome a motion to dismiss. “He knows exactly what the FBI is looking for, the context of those questions,” Durham said. And he said the evidence will show Millian didn’t know Danchenko and that Danchenko had no reason to believe that Millian was the anonymous caller that Danchenko cited. He said Danchenko himself used the word “speaking” to refer written words posted on social media accounts. Special Counsel John Durham, who was appointed in 2019 by then-Attorney General William Barr to look for government misconduct in the “Crossfire Hurricane” investigation, said that Danchenko’s statements, if examined in context rather than in isolation, will show that he knowingly lied. Sears said Danchenko never said with any certainty that Millian was the source and that it can’t be a false statement if that was what Danchenko truly believed. The other counts deal with a statement to the FBI that Danchenko received other details in an anonymous phone call from someone he “believed” to be Sergei Millian, a former president of the Russian-American Chamber of Commerce. … He is not required to guess what the question actually means.” “It was a bad question,” said Danchenko’s lawyer, Stuart Sears. In reality, Danchenko had discussed the accusations in an email with Dolan, but never spoke with him in an oral conversation. Specifically, Danchenko denied that he “talked” to Dolan about the allegations in the dossier. The indictment says the FBI could have better judged the veracity of the Steele dossier had it known that a Democratic operative who volunteered for Clinton was the source of much of the dossier’s information.ĭanchenko’s lawyers argued Thursday that all the charges should be dismissed because Danchenko’s answers to the FBI were technically true, if not necessarily illuminating. The indictment alleges Danchenko lied about the credibility of his sources when in reality his primary source was actually a Democratic operative named Charles Dolan with ties to Trump’s opponent in the 2016 election, Hillary Clinton. The dossier famously suggested that Russians had compromising information on Trump regarding salacious sexual activity he allegedly engaged in at a Moscow hotel.
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