Special counsel John Durham is objecting to the proposition of using classified information by a key source for the anti-Trump dossier funded by Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
Earlier this month, Igor Danchenko, the dossier source, advised the court that he intended to use classified information in his upcoming trial, which is slated to start in October in Alexandria, Virginia. In response, Durham filed an objection in court on Aug. 16.
Both filings were under seal, meaning the contents aren’t visible to the public. However, the title of Durham’s filing says the objections concern the “use, relevance, and admissibility” of classified information.
Prosecutors have given more than 5,000 classified documents and nearly 61,000 unclassified documents to the defendant ahead of the trial as reported by an unsealed filing from Durham’s team. Prosecutors said the classified documents produced at that time “represent the bulk of the classified discovery in this matter.”
While prosecutors asked for an extension in producing the rest, Stuart Sears, a lawyer for Danchenko, opposed the request, claiming that his client needed time to review the classified documents and file the notice that he intended to utilize classified information in his defense.
Durham was appointed as special counsel in 2020 by former Attorney General William Barr and was directed to investigate people involved with intelligence activities associated with the 2016 election and the former President Donald Trump’s administration, including the FBI’s operation dubbed Crossfire Hurricane that was focused on alleged collusion between Trump associates and Russia.
Durham was also to investigate the probe by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, which found no evidence of Russian collusion.
Crossfire Hurricane was partially based on the dossier that ex-British spy Christopher Steele compiled on behalf of the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee. Many of the dossier’s unsubstantiated allegations have since been deemed false by U.S. authorities.
Danchenko, a Russian national living in the United States and one-time Brookings Institution analyst, was one of the sources of Steele’s dossier. He was charged with misleading FBI officials when they questioned him about the source of the information he provided to Steele.
He claimed to have obtained information from Sergei Millian, a Belarusian-American businessman, but it was discovered that the actual source was Charles Dolan, a longtime Clinton associate described in court filings as PR-Executive-1 and identified by Dolan’s lawyer.
Scroll down to leave a comment and share your thoughts.
