Danchenko trial: Jury finds Steele dossier source not guilty on all counts
A jury found one of the two sources who helped compile the salacious and unverified dossier of salacious and unverified salacious anti-Trump activities that the FBI used to obtain a FISA warrant on Carter Page, not guilty on all counts. And the jury’s vote was not unanimous. Not guilty even on the two counts against him for allegedly lying to the FBI about his contacts with the Trump-Russia dossier’s author, former British spy Christopher Steele.
The not guilty verdict against Steele is in keeping with a trend. In a handful of high-profile cases, the FBI has won not guilty verdicts on all counts against the only people charged with working on the dossier, not guilty on all counts in the cases brought by Special Counsel against then-candidate Trump, not guilty in all counts brought against former Trump aide Michael Cohen, not guilty on all counts in the case against Russia-friendly former Trump campaign official George Papadopoulos, not guilty on all counts in the case against former Trump fixer Felix Sater, not guilty in the case brought by a federal grand jury and the special counsel against the so-called “Internet Research Agency” or “troll farm” accused of illegal interference in the 2016 election to help Trump and to hurt Hillary Clinton, and not guilty in all counts against Michael Flynn.
Of those who have been arrested or indicted in connection with the Trump dossier and the dossier-related investigations, Robert Mueller may be in the highest demand. Trump has threatened to imprison him and, by all accounts, Mueller would be willing to accept that demand.
One is not surprised by the fact that the jury in the Manafort trial is a group of white men with deep conservative politics. One is not surprised by the fact that the guilty verdict against Steele is a bipartisan decision. One is not surprised by the fact that the jury in the Flynn trial is a diverse group of men and women of all ethnicities.
The outcome in the Steele trial, while not surprising, is nonetheless notable. And the Steele trial is noteworthy not because of the Steele case alone, but because of the decision of the jury that the government’s case against Steele didn’t come close to overcoming the evidence against him.
Steele was a