A New Indictment in the Attempted 2016 Election Overthrow

The New York Post published a story about a new indictment that was filed this week by Special counsel John Durham. Durham is investigating the FISA warrants that the FBI obtained for their wiretaps of Donald Trump, while Trump was a candidate for president in 2016. Russian-born Igor Danchenko, was indicted as the principal source for the bogus Steele dossier. He fed fake Russian intel about Donald Trump to Christopher Steele while he was working at an influential DC think tank. The FBI used the Steele dossier as a basis for their Trump-Russia investigation. The FBI tried for months but were never able to verify anything in the Steele dossier. Nevertheless, they knowingly used the dossier to trick the FISA court into issuing spy warrants, long after the fact.

According to article author, Andrew McCarthy, this week's arrest of Igor Danchenko illustrates how the Steele dossier was a political dirty trick orchestrated by Hillary Clinton.

Danchenko has been charged with five counts of lying to the FBI in interviews during 2017, as the bureau struggled in futility to verify outlandish allegations that Donald Trump and his campaign were clandestine agents of the Kremlin. Those allegations were compiled in the so-called Steele dossier, which the FBI relied on in obtaining surveillance warrants from a secret federal court.

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The "Dirty Dossier" was generated by the Clinton campaign. If you will recall, its principal author was former British spy Christopher Steele. Apparently, Steele's primary source for the lies contained throughout the Dirty Dossier came from Igor Danchenko, a Russian native who was hired by the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank. Its president, Strobe Talbott, was a college friend of Bill Clinton’s who worked in the Clinton State Department.

(This is what is known as a "deep state" connection. There are many in this story.)

At Brookings, Danchenko worked with Fiona Hill, later a member of President Trump’s National Security Council (and a key witness in the first Trump impeachment over the unrelated Ukraine controversy). It was through Hill that Danchenko became acquainted with Steele, who ran a London-based intelligence firm after leaving MI-6, the British spy service.

Durham has no interest in Danchenko's lies that were published in the Steele Dossier. Durham’s indictment focuses on two major lies that Danchenko allegedly told to the FBI.

One, he fabricated the claim that the president of the Russian-American Chamber of Commerce informed him that, during the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump was involved in a well-developed “conspiracy of cooperation” with the regime of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The indictment says that this conversation never happened:

Two, Danchenko concealed that one of his sources for the information he provided to Steele was a longtime Democratic Party operative who was close to the Clintons. This source was revealed to be Chuck Dolan, a public relations executive who had Russian contacts. Dolan worked on both of Bill Clinton’s successful presidential campaigns and Hillary Clinton’s unsuccessful 2008 presidential campaign.

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Meanwhile, the FBI had insisted that the claims made in the Steel Dossier were true (although the FBI was never able to prove any of them). The Obama Justice Department brought the FBI’s sworn claims to the secret federal Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA) in October 2016. The warrant was granted, long after the wire-tapping took place. The FBI did not interview Danchenko, the main source for the dossier, until January 2017 — at which time the FBI brazenly obtained a second 90-day extension on the illegally-procured warrant.

It appears that Durham theorizes that the Trump-Russia collusion narrative was a political attack manufactured by the Clinton campaign. Relying on Danchenko, Steele compiled the reports for Glenn Simpson, co-founder of intelligence firm Fusion-GPS, which specializes in digging up political dirt. Fusion-GPS was retained for the Trump project by Perkins-Coie, the Clinton campaign’s law firm.

In September, Durham indicted former Perkins-Coie attorney Michael Sussmann for making a false statement to the FBI while peddling Trump-Russia allegations that the bureau eventually found unsubstantiated. Durham alleges that Sussmann concealed that he was working for the Clinton campaign as a tech executive who was hoping for an important government job if Clinton was elected.

Durham’s charging instruments suggest that the Clinton campaign used its agents to peddle the Trump-Russia rumors to the government and the media, then used the fact that Trump was being investigated as part of its campaign messaging.

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So, Durham found another fall guy to charge, and he can now wind up his investigation. Case closed.

No need to worry about the FBI. They are untarnished by their duplicitous actions and will not be prosecuted for attempting to overthrow the 2016 Presidential Election. Neither Barack Obama nor Hillary Clinton will face charges for their part in the operation. Robert Mueller, who ran a completely phony two-year investigation into the Russian Collusion that never happened, will never be heard from again. He will leave the millions he earned for the cover-up to his heirs. And certainly there will be no apologies to Russia. The damage done to Russia via the State Department was intentional and deliberate.

Don't expect to hear much about this in the US news media

And, really, what difference would it make, anyway?

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were elements in the investigations of George Webb Siefert. Government blackberries were found, along with a secret off premises server in a house owned by Imran Awan, a technician in the employ of the DNC with ties to the office of Debbie Wasserman Schultz, then DNC chair. When Awan came under suspicion he sheltered as an “employee” at Perkins-Coie while his case was tried. Awan was defended by Perkins-Coie lawyers.

Reading between the lines, this could be the smoking gun proof that the 2016 DNC server attack really was an inside job. Rumors have been circulating all along that Imran Awan, or one of his ilk, sucked the data off the server with an Ubuntu Linux boot flash drive then used it to create “Guccifer 2.0” out of thin air. The whole plot was for Hillary Clinton to use it against Donald Trump for colluding with Russia.

Link

George Webb’s investigations tied these blackberries to missing fissile material that had turned up missing from where it had been warehoused. This wormhole was deep and tortured, and was derided as complete nonsense by most, but the connections are many and all lead back to democrats and the false information in the Steele dossier and the illegally obtained FISA warrants that allowed covert surveillance on the Trump campaign. And still, Hillary found a way to lose…..

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“ I came to America because of the great, great freedom which I heard existed in this country. I made a mistake in selecting America as a land of freedom, a mistake I cannot repair in the balance of my lifetime." Albert Einstein

Dawn's Meta's picture

@ovals49 I really appreciate the history recapitulations that some of our members here are so good at providing. We need constant reminding of history including the 60 year old stuff, because it begot what we have today.

It's not a history I can celebrate. The more we remember, the worse it gets.

How will we ever get courageous, smart, and capable servants of the people? Will we?

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A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit. Allegedly Greek, but more possibly fairly modern quote.

Consider helping by donating using the button in the upper left hand corner. Thank you.

Lookout's picture

Thanks for the excellent reporting!

I thought Jimmy and of course Aaron (who has been a real bulldog investigating Russiagate) did a good job too. (33 min)
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtWtpQ67BRI]

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

snoopydawg's picture

@Lookout

lots of us saw through Russia Gate from the beginning while others bought into it no matter how far stretched it was. People actually believe that Russia/Putin were running the president of the USA while republicans were okay with it. Of course they too were doing Putin’s bidding. But seriously if that was true democrats and the republicans that weren’t captured by Russia would have done more about it then just talk. Sheesh! And now they are okay with things that they were against most of their lives. Go figure that out.

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I feel like I’m riding in the backseat of a '66 Thunderbird with Thelma at the wheel and Louise riding shotgun whilst heading towards a cliff

blatant lying to Congress and the people of the US regarding our invasion of Iraq, Abu Garib, the missing millions of dollars on an airplane from the US government, etc. etc., it was very clear that the Democratic party is beyond corrupt. There is and was no chance that the fact that Obama and the Democrats laid the groundwork for the sabotage of the Trump campaign and subsequently his administration was ever going to be addressed. That is one reason why the Dems indignation over January 5th is a total ball of fucking hypocrisy.

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"Without the right to offend, freedom of speech does not exist." Taslima Nasrin

snoopydawg's picture

Indeed. Clinesmith who lied to the FISA court got probation for it. Clapper and Brennan lied to congress and nothing happened to them. Reagan did the Iran Contra thing and he and everyone involved walked free. Oh sure a few got stuck in prison, but were pardoned soon after. Scooter Libby outed an FBI agent and got pardoned.

Hillary deleted 30 k emails that congress had subpoenaed and broke the law on handling them and asked congress investigating the Benghazi cluster fck "what difference does it make" because 4 people died, but the republicans never asked her what the real point behind the attacks were. Just arming people who the government had declared terrorists. You know…arming one’s so called enemy. What f’cking difference DOES it make?

I hope people will peruse this article. It’s just ONE more story on the Russia Gate saga, but still good. Remember that Russia Gate accusations were made long before Hillary got embarrassed by Trump by losing to him. Right wing slant to it disclaimer..lol.

The Left Got What It Wanted - So Now What?

What was the purpose for the insane opposition of the Left between 2017 and 2021? To usher in a planned nihilism, an incompetent chaos, a honed anarchy to wreck the country in less than a year?

No one worried about the weaponization of government. So, we went right from the nefarious legacy of John Brennan (who lied under oath to Congress twice), James Clapper (who lied under oath to Congress once), James Comey (who leaked confidential presidential memos), Andrew McCabe (who gave false testimony to federal investigators), Lisa Page (who was fired from the special counsel’s legal team for various unprofessional conduct), Peter Strzok (about whom there is not enough space to detail his transgressions), and the now convicted felon Kevin Clinesmith onto the next round of impeachments.

Two of them followed. Neither was conducted by a special counsel. There was no array of witnesses, no prosecutorial report. Much less were there formal charges of a specific high crime or misdemeanor, or bribery or treason, as specified by the Constitution.

In the end, both farces ended in trials—but not before the Left had established lots of baleful precedents. Impeachment is now simply a tool to embarrass a president in his first term when he has lost the House. A Senate trial could hound an innocent president, even as a private citizen out of office. And a chief justice need not preside over the Senate trial. If and when Joe Biden loses the House, the Left should applaud any attempt to impeach him—given it established the new model of opposition.

Of the January 6 debacle, we were not told that it was a riot involving lawbreakers who would be punished. Instead, we were lied to that it was an “armed insurrection,” a “coup,” and “a rebellion” of massive proportions.

It mattered nothing that “armed” in the case of January 6 meant that no firearms were used or even found among the protestors. No one was charged with conspiracy, insurrection, or racketeering. But many were placed in solitary confinement without specific charges being filed—to the utter delight of liberal groups like the ACLU and human rights organizations.

Our esteemed retired military and civil libertarians who had damned the mere thought of using federal troops to quell the prior four summer months of continuous rioting were suddenly happy to see 25,000 federal soldiers patrol Washington to hound out fantasy second-wave insurrectionists. In Animal Farm fashion, there were now to be good federal troops deterring mythical violent domestic extremists, but bad federal troops who should never stop real, ongoing mayhem in the streets.

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I feel like I’m riding in the backseat of a '66 Thunderbird with Thelma at the wheel and Louise riding shotgun whilst heading towards a cliff

@snoopydawg
Or even worse "Socialists" It demeans those terms.

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

Azazello's picture

The link in that Tweet goes here, WSJ from Oct. 2020: Russian in Cyprus Was Behind Key Parts of Discredited Dossier on Trump
From Bloomberg Opinion: Was the FBI Manipulated by the Democratic Party?
I knew Russiagate was bullshit all along and paid a price for saying that. Being skeptical about it could get you labeled "Trump supporter" by TDS sufferers.
Here's one way of dealing with MSM credulity, or complicity, whatever it was.
From Business Insider: Trump's refusal to concede the 2020 election is a bigger threat to democracy than bad 'Russiagate' media coverage, despite what disingenuous hacks want you to think
The thing I still don't understand is the extent of CIA involvement. Did Hillary's people cook it up on their own and then shop it to Brennan or was the CIA involved from the start ?

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We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.

snoopydawg's picture

@Azazello

According to the report he was informed by Russia that she was going to do it and he told Obama about it. But Obama’s justice department unmasked lots of people who the FBI got FISA warrants on which was illegal. Obama and Biden were in a meeting discussing going after Flynn so yeah I think Obama and the CIA were very involved with it. Brennan then got a gig on the news to keep spreading the story. I don’t think the FBI was duped into it. Comey has a long history with the Clintons and has always been their tool.

Here’s Aaron on it.

From the article:

The indictment also suggests that not only was the FBI aware in 2017 that the Steele dossier was fraudulent, but that its key source, Danchenko, was lying to them. But instead of informing the public and indicting Steele's source, the FBI continued the Trump-Russia investigation and tapped the dossier for it. Anonymous intelligence officials even told the public that Steele's farcical claims were bearing out.

Not dupes. Coconspirators.

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I feel like I’m riding in the backseat of a '66 Thunderbird with Thelma at the wheel and Louise riding shotgun whilst heading towards a cliff

wendy davis's picture

in the comments (you brilliant mofos!)

i especially liked this:

So, Durham found another fall guy to charge, and he can now wind up his investigation. Case closed.

RT.com has had several pieces on the new developments, but none so clear as yours, amiga.

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Pluto's Republic's picture

@wendy davis

Thanks for the link. I think this may be a larger event that we are feeling in the US. The impact was very large, especially in Russia, and the US lies rippled through the diplomatic world in harmful ways. Even at home, there's no denying that Americans will sense that their government and the media knowingly carried out a psyop on them. Sure, some folks will continue to believe the Russia Hoax. But loose ends will still undermine their trust in their country, something they once took for granted. Some will realize they were fools; their country made fools out of them. Even the clearest minds: those who saw Trump as unworthy, even deplorable — and yet still recognized the despicable Hoax on Russia and took a stand against it — those people will become that much more wary of the government. Some of them took a lot of abuse for their intellectual honesty.

I think these reactions will roll out quietly, below the surface, but it's going to change things. Democratic politicians will be asked if they knew it was a hoax or not. There's no right answer to that. Either they were completely gullible or they lied to constituents faces, and voted to harm Russia. How would Biden answer that? Or Obama? They permanently threw Russian diplomats out of the country and levied sanctions against them. Europe was just as vicious and clueless. How many similar lies grew out of this. The hamfisted Skripal poisoning in Salisbury resulted in the big yowling mouth of Theresa May's fake outrage. There are international reckonings to be had. But the media will just soldier on, as will most US politicians. They will have no choice but to double down on their lies, relying on American's thuggish prejudices to fall for it again. Resignations are multiplying in the Democratic Party in recent days.

I only wonder if the people who think can understand the complete concoction of lies that is the Xinjiang Uighurs narrative and the Taiwan false flags forcing clueless Americans into a war of aggression.

The responses in this thread brought a lot to this discussion. Many unique insights I hadn't thought of. This tells me there may be more fallout to come and more battles to be settled.

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____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato

@Pluto's Republic @Pluto's Republic
Not so sure about this:

Even at home, there's no denying that Americans will sense that their government and the media knowingly carried out a psyop on them.

Recognition by USians of government/media lies tends to be slow, if at all, and generally follows a partisan divide. Later and irrefutable evidence that they'd been suckers tends to get dismissed as no longer relevant. In part because few people have the cognitive emotional maturity to admit that they're suckers and hold the malefactors responsible. Thus, Iraq WMD is now a well-known lie but GWB isn't such a bad guy and Colin Powell and John McCain retained their good guy status.

Even the clearest minds: those who saw Trump as unworthy, even deplorable — and yet still recognized the despicable Hoax on Russia and took a stand against it — those people will become that much more wary of the government. Some of them took a lot of abuse for their intellectual honesty.

That's a relatively small subset of Americans (doesn't even include Bernie Sanders and a few others that heretofore were reliable). Mostly critical thinkers on the left - who were the most likely to be abused as "Putin stooges" - and as such, don't operate on any sort of belief in government, politicians, and/or media system. Therefore, the Russiagate hoax just adds to the correctness of their orientation but doesn't make them more wary.

While not as old as racism to gain political advantage, communism has been a big bugaboo in American politics for over a hundred years. It waxes and wanes as needed. When ascendant it does become hysterical until its fuel is spent. However, at the public policy level it's always about thwarting and destroying the small bits of socialism that enhance the lives of most Americans and that process is on-going.

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Pluto's Republic's picture

@Marie

...to the projected impacts. For those who saw it clearly from the beginning, there is really no particular benefit. Depending on one's temperament, it could be a negative drag emphasizing the futility. The insult of ones nationality becomes more of a burden.

communism has been a big bugaboo in American politics for over a hundred years. It waxes and wanes as needed. When ascendant it does become hysterical until its fuel is spent. However, at the public policy level it's always about thwarting and destroying the small bits of socialism that enhance the lives of most Americans and that process is on-going.

This always been the case, and it was manageable because communism failed. Only now do we understand that communism was truly sustainable only in post industrialized nations. Industralization expands and matures the economies of scale and widens the diversity of roles people can play; skills they can acquire. The industrial base becomes a supporting platform for a social economy of choice. China deliberately forced industrialism on itself and sped through it in record time. Now, on the other side of it, they have the wherewithal to build the kind of society they believe in. They've chosen a very people-centric path, with utopian characteristics. The world is entering an era where developed countries do have the means to make these kind of choices.

People are noticing that communism is excelling, not failing. It's still hard work, but the opportunities and upward mobility for individuals is pretty exciting. China's successes are one model for a possible future for humanity. And, the dystopian blight and social decay in a developed country such as the US, compares poorly. How people live in developed countries, and how fulfilling their lives are, are choices that are deliberately made. I believe these comparisons are driving the lies and propaganda and the frenzy for war and destruction coming from the leadership in the US. Communism puts them in the shade. Imperialistic nations are challenged financially, intellectually, morally, and socially by a post-industrial communist success, where the people are the masters of the nation and the government strives to serves them. The improvements in peoples lives and their general happiness is the measure of their success. That and their accelerated achievements in every field of endeavor.

It seems to me that everything the US is doing is about tearing that down. What do they do that is constructive in the world? What is their grand vision for the world, and for the lives of all people?

For a post industrial world, modern infrastructure is what makes it sustainable. The US has failed badly in the intelligent prioritization of its resources by spending the people's treasure for destruction i