Judge Acquits Steele Dossier Source on One Count, Jurors to Decide on Rest

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ALEXANDRIA, Va.โ€”A U.S. judge tossed one of the five counts against a key source for the anti-Donald Trump Steele dossier on Oct. 14, ruling that prosecutors did not present enough evidence for jurors to consider the charge.

U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga, a George W. Bush appointee, ruled that Igor Danchenko, the source, did not make a false statement when he told FBI agents on June 15, 2017, that he did not talk with Charles Dolan about material that was included in the dossier.

โ€œOkay, so youโ€™ve had โ€ฆ was there any โ€ฆ but you had never talked to Chuck Dolan about anything that showed up in the dossier right?โ€ an FBI agent asked Danchenko at the time.

โ€œNo,โ€ Danchenko said.

โ€œYou donโ€™t think so?โ€ the agent asked.

โ€œNo. We talked about, you know, related issues perhaps but no, no, no, nothing specific.โ€

The key word was โ€œtalked,โ€ Trenga said, siding with defense lawyers who had argued that a common meaning of talk is to deliver information by speech.

The FBI agents made โ€œno effortโ€ to probe the matter further,โ€ Trenga said. โ€œMr. Danchenko answered literally. Mr. Danchenkoโ€™s answer was literally true in that the government never established he โ€ฆ talked with Dolanโ€ about the information that was ultimately published in the dossier, which was funded by Democrats including Trumpโ€™s rival for president in 2016, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The government โ€œfails to carry the burden of evidence,โ€ the judge added.

Dolan said during the trial that he maintains he never talked with Danchenko about anything in the dossier.

Dolan sent Danchenko a message on Aug. 20, 2016, claiming heโ€™d received information about drama in the Trump campaign involving officials Corey Lewandowski and Paul Manafort. That information appeared in similar form in the dossier.

โ€œMr. Dolan, would you agree that the information you provided to Mr. Danchenko is substantially similar to whatโ€™s in report 3 of the dossier?โ€ a prosecutor asked Dolan during Danchenkoโ€™s trial.

โ€œYes,โ€ Dolan said.

Dolan also acknowledged during the trial that he lied about having a GOP source who provided him with information and detailed his deep ties with Russia.

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