For those waiting around for an update from Special Counsel John Durham, we have one for you.
Durham just requested that a federal court send out 30 subpoenas for testimony in the trial of Igor Danchenko.
Danchenko is said to have been the primary source for Christopher Steele’s dossier, which targeted President Donald Trump with false accusations.
Danchenko is accused of lying to the FBI on five separate occasions, to which he has pleaded not guilty.
His trial is scheduled for October.
In a brief court filing on Wednesday, Durham requested that the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia issue the subpoenas for an “appearance before said Court at Alexandria, Virginia,” beginning on October 11.
A blank subpoena reads “You are commanded to appear.”
Here’s the latest on the Durham investigation from our friends at the Washington Examiner:
Special counsel John Durham requested a federal court to issue 30 subpoenas for testimony in the trial against Igor Danchenko, British ex-spy Christopher Steele’s alleged main source for his discredited dossier.
Danchenko was charged with five counts of making false statements to the FBI, which Durham says he made about the information he provided to Steele for the dossier. His trial is scheduled for October. The DOJ’s watchdog said FBI interviews with Danchenko “raised significant questions about the reliability of the Steele election reporting” and concluded Danchenko “contradicted the allegations of a ‘well-developed conspiracy’ in” Steele’s dossier. He has pleaded not guilty.
Durham’s brief court filing on Wednesday requested the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia to issue “thirty subpoenas” for an “appearance before said Court at Alexandria, Virginia,” starting on Oct. 11 “to testify on behalf of the United States.” The potential witnesses are not named, but a copy of the blank subpoena reads that “YOU ARE COMMANDED to appear.”
The Epoch Times has more information on the investigation:
In a June 13 filing, Durham’s team said, “It is respectfully requested that the Clerk of said Court issue subpoenas as indicated below for appearance of said Court in Alexandria, Virginia … to testify on behalf of the United States” on Oct. 11.
The judge in the case is U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga, who was appointed by former President George W. Bush in 2008.
Danchenko, who has pleaded not guilty, is charged with lying to the FBI. Durham alleges that he made five false statements to the FBI in connection to information he provided to former UK spy Christopher Steele, who was hired by an opposition research company on behalf of a law firm working for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign.
According to Durham’s indictment, Danchenko’s alleged fabrications “were material to the FBI because … the FBI’s investigation of the Trump Campaign relied” on the dossier to obtain secretive warrants to spy on former Trump campaign aide Carter Page.