A U.S.-based Russian analyst who gathered information for the so-called Steele Dossier alleging ties between former President Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and Russia has been acquitted on charges he lied to the FBI about the sources of his intelligence.
A jury in Alexandria, Virginia, on October 18 found Igor Danchenko -- a private researcher who was a primary source for the dossier of allegations about Trump's ties to Russia -- not guilty of lying to the FBI about where he got his information.
The verdict is another blow for special counsel John Durham, who has now lost both cases that have gone to trial as part of his investigation.
Durham was asked by then-Attorney General William Barr in 2019 to review the FBI's investigation that looked at whether Trump's campaign was collaborating with Russia in 2016.
So far, no one charged by the special counsel has gone to prison, and only one government employee has pleaded guilty to a criminal offense.
Durham declined to comment as he exited the courtroom.
Durham, a longtime federal prosecutor, alleged that Danchenko misled the FBI officials who asked about his sources after the agency determined the researcher was the unnamed person behind some of the most explosive allegations about Trump, who derided the dossier when it became public in 2017.
Danchenko, who lives outside of Washington, was the primary researcher for former British spy Christopher Steele, who prepared the dossier for a U.S. private investigation firm called Fusion GPS.
Fusion GPS had been researching Trump, initially for a Republican donor, but then was hired by a law firm that represented the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign. That firm hired Fusion GPS, which in turn brought on Steele.
Danchenko's lawyer, Mark Schamel, said in November when charges were filed against Danchenko that the indictment presented "a false narrative designed to humiliate and slander a renowned expert in business intelligence."
He described Danchenko as a respected research analyst "who uncovered and exposed Vladimir Putin's plagiarized Ph.D. thesis and whose work has been recognized all over the world for its intellectual rigor and accuracy."
He said then that Danchenko had been unfairly maligned by these false allegations."