A jury acquitted think tank analyst Igor Danchenko of charges related to the creation of a discredited dossier accusing former President Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign of colluding with Russia. Danchenko was accused of lying to the FBI about his role in the creation of the dossier. Jury deliberations lasted for nine hours over two days.
“We’ve known all along that Mr. Danchenko is innocent,” Danchenko lawyer Stuart Sears told reporters after the verdict was read. “We’re happy now that the American public knows that as well.”
The case against the acquitted analyst was the third and possibly final case brought by Special Counsel John Durham as part of his probe into the “Steele dossier,” which most famously alleged Russia could have blackmail material on former President Trump for his supposed interactions with prostitutes in a Moscow hotel. Trump derided the dossier as fake news and a political witch hunt when it became public in 2017.
Danchenko, by his own admission, was responsible for 80% of the raw intelligence in the dossier and half of the accompanying analysis. However, trial testimony indicated Danchenko was shocked and dismayed about how Steele presented the material and portrayed it as factual when Danchenko considered it more to be rumor and speculation.
With Danchenko’s acquittal, only one of the three cases related to the dossier have ended in a guilty plea or a conviction. The sole conviction — coming after an FBI lawyer admitted altering an email related to the surveillance of a former Trump aide — was for conduct uncovered not by Durham but by the Justice Department’s inspector general.
“While we are disappointed in the outcome, we respect the jury’s decision and thank them for their service,” Durham said in a statement issued through the Justice Department. “I also want to recognize and thank the investigators and the prosecution team for their dedicated efforts in seeking truth and justice in this case.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.