Judge drops 1 of 5 charges against Trump-Russia dossier source, in blow to special counsel Durham
By Marshall Cohen, CNN
The judge dropped one of the five charges against Igor Danchenko, specifically pertaining to the allegation that he lied to the FBI about speaking with a Democratic operative about the anti-Trump dossier.
District Judge Anthony Trenga said in court Friday that Danchenko’s answer to the FBI interviewer “was literally true” and that Durham’s case on that specific charge was too weak to send to the jury. This is a major victory for Danchenko, who has maintained that he told the truth to the FBI agents who were trying to corroborate the dossier in 2017.
The ruling was a blow to Durham, who has personally handled many of the arguments and witness questioning throughout the trial. He personally pushed Trenga to uphold the charge on Friday before the judge’s ruling.
Danchenko still faces four additional counts of lying to the FBI, which is a felony. Those remaining counts pertain to Danchenko’s alleged false statements about whether he got a phone call in July 2016 from a Belarusian-American businessman who had been in touch with people in Donald Trump’s orbit.
The trial will continue on Monday with closing statements and jury deliberations.
This is a breaking story and will be updated.
The-CNN-Wire
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