Russiagate: Steele Primary Subsource Outed

The identification of Igor Danchenko, a Russian ex-pat who works (or worked) for the Brookings Institution, had friendly relations with Fiona Hill, and was prosecuted by Rod Rosenstein for drunk and disorderly conduct, as Christopher Steele's primary source for the infamous Steele Dossier is still getting, excuse me, let's make that garnering attention. Chuck Ross at Da Caller, A Russia Analyst Living In The US Has Been Identified As Christopher Steele’s Primary Dossier Source.

Althouse, who reads the NYT so you don't have to, notes that the "[Igor] Danchenko’s identity is noteworthy because it further calls into question the credibility of the [Steele] dossier.", in an article titled "The F.B.I. Pledged to Keep a Source Anonymous. Trump Allies Aided His Unmasking/After a Russia expert who had collected research on Donald Trump for a disputed dossier agreed to tell the F.B.I. what he knew about it, law enforcement officials declassified a road map to identifying him" (NYT). It takes a lot of gall for the NYT to complain about leaks. But they have a lot of gall. And the Steele Dossier had no credibility left to lose.

Stacy McCain, ‘An Expert in Russian Politics’

That’s how the New York Times describes Igor Danchenko in an article complaining that “Trump allies” revealed Danchenko’s identity as a source for the infamous Steele dossier, which was the basis of the “Russian collusion” hoax. It seems, however, that the main thing Danchenko is an “expert” about is getting drunk. Danchenko is an immigrant who worked for a while as a “research analyst” for the Brookings Institute, and while he was there managed to get arrested for public intoxication and disorderly conduct, as Paul Sperry reports:

The Russian-born Danchenko, who was living in the U.S. on a work visa, was released from jail on the condition he undergo drug testing and “participate in a program of substance abuse therapy and counseling,” as well as “mental health counseling,” the records show.

The guy is not even an American citizen or a green-card legal resident, but is living here on a work visa? And this is the guy that the Brookings Institute recommended to help Steele dig up dirt about Trump in Russia? Oh, there’s a tangled network of connections, but here’s the big payoff:

As a former member of Britain’s secret intelligence service, Steele hadn’t traveled to Russia in decades and apparently had no useful sources there. So he relied entirely on Danchenko and his supposed “network of subsources,” which to its chagrin, the FBI discovered was nothing more than a “social circle.”
It soon became clear over their three days of debriefing him at the FBI’s Washington field office — held just days after Trump was sworn into office — that any Russian insights he may have had were strictly academic.
Danchenko confessed he had no inside line to the Kremlin and was “clueless” when Steele hired him in March 2016 to investigate ties between Russia and Trump and his campaign manager.

Mark Tapscott at Insty,  MEET IGGY DANCHENKO, THE STEELE DOSSIER’S ‘PRIMARY SUBSOURCE:’

Paul Sperry of RealCearInvestigations has a stunningly detailed description of Danchenko, a Russian in the U.S. on a work visa, and his long connections to Christopher Steele, as well as the significant role played by the Brookings Institution’s Strobe Talbot, in funneling the Steele Dossier to the State Department.

Bottomline: The Democratic side of the Washington Establishment was up to its collective neck in the effort to discredit Donald Trump and elect Hillary Clinton as President. When that effort blew up on election day, the discrediting campaign became both an attempt to subvert Trump’s presidency and a defensive coverup of the whole rotten, subversive conspiracy.

Sperry’s fine work should be read in conjunction with the Julie Kelly piece for American Greatness that Glenn linked late yesterday that comprehensively lays out the Brookings role in the conspiracy.

Some interesting posts from a new blog called I Found the Primary Subsource . . .  "This is the story of how the primary sub source was uncovered with no traditional journalist being involved."

Democrat line changes from Nobody spied on Trump, that's crazy talk to Rep. Swalwell on new information showing FBI spied on Trump: 'They were right to do it'.  "'I hope they do it if a Democratic candidate ever does that with any country,' Swalwell says." The only people colluding with the Russians were the Democrats. KT McFarland, herself caught up in the resulting Mueller investigation, begs to disagree, KT McFarland: 'Simply Extraordinary' That FBI Used Briefing to Spy

"It turns out those briefings were not really to warn the Trump administration about other people spying on them," said McFarland on Fox News' "America's Newsroom." "They were covers, They were excuses, for the FBI to spy on us. That's the most egregious abuse of power that I've seen in a long time."

McFarland said that when she was with the administration, she often set up defensive briefings for the National Security Council and the White House staff to warn about potential issues concerning spying and how to watch out for the dangers. Such briefings, she said, were not held to gather information on people attending them.

Trump has long maintained that the Obama administration was spying on him, and McFarland pointed out that the officials with that administration "all took notes" of their activities, partly because they thought they could "blame the boss" if they got caught and partly because they never thought their actions would be revealed.

"This is not anonymous sources leaking; these are actual documents and pieces of paper, text messages, and emails," she said. "They are starting to be released from midlevel people. My question is, once those documents are released, it usually indicates that the Justice Department is done with them ... maybe it's an indication that other heads will fall soon."

John Solomon at JTN, FBI recorded Trump questions on Russia during first counterintelligence briefing

The extraordinary notes confirm information first divulged last December by the Justice Department inspector general that the Comey FBI used the August 2016 briefing as a way of sizing up then-candidate Trump and Flynn in the Russia case and gathering evidence against them.

Memos associated with the meeting show since-fired Agent Peter Strzok and departed FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith were involved in approving the effort by Pientka to use the briefing as an investigative tool instead of just an educational baseline intelligence meeting. Clinesmith was accused in the IG report of altering a key document in the Russia case and has left the bureau, though he has not been charged with wrongdoing.

Pientka's summary memo of the briefing shows the extent to which the FBI was gathering or seeking evidence against Trump and Flynn and likely will bolster claims by Republicans that the bureau was "spying" on Trump when it should have been giving the future president a defensive briefing about Russians seeking influence in the United States.

Clinesmith went on to forge evidence to keep the FISA warrants flowing.

Scott Johnson at Power Line, When the FBI Spied on Trump.

We have yet to get any idea of the “intelligence” obtained by the FBI pursuant to the four FISA warrants obtained on the basis of the fraudulent Clinton campaign and DNC-funded Steele Dossier. One can only wonder how deeply the surveillance let the FBI burrow into the Trump campaign and presidency.

The newly declassified documents further the biggest scandal in American political history, though you’d never know it from the silence of the media organs that brought us the Russia hoax over the past four years. They too are part of the scandal.

Sundance is revisiting the past to try to make connections in A Funny Thing Happened on The Way To The Coffee Shop… and Coffee Talk…. and points a finger squarely at "Tash" Tashina Gauhar, who apparently managed the Mueller investigation for Rod Rosenstein, who admitted:

According to those with direct knowledge, when Jeff Sessions recused (fire-walled) from anything to do with the special counsel in ’17, ’18, ’19, Rod Rosenstein “should have” held oversight. However, in his Senate Judiciary testimony of June 3, 2020, Rosenstein admitted that he conducted no oversight over the Mueller probe.

Rosenstein’s justification was he did not feel it was his position to question their “investigative processes“, later saying “everything was an investigative process“, ergo anything the special counsel was doing was considered valid; nothing was questioned, and Rosenstein felt it was his position to “facilitate” the Mueller team.

This is a key point: The special counsel took over Main Justice.

Which begs the question….. If Rosenstein was providing everything; who was managing the daily events inside Main Justice while the SC events were ongoing? Who was the internal coordinator for the legal and investigative crew? Who was the bridge? Answer:

Tash Gauhar. Her testimony to the Senate, if it happens, could prove interesting.

From Da Caller, Trump Tells Hannity He’d Consider Pardoning Those Convicted In The Mueller Investigation. That's OK with me, though he might think twice about Manafort, whose tax crimes would probably have not been prosecuted if it weren't for the Mueller investigation.

So this is fair, right? Greg Jarrett? The Heat Is ON: Biden Campaign Goes On Defense Over Senate Burisma Investigation "A Senate committee investigation into Burisma is eyeing subpoenas of advisers to the presumptive 2020 Democratic presidential candidate"

The former vice president’s campaign has largely remained quiet on the matter until a memo was released Tuesday by Biden’s deputy campaign manager Kate Bedingfield. The memo made personal attacks against the panel Chairman who heads the Homeland Security Committee, Ron Johnson. The memo suggested the Wisconsin Republican could be “party to a foreign influence operation” and suggested he was “worsening the coronavirus crisis” by investigating Burisma.

Apparently, his sole qualification for office is that he was not in power when the WuFlu emerged from China.

Two systems of justice: NYPo, Michael Cohen back home in NYC pad after release from prison. Now compare to Roger Stone.

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