Danchenko’s lawyers highlighted Auten’s previous testimony, given years ago to the Justice Department inspector general and to the Senate Judiciary Committee, which contradicted some of Durham’s claims. The witness also put a spotlight on some of Danchenko’s inconsistencies in his many FBI interviews, where he was peppered with questions about his ties to Christopher Steele, the dossier, and his own sub-sources.īut the situation shifted when the defense got to cross-examine Auten. This is a key element of Durham’s case: to secure a conviction, Durham must persuade the jury that Danchenko intentionally lied and that those false statements may have impacted the FBI’s work. Over two days, Auten helped prosecutors by saying there was information that Danchenko didn’t share with the FBI about his dossier sourcing that would’ve aided the bureau’s investigation. The special counsel opened his case with testimony from Brian Auten, a senior FBI intelligence analyst who oversaw part of the FBI’s early investigation into possible Trump-Russia collusion. Here’s a breakdown of what happened Wednesday at the federal court in Alexandria, Virginia. Danchenko has pleaded not guilty and says he told the truth. Tolga Akmen/AFP/Getty ImagesįBI offered Christopher Steele $1 million to prove dossier claims, senior FBI analyst testifiesĭurham – a Trump-era holdover who was appointed in 2019 to find government misconduct in the Trump-Russia investigation – charged Danchenko with lying to the FBI agents who were trying to corroborate the dossier.
#Dossier testimony full#
He decided to comply after the committee agreed to give him a full transcript of that testimony within 24 hours, which he is free to make public.Former UK intelligence officer Christopher Steele arrives at the High Court in London on July 24, 2020, to attend his defamation trial brought by Russian tech entrepreneur Alexej Gubarev. The committee had subpoenaed Comey, and he initially went to court to fight it.
I'm not sure we need to do this at all, but I'm trying to respect the institution," Comey said about his testimony on Friday. "When you read the transcript, you will see that we're talking about Hillary Clinton's emails, for heaven's sake. Comey said the basis for the probe was "the information we'd received about a conversation that a campaign foreign policy adviser (George Papadopoulos) had with an individual in London about stolen emails that the Russians had that would be harmful to Hillary Clinton." This conversation occurred before the FBI knew about the Steele dossier.Ĭomey told reporters Friday he would be returning to testify in a couple weeks, on December 17, and that it would likely again be closed testimony.
However, the FBI had past experience in dealing with Page, who had been targeted for recruitment by Russia's foreign intelligence service, which contributed to their surveillance of Page under FISA.Ĭomey confirmed in his testimony that the FBI's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election was not instigated by the Steele dossier. Many Republicans believe the Russia investigation stems from this unverified dossier. John Ratcliffe, R-Tex., could not get Comey to say whether the surveillance was authorized due to information from the Steele dossier. Republicans also questioned Comey about why Carter Page, a former Trump aide, was surveilled by the FBI under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. He also criticized the president for attacking the FBI, saying that he was concerned citizens had been "lied to by the President and his supporters about the nature and quality of the Department of Justice and the FBI." "I admire the heck out of the man, but I don't know his phone number, I've never been to his house, I don't know his children's names," Comey said. Trump earlier this month that said he and Mueller were "best friends." Comey was advised by Cecelia Bessee, an attorney representing the FBI.Ĭomey denied a tweet from Mr. According to the transcript, Comey did not respond to some questions related to special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
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