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John Durham’s Russia Probe Suffers Yet Another Blow With Danchenko Acquittal

Igor Danchenko was acquitted Tuesday in the last criminal case connected to Durham’s inquiry into the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation.

Special Counsel John Durham’s three-year investigation into Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe ended with a whimper Tuesday after a judge acquitted Igor Danchenko in the Trump-era prosecutor’s final case. Danchenko was the primary analyst who provided research for the Steele dossier, a file of purported intelligence connecting Donald Trump to Russia ahead of the 2016 election. It was filled with unverified rumors about the former president, including an infamous golden shower episode at a Moscow hotel. Trump insisted that Durham’s investigation would discredit Mueller’s probe and unravel a giant conspiracy against him, but the three cases Durham’s team built didn’t amount to much—a guilty plea from FBI attorney Kevin Clinesmith for altering an email and another acquittal for cybersecurity lawyer Michael Sussmann. Danchenko was acquitted on four counts of lying to the FBI about one of his sources. Durham is expected to submit a final report to the Department of Justice by the end of this year.