Durham Witness Drops Trial Bombshell: FBI Offered Steele $1M to Prove Dossier Claims

Neither he nor Igor Danchenko could deliver, yet the bureau withheld details on how the defendant refuted Steele’s anti-Trump claims.

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Left: Former UK intelligence officer Christopher Steele arrives at the High Court in London, July 24, 2020. Right: Then-president Donald Trump prior to boarding Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, Md., January 12, 2021

Tolga Akmen/AFP via Getty Images, Carlos Barria/Reuters

In my posts Tuesday on the start of the Igor Danchenko trial (here and here), I observed that “no matter how the case plays out, the most notable evidence will be about the behavior of the FBI, not the defendant.” Just one day in, we are already seeing why.

The FBI offered former British spy Christopher Steele $1 million if he could corroborate the claims in the now-infamous anti-Trump dossier. As reported by the Washington Examiner’s Jerry Dunleavy, the admission about the offer was made by Brian Auten, an FBI senior intelligence analyst who was the first witness called by special counsel John Durham in Danchenko’s false-statements trial.

Andrew C. McCarthy

About the Author

Andrew C. McCarthy

Andrew C. McCarthy is a senior fellow at National Review Institute, an NR contributing editor, and author of Ball of Collusion: The Plot to Rig an Election and Destroy a Presidency.

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