Jury finds Igor Danchenko not guilty of lying to the FBI

A Virginia jury acquitted the Russian national Igor Danchenko of charges of lying to the FBI in the Steele case. Danchenko was the chief confidant in the dossier seeking Trump's ties to Russia in the 2016 presidential election.

Although the verdict was finally rendered unanimously, the 12 members of the jury, seven men and five women, debated their decision for more than ten hours over two days.

Disappointment but respect for the jury

Special counsel John Durham, in charge of the investigation of this case, could not hide his disappointment after learning of the verdict. "While we are disappointed in the outcome, we respect the jury's decision and thank them for their service. I also want to recognize and thank the investigators and the prosecution team for their dedicated efforts in seeking truth and justice in this case," Durham said, according to Fox News.

However, despite a contrary ruling, Durham has been able to credit during the trial a number of compromised behaviors on the part of the FBI, whose reputation has been battered. For example, that they offered one million euros to British spy Christopher Steele for writing the dossier that bears his name, and the hiring of Danchenko - who has been paid $200,000, according to the New York Post- as a confidential informant when he was under investigation by the FBI itself for alleged links to Russia.

The FBI, compromised

During his closing argument to the jury, Durham was highly critical of the work of the federal agents. "Don't feel bad for the FBI agents. There are things they didn't do that they quite clearly should have done," he stressed. This is a clear reference to the fact that Kevin Helson, as the person in charge, and the agents under him, did not investigate Danchenko's background before hiring him. Up to 80% of the information collected in the report came from the Russian.

The ruling has generated a great deal of controversy, many analysts point out that the big loser has been the FBI, whose image has been severely damaged, additionally, they have called for a thorough cleaning and renovation of the agency. This is the view presented by Gregg Jarrett of Fox News,' who accuses Hilary Clinton, former Director of the agency, James Comey, and the FBI itself of fabricating the "hoax" of Trump's Russian connection.

Hillary Clinton, promoter of the dossier

In his analysis, Garrett notes that, "as declassified documents show," it was 2016 Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton who "personally approved a plan to defame her political opponent as a clandestine Russian mole. Her campaign manager, Robby Mook, confirmed this in a previous trial five months ago."

Also showing his disappointment on networks was Ric Grenell, former acting director of National Intelligence, who accused Danchenko and the FBI of "lying." Grenell denounced that both "made outlandish claims that never materialized" and stresses that the Russian citizen being found not guilty "does not clear up how the lies were pushed by our government."