In May of 2021, I wrote an article outlining how a Trump supporter, Sergei Millian, was being framed by the Hillary Clinton campaign on numerous claims outlined in the Steele Dossier. A group of memos were given to the FBI by a British research company paid for by the Hillary Clinton campaign. I stated that Christopher Steele, who founded UK research company Orbis, told the FBI his only direct source for the information was Igor Danchenko, a Russian who lives in Washington D.C.
Steele claims he gave typed memos directly to the FBI based solely on conversations he had with Igor Danchenko. In my article, I stated clearly that both Christopher Steele and Igor Danchenko were lying about Sergei Millian. How could I state such a bold claim? The answer is because both Danchenko and Steele contradicted each other repeatedly about what they sourced to Sergei Millian. The logical conclusion to their testimony was they were lying.
Christopher Steele states Igor Danchenko met Sergei Millian three times in three different cities. Danchenko told the FBI he never met Sergei Millian. Steele states Millian is Source D and Source E in his June memos. Danchenko states he only talked to an anonymous person on the phone in July 2016 and he thought it might be Millian. Danchenko says during this anonymous 10-15 minute phone call nothing of importance was relayed to him. How could Millian be the source of a June memo if Danchenko didn’t allegedly talk to him until July? Danchenko thought the anonymous caller might be Millian because he recognized his voice from a YouTube video. Yes, this is how Danchenko explained his “source” to the FBI in January 2017.
Maybe Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson can straighten out these contradictions. The former Wall Street Journal reporter, turned opposition researcher, told Congress he thought Millian was a Russian Intelligence Officer because he changed his name when he traveled to America for the Hotel Marriott Exchange program when he was in his 20s. Yes, this was in fact his evidence when he told Congress he thought Millian was in the Russian intelligence services. So, who does Simpson back up with his testimony? Steele or Danchenko? Actually, neither. Simpson completely contradicts both of them. As Steele weaves his fable of Danchenko’s source being a close associate of Trump that was present during the pee tape incident, Simpson insists Source E was an employee at the hotel.
So, how could Millian be two people at the same time? Source D and Source E as Steele has claimed? He can’t and he is neither. These were lies and contradictions submitted to the FBI by Steele and the FBI chose to ignore them throughout 2016 and into January 2017. They easily could be discounted with basic fact checking.
Steele says it was Professor Plum with the candlestick in the library. Danchenko says it was Mr. Green in the kitchen with a knife. Simpson claims it was Mrs. White in the hallway with the revolver. In other words, these three have no Clue what happened as they invented fables about Sergei Millian.
The past eight months we have learned quite a bit about how clueless these three opposition researchers were with their fabricated sources. Department of Justice Special Counsel, John Durham, has indicted Igor Danchenko on five counts of lying to the FBI, four of the counts are lying to the FBI about Sergei Millian. Reading the indictments we find out that Danchenko’s source was not Millian for the ridiculous gossip, but it was a close associate of Hillary Clinton’s. It was public relations executive Charles Dolan. Charles Dolan’s name is redacted in the indictment and he is referred to as PR Executive-1. Dolan is a former advisor to Bill and Hillary Clinton. What are the chances that Dolan stumbled upon the information about Trump at the Ritz Carlton and he had a paid Hillary Clinton opposition researcher to spread it to? How serendipitous!
The Danchenko indictment certainly puts the nail in the coffin on the accusations Danchenko, Simpson, and Steele spread about Sergei but Durham adds a few more nails to make sure the gossip remains dead.
Durham has also brought an indictment against a lawyer from the law firm Perkins Coie that was paying Steele for the production of Steele’s memos given to the FBI. Michael Sussman is charged with lying to the FBI when he stated he represented only himself when he brought “evidence” about Trump to FBI Headquarters. It turned out Sussman was working for a client to spread misinformation about Trump and his client was Hillary Clinton. Michael Sussman told the FBI he took it upon himself as a concerned citizen to bring evidence to the FBI that Russia based Alfa bank was in direct communications with the Trump Organization. Christopher Steele backed up Sussman’s claims by telling government officials Sergei Millian was the intermediary between Alfa bank and the Trump organization. These coordinated hit pieces by Hillary’s lawyer and Hillary’s British researcher were a multi prong offense to stir up a scandal right before the November 2016 Presidential election. Time and time again Steele would state these parallel claims were just coincidences. On October 31st, 2016 Hillary was ready with a tweet outlining how Trump was connected to Alfa bank. She links a Slate magazine article written by Franklin Foer discussing Trump colluding with Russians through Alfa bank. Harry Reid spends all Sunday morning repeating Russia/Trump hysteria to many talk shows on TV.
Long before October 2016, the FBI’s internal communications concluded that these Alfa-Bank allegations were nonsense, but nothing stopped Rachel Maddow and MSM (mainstream media) telling their audiences that Trump was a Russian puppet.
Based on the evidence outlined in the charges against Igor Danchenko and Michael Sussman, many of the journalists who won Pulitzer Prizes for their coverage of the Trump/Russia scandal had to retract all the libelous claims they made against Sergei Millian. These weren’t front page coverage retractions in The Washington Post or leading monologues on the Rachel Maddow Show but quiet corrections in the back pages. The Washington Post scrubbed articles and posted their retractions deep in paragraphs in the Style section of their newspaper.
Lawfare podcaster, Benjamin Wittes, would interview former FBI agent, Peter Strzok as a guest on his show and they downplayed the circular Intel games FBI, media, and private researchers coordinated on innocent Americans. They laughed and called John Durham’s indictments consolation prizes. Sergei Millian certainly doesn’t laugh at the antics of Sussman, Simpson, Steele, Danchenko, and Strzok. He had his business and life ruined in America based on deliberate false evidence fabricated about him and given to the FBI.
These two indictments are enormous for Millian and prove his cries of innocence that fell on the deaf ears of journalists rang true. He has tried to get Fox News to help him confront his accusers by challenging them to debates live on cable news shows. Glenn Simpson and Peter Strzok have both ignored his public requests. He has repeatedly asked Igor Danchenko to not be the fall guy for all the lies of a billion dollar campaign to vilify Donald Trump and associates, but Danchenko seems to fear something bigger than false statement charges to the FBI. He doubled down and tripled down on his story in several interviews recorded during FBI question and answer sessions. Sergei Millian has publicly asked the FBI to offer Igor Danchenko protection.
On February 3rd, 2022, Igor Danchenko tweeted out three cryptic messages. The first was “I am weary. And it’s a drag for others. May I not play this stupid game any more?” The second tweet, “So, what is it that you wanted to do? You unveiled my identity, ridiculed me, made sure I can’t work or travel…as I spend all of my and my family money to the penny…And what’s your end game? (Asking for a friend course).” Several hours later a third tweet was sent of one word, “Farewell”.
I saw the Farewell tweet soon after he sent it out and tagged @FBI in a tweet to do a well check on Igor Danchenko since he lives in the Washington DC area. I am not sure who he is talking to or referencing in these messages, but he clearly has been affected by the latest indictment. I care about Igor as a human being and pray for him that he does nothing rash. I don’t think he is a keystone in this criminal smear campaign of Trump associates. He is one cog in a corrupt operation that weaponized the US Intel agencies to run gossip on Trump and his associates. If Durham indictments stop at a few people making false statements to the FBI then justice to Trump and his associates will not be served.
As Dostovevsky states in Crime and Punishment,
Accept suffering and achieve atonement through it
– that is what you must do.
Fyodor Dostovevsky ~ ‘Crime and Punishment’
I have sympathy for Danchenko’s suffering financially and emotionally, but I wonder if he is suffering because he lied, or because he got caught? Has Hillary suffered for the damage her lies have inflicted on this nation? If she hasn’t publicly atoned, then an extrinsic mechanism of judiciary punishment needs to be brought for the sentence to fit the crimes. For us to heal as a nation, we need the Beltway power structure to have some intrinsic control of not weaponizing institutions such as the FBI and media for destruction of political opponents. Lives are ruined because partisans misuse tools in their hands. If they get away with accessing personal databases for their personal gains, what stops them when advanced technologies can inflict even more damage on their opponents and others caught in the crossfire? If these swamp dwellers are not persuaded by a moral compass, then the only alternative is deterrents through lawfare. We have yet to see the crimes attributed to keystone players at the heart of SpyGate in the Durham Investigation.
For Sergei Millian though, it is at least something. He has had stories retracted, liars indicted, and even a couple of mea culpas from unlikely people. It is the most vindication he has received in a long five year battle to try to understand who framed him as Source D, Source E, and Person 1 in white papers passed around halls of FBI and media rooms. He is an example of how there were real life consequences behind feckless journalists spreading Kompromat for clickbait headlines.
Is there anybody inside the Beltway that will speak up about the crimes they committed and publicly apologize to those they entrapped, framed, and targeted with the tools of a large surveillance state? Had Igor Danchenko spoken up years before about those who set up his
fake Target Lab job or pressured him to take full blame for their insidious operation, he might’ve been spared the anguish he is obviously suffering now.
For it is when we intrinsically recognize our sins before any judiciary threat is instilled upon us, we as a society benefit.
It is not too late, Igor. FBI, protect his man and go on Fox News live with Sergei Millian and tell us your story. We are listening. Be brave.
For more on Sergei Millian’s story, read Regina Mouradian’s book Dragon Games: Based on a True Story of Sergei Millian
The Washington Pundit | Speak Truth To Power
Author of Dragon Games: Based on a True Story of Sergei Millian, The Hermitage Effect: How Bill Browder and her fiction book Buried Treasure. Lives in Massachusetts.
