It would appear that Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) was right to downplay the conclusion of special counsel John Durham's investigation into the so-called "Steele dossier" that enraged Donald Trump and conservative pundits.
Midway through September, the very vocal supporter of the former president from South Carolina claimed, "It's been so long since the event, I don't know if it's going to change anything. I'll be curious to see what he found. It'd have to be a real smoking gun at this late in the game."
According to a new report from the New York Times, Graham nailed it.
As the Times' Charlie Savage and Adam Goldman wrote, Durham's signature case against analyst Igor Danchenko who worked on the dossier is limping into court on Tuesday after the presiding judge excluded a wide swath of accusations the Bill Barr-appointed special counsel had hoped to present in court.
According to the Times. the case "now appears likely to be shorter and less politically salient than the sprawling narrative in Mr. Durham’s indictment had suggested the proceeding would be."
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"In an 18-page order last week, the judge overseeing the case, Anthony J. Trenga of the Eastern District of Virginia, excluded from the trial large amounts of information that Mr. Durham had wanted to showcase — including material that undercuts the credibility of the dossier’s notorious rumor that Russia had a blackmail tape of Mr. Trump with prostitutes," the report states before adding, "Certain facts Mr. Durham dug up related to that rumor 'do not qualify as direct evidence as they are not inextricably intertwined' or ‘necessary to provide context’ to the relevant charge,' Judge Trenga wrote, adding that they 'were substantially outweighed by the danger of confusion and unfair prejudice.'"
Adding that this is likely that last act by Durham in the service of following up on Donald Trump's complaints, the report reminded readers, "Mr. Durham was assigned to investigate the Russia investigation in the spring of 2019, Mr. Trump and his supporters stoked expectations that Mr. Durham would uncover a 'deep state' conspiracy against him and charge high-level F.B.I. and intelligence officials with crimes," before adding, "But instead, Mr. Durham developed two cases on narrow charges of false statements involving outside efforts to uncover links between Mr. Trump and Russia."
You can read more here.
