Thread by @JFHaughey58

A 16-member jury has been seated and opening arguments are set for Tuesday afternoon in the trial of Igor Danchencko, a Russian national charged with five counts of making false statements to the FBI in regard to the origins of the Steele Dossier.

Eastern District of Virginia U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga presided over the 90-minute long jury selection, which includes four alternates. They were drawn from a pool of 91 candidates, 89 of whom were present in the courtroom.

Before jury selection, Special Counsel John Durham unsealed the government’s witness list and Trenga was presented three issues the prosecution and Danchenko’s attorneys — Stuart Sears and Danny Onorato — want resolved before getting too deep into the proceedings.

Durham sought clarity from Trenga on a defense motion to limit evidence from “previous counter-espionage cases, including that of Paul Manafort’s investigation and an FBI investigation of Danchenko dating back to 2009-10 the agency closed after he left the country.

“That was 10 years before the allegation here,” Sears said. “I don’t think is necessary.” The defense also wants to introduce “a series of articles” from May-June 2016, an “email chain, and other documents that it maintains will show Danchenko didn't lie to agents in August 2017.

Trenga will rule on these issues when court resumes at 1 p.m. There will be seven witnesses called during the trial.

Danchenko, who supplied the information included in the discredited Steele dossier, is on trial for allegedly lying to the FBI about who his sources were and what his relationship with them was, including Charles Dolan, a Democratic operative.

His defense maintains he was never asked by the FBI to name specifically his sources. That’s untrue, Durham said. The FBI “made its abundantly clear they were asking for any and all information” related to Steele dossier sources, he said. “There was no misunderstanding.”

AND SO, with court set to resume at 1 p.m., it's back to the Eisenhower Era: No laptops, cameras, cell phone, hand grendades, or Liquid Drano allowed in the William B. Bryant U.S. Courthouse.