The arrest and indictment of a Russia analyst, Igor Danchenko, in the United States as part of a probe conducted by Special Counsel John Durham into the origins of the investigation into the Trump-Russia "collusion" has ignited social media.
Many Twitter users are convinced that with the detention of Danchenko, who contributed to the infamous Steele dossier, compiled by discredited ex-MI6 agent Christopher Steele, Durham will unleash "the mother of all conspiracy cases".
Osama bin Laden's niece Noor bin Ladin, who is an ardent supporter of ex-US President Donald Trump, has drawn attention to a change of narrative in the reporting by The New York Times:
Other social media users hinted that Danchenko could end up like Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender who committed suicide in his Manhattan prison cell while awaiting trial in August 2019. Even though his death was officially ruled a suicide, there's been much speculation that his wealthy and powerful friends could have had him murdered to let their dark secrets die with him.
According to The New York Times, Danchenko, who helped compile the Steele dossier, was taken into custody on Thursday as part of the Durham probe. Danchenko has been charged with five counts of making false statements to the FBI. According to the US Department of Justice, he allegedly lied about the source of information provided to the bureau during the 2016 presidential campaign.
The Steele dossier was published a week before Trump's inauguration in January 2017, alleging that Russian intelligence had compromising information on the US president and that Moscow and POTUS had "extensive" secret backchannels.
The document, which was subsequently discredited, became part of Hillary Clinton and the Democrats' efforts to tarnish the 45th president's political image. Clinton has repeatedly blamed her loss in the 2016 presidential election on the "Russian interference", accusing Trump of colluding with Moscow, something that has been repeatedly rejected by the US president as a "hoax" and a "witch hunt". Moscow has dismissed the claims as baseless and politicised, reiterating that Russia has never interfered with any internal US affairs.
In March 2019, FBI Special Counsel Robert Mueller released a long-awaited report on the probe into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin during the 2016 US presidential race. The report concluded that there was insufficient evidence to prove that Trump had colluded with Russia during the election, and said that Mueller recommended no further indictments.
John Durham was appointed by then-Attorney General William Barr in 2019 to probe suspicions that the FBI and US intelligence agencies had committed wrongdoing in their pursuit of the Trump-Russia collusion allegations.