ABC, CBS, NBC newscasts ignore Durham indictment of Steele dossier sub-source after hyping Russia narrative

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Media top headlines November 4

In media news today, USA Today snubs Winsome Sears, Jason Miyares from reports on 'candidates of color' who won elections, James Carville says 'stupid wokeness' lost Democrats Virginia, and a PBS correspondent told Biden that the GOP is lying about critical race theory

The latest development to come from the ongoing Durham probe received no coverage from the evening newscasts on the three broadcast networks. 

Federal agents arrested the primary sub-source who contributed to the unverified anti-Trump dossier Thursday as part of Special Counsel John Durham’s investigations into the origins of the probe into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to influence the 2016 presidential election.

Igor Danchenko's arrest is linked to a federal grand jury indictment in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. Durham is charging Danchenko, a Russian citizen residing in Virginia, with five counts of making false statements to the FBI. The charges stemmed from statements Danchenko made relating to the sources he used in providing information to an investigative firm in the United Kingdom.

Danchenko is scheduled to make his first court appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Theresa C. Buchanan Thursday afternoon. 

This marked the third round of indictments to come from the Durham probe that is looking into the origins of the Russia investigation.

Igor Danchenko leaves Albert V. Bryan United States Courthouse in Alexandria, Va (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta))

However, after years of hyping the original Russia investigation during the Trump era, ABC's "World News Tonight," "CBS Evening News" and "NBC Nightly News" all skipped Durham's newest indictment, according to Grabien transcripts. 

The lack of coverage from the three broadcast networks is not new. Last month, CBS and NBC completely avoided the indictment of Democratic attorney Michael Sussmann, who was accused of lying to the FBI over allegedly not disclosing his ties to the Hillary Clinton campaign after pushing for an investigation into then-candidate Donald Trump, specifically over a server connection between the Trump Organization and a Russian bank. ABC dedicated roughly 70 seconds on "World News Tonight." 

Danchenko is believed to be the sub-source for former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele, who compiled the dossier that served as the basis for Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants against Trump campaign aide Carter Page. The dossier was funded by the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign through law firm Perkins Coie.

John H Duhram

According to the indictment, in March, May, June, October and November of 2017, Danchenko made false statements regarding the sources of certain information that he provided to a U.K. investigative firm that was then included in reports prepared by the U.K. investigative firm and subsequently passed to the FBI. 

The June 15, 2017, false statement count alleges that Danchenko denied that he had spoken with a particular individual about material information contained in one of the "Company Reports" when he knew that was untrue. 

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The March 16, 2017, May 18, 2017, Oct. 24, 2017, and Nov. 16, 2017, counts involve statements made by Danchenko on those dates to FBI agents regarding information he "purportedly had received from an anonymous caller who he believed to be a particular individual, when in truth and in fact he knew that was untrue," Durham's office said Thursday. 

"The information purportedly conveyed by the anonymous caller included the allegation that there were communications ongoing between the Trump campaign and Russian officials and that the caller had indicated the Kremlin might be of help in getting Trump elected," Durham's office said in a statement. 

Fox News' Brooke Singman and Jake Gibson contributed to this report.