The defendant in this week’s trial is Igor Danchenko, who is accused of lying as an informant in the now-discredited Russia collusion inquiry. Special Counsel John Durham has transformed the trial of the Russian researcher in the U.S. District Courtroom in Alexandria, Virginia, into an exposé of the FBI’s astounding blunders and omissions in its now-infamous pursuit of Donald Trump for crimes that turned out to be false.

While the Hillary Clinton-inspired story of Russian collusion has been the focus of a half-dozen comprehensive House, Senate, and Justice Department investigations, Durham has used his third and largely believed final trial to unleash bombshell after bombshell that other investigators failed to unearth. Even those most familiar with the situation are startled.

Efforts were initiated during pretrial motions.

Danchenko, the major source for the now-debunked Steele dossier, was a liar with questionable links to Russian intelligence who had misled to FBI officials. Durham disclosed that despite his criminal background, the FBI retained him for three years as a compensated confidential human source.

Then, on the first day of the trial, Durham got FBI senior analyst Brian Auten to reveal that the FBI had not been able to confirm a single fact in the Steele dossier by mid-October 2016, but still included some of its most sensational claims about Trump in a “verified” Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant that authorized spying on the Trump campaign and former adviser Carter Page.

“Did you have any evidence to verify that information on October 21, 2016?” Regarding the Carter Page FISA application submitted on that day, Durham inquired.

“No,” responded Auten.

The FBI was so anxious to uncover evidence to support Steele’s claims that it offered former British MI6 agent Christopher Steele, a hired researcher for Hillary Clinton’s campaign, up to $1 million if he could verify his dossier. Auten instructed the jury that Steele did not.

Even former House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, who conducted the first extensive investigation that disproved the dossier and revealed FBI misconduct, was stunned by this news. Despite subpoenaing the FBI, Nunes told Just the News on Thursday that he was never informed about the $1 million payment.

More on this story via Just The News:

“I hate to say this, but like a new shoe drops every day,” Nunes told the John Solomon Reports podcast in referring to Durham’s work. “And it’s like every day we find out something new. And I mean, look, I don’t know how you describe this $1 million payment or potential payment to Steele as anything other than what it is. It was a bounty program to get Donald Trump.” CONTINUE READING…