It did not seem possible for the Steele dossier – the collection of Trump-Russia conspiracy theories funded by the Clinton campaign; hyped by the US media establishment; and tapped by the FBI for surveillance and investigative leads – to get more embarrassing for all of those involved.

But the indictment by Special Counsel John Durham of Steele's key source, Igor Danchenko, offers 39 pages of new evidence that Russiagate — after five years of failed innuendo, debunked "bombshells", and humiliating revelations — has no rock bottom.

Danchenko is accused of making false statements to the FBI about his role in feeding Trump-Russia allegations to Christopher Steele, a former British spy working for the private intelligence firm Fusion GPS, which in turn was working for the Clinton campaign. Steele's so-called "intelligence reports" were planted in the media to fuel the Trump-Russia collusion narrative. The FBI also used Steele's work as source material to chase multiple leads and obtain surveillance warrants on Trump campaign volunteer Carter Page.