Key Source on Trump Dirt File Arrested in Durham Investigation
The primary researcher on the so-called Steele dossier—a 2016 compilation of raw intelligence into potential coordination between then-presidential candidate Donald Trump and Russian government officials to help him win the election—was arrested Thursday by federal agents.
An indictment charges Igor Y. Danchenko with five counts of making false statements to the FBI. He was taken into custody by the FBI as part of a special counsel inquiry overseen by Trump appointee John H. Durham, who was tasked with rooting out any improprieties in the origins and use of the dossier.
According to the indictment, Danchenko lied about the sources of “certain information” he provided to Steele, which was then passed along to the feds. One count alleges that Danchenko denied speaking with “a particular individual” about material that wound up in the dossier “when [Danchenko] knew that was untrue.” Another count stems from statements Danchenko allegedly made 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.”
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