Igor Danchenko, Trump dossier source, charged with lying to FBI in special counsel John Durham's Russia inquiry

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – The key source of information used to compile a salacious 2016 dossier on former President Donald Trump was charged Thursday with lying to the FBI about his work in a new case brought by special counsel John Durham's long-running inquiry into the Russia investigation.

Igor Danchenko, an associate of former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele, was released on a $100,000 bond after a brief court appearance here where his attorney indicated that the Russian national intended to plead not guilty.

The 43-year-old analyst is charged with five counts of making false statements to investigators regarding sources of information he provided to Steele. That information was later included in the dossier that was turned over to the FBI.

In one instance, according to federal prosecutors, Danchenko falsely claimed he obtained information from an anonymous caller who indicated 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."

Danchenko, appearing in court in an open-collar white shirt and dark pants, had planned to surrender to authorities Thursday as part of an agreement with the government. But prosecutors said that when news of the impending charges leaked, the FBI moved to arrest him.   

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Trump has long seized on the unverified dossier, authored by Steele, as part of a political attack to undermine his 2016 campaign and his presidency.

Steele assembled the report, a collection of memos, for the firm Fusion GPS, which had been hired by a law firm representing the Democratic National Committee and the Hillary Clinton campaign.

Last month, Steele defended his work in an interview with ABC News, in which he also described how the resulting political firestorm altered his life.

"It's not at all usual for me to be in the public eye, but we've been there for five years," Steele told ABC. "Because the vitriol and the things that people have said about us and our motivations and our work are so far-fetched and untrue, I thought it was important to come and set the record straight." 

The dossier, first published by BuzzFeed just before Trump's 2017 inauguration, suggested in part that Russia had obtained compromising information as part of a Kremlin effort to co-opt Trump.

Its explosive contents became part of the FBI's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 campaign and were used to help support surveillance requests for former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.

At the time, the FBI based its assessment of Page, cast as part of a "well-coordinated conspiracy of cooperation" between the Trump campaign and the Russian government, on the information assembled by Steele, with the assistance Danchenko.

A subsequent review of the FBI surveillance applications by the Justice Department's inspector general revealed that the bureau's surveillance requests were rife with error. 

"Over time, the FBI attempted to investigate, vet, and analyze the (Steele report) but ultimately was not able to confirm or corroborate most of their substantive allegations," according to court documents unsealed Thursday.

According to the documents, prosecutors asserted that Danchenko provided differing accounts of the most salacious of the allegations – that Trump consorted with prostitutes at a Moscow hotel that was under heavy surveillance by Russian authorities.

In interviews with the FBI, Danchenko characterized Trump's alleged activity as more "rumor and speculation."

The case against Danchenko represents the third prosecution brought by Durham, who was tapped by former Attorney General William Barr in 2019 to examine possible FBI surveillance abuses.

Since that appointment, the Connecticut federal prosecutor's investigation has resulted in one conviction against an FBI lawyer who pleaded guilty to altering an email used to justify the Page surveillance.

In September, Durhamon, secured an indictment against a Washington attorney accused of lying to the FBI.

The charge against Michael Sussmann, a prominent cybersecurity attorney whose firm is closely tied with Democratic Party interests, is linked to a 2016 contact with the FBI when he raised concerns about a secret channel of communications between a Russian bank and the Trump Organization.

Prosecutors claim that Sussmann had requested the Sept. 19, 2016, meeting with then-FBI general counsel James Baker to provide "data files" and other evidence of the covert communications link involving the Moscow-based Alfa Bank and did not disclose that he was acting as an advocate for other interested parties.

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