But the Justice Department alleged Danchenko sourced at least one accusation anonymously to the executive, described as a "long-time participant in Democratic Party politics" who was chairman of a national Democratic political organization, state chairman of former President Bill Clinton's 19 presidential campaigns, and an adviser to Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign. resident, who was an executive at a public relations firm, about allegations in the dossier. In one instance, federal prosecutors said Danchenko falsely stated that he never communicated with an unidentified U.S.
Danchenko's travel is restricted to the Washington, D.C., area. He was released on a $100,000 bond and required to surrender his passport within 24 hours. His attorney said he would plead not guilty. The false statements were allegedly made on five different occasions, from March 2017 to November 2017, according to the indictment unsealed Thursday.ĭanchenko was arrested Thursday morning and appeared in court in Virginia later in the afternoon. Details regarding the charges Danchenko is facing were not immediately available.Washington - A Russian analyst who worked with Christopher Steele, the former British intelligence officer behind a controversial dossier about former President Donald Trump and Russia, has been indicted on federal charges of making false statements to the FBI, according to the Justice Department.Ī federal grand jury charged Igor Danchenko, a 43-year-old Russian national living in Virginia, with five counts of lying to federal investigators about the sources of information he provided to Steele's firm, which was then included in the dossier passed to the FBI. The dossier, originally compiled as opposition research against Trump's presidential candidacy, created an international scandal when it was published by BuzzFeed News 10 days before Trump was sworn into office.ĭanchenko was taken into custody Thursday.
The indictment says Danchenko's lies were material to his interviews with the FBI because their investigation of the Trump campaign "relied in large part" on the Steele dossier to obtain FISA warrants against former Trump adviser Carter Page, and that "the FBI ultimately devoted substantial resources attempting to investigate and corroborate the allegations contained" in the dossier. The indictment alleges that "as he well knew, never spoke" with the president of the Russian-American Chamber of Commerce, and he was lying when he suggested otherwise to the FBI. The indictment also accuses Danchenko of lying when he told the FBI that he had received an anonymous call in July 2016 from a citizen who he believed to be president of the Russian-American Chamber of Commerce, and who provided him information about possible Trump-Russia ties that Danchenko later passed along to Steele. MORE: Out of the Shadows: Christopher Steele defiant on dossier, says Trump still 'potential' threat In the indictment handed down by a federal grand jury and signed by Special counsel John Durham, Danchenko is accused of falsely telling the FBI he had never communicated with an unidentified U.S.-based individual "who was a long-time participant in Democratic Party Politics" about any allegations included in the dossier - whereas the indictment says Danchenko had actually sourced one or more of the allegations to that individual. Trump has vehemently denied the claim and no evidence has surfaced to support the allegation.ĭanchenko has been charged with five separate counts of making false statements to the FBI in interviews where he discussed how he obtained information that he later provided to Steele for inclusion in the dossier.
Igor Danchenko, a Russian national living in the U.S., has previously defended his role in gathering information that Steele used in his dossier, including the salacious claim that Russian officials may have had a videotape of Trump watching prostitutes in a hotel room during a 2013 trip to Moscow.
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