A Russian source who provided information for the so-called “Steele dossier” of questionable evidence about former President Donald Trump’s cozy ties to Russia has been charged with lying to federal investigators.
Igor Danchenko, a Russian citizen who lives in Virginia, is accused of five counts of lying to investigators working for special counsel Robert Durham, who is investigating whether the probe into Trump campaign collusion with the Russians was justified.
Danchenko was expected to appear in federal court later Thursday.
He was a source for Christopher Steele, an ex-British spy who penned the eponymous report that examined Trump’s links to Russia during his successful 2016 presidential campaign.
Among the dossier’s unproven claims was the headline-grabbing report that Russian authorities had a video of Trump with Russian prostitutes in a Moscow hotel.
Trump supporters believe the unproven allegations and other dirt in the Steele dossier somehow proves that the entire investigation into the Trump campaign’s efforts to enlist Russian support was tainted.
Special counsel Robert Mueller found plenty of questionable ties between Trump’s campaign and Russia, especially a meeting with Russian operatives during which Donald Trump Jr. gleefully welcomed offers of Kremlin dirt on rival Hillary Clinton.
But Mueller suggested there was not sufficient evidence to pursue criminal charges especially against a sitting president or his immediate family.
Democrats decry the probe by Durham, who was appointed before Trump left office, as an effort to muddy the waters about Trump’s sketchy outreach to Russia and strongman Vladimir Putin.
But the Biden administration has not sought to stop it.
Danchenko’s arrest marks the third low-profile criminal action brought by Durham. A cybersecurity lawyer was accused of making a false statement to the FBI and an FBI lawyer admitted altering an email about the probe last year.
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