Russian analyst behind Steele dossier slams federal charges against him as 'slander' designed to 'unfairly malign' him for political purposes
The Russian-born analyst who served as British ex-spy Christopher Steele's main source in compiling the 'dirty dossier' on Donald Trump has slammed the federal charges against him as a political hatchet job.
In a fiery statement , Igor Y. Danchenko's attorney blasted the federal charges unsealed last week as 'false allegations' and 'a false narrative designed to humiliate and slander' him.
In a 39-page indictment, Special Counsel John H. Durham alleged that Danchenko lied to investigators about his contact with a political crony of Bill and Hillary Clinton, who supplied at least one of the claims that appeared in Steele's 2016 dossier.
Durham is investigating the origins of the FBI's Crossfire Hurricane investigation into claims that the Trump campaign conspired with the Russian government to defeat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election.
Igor Y. Danchenko (above) has slammed the federal charges against him as a political hatchet job in a statement through his attorney
Danchenko served as British ex-spy Christopher Steele's main source in compiling the 'dirty dossier' alleging Donald Trump conspired with Russia in the 2016 election
'The special counsel’s use of a "speaking indictment" that presents a false narrative designed to humiliate and slander a renowned expert in business intelligence for political gain is contrary to decades of Department of Justice policy,' said Danchenko's attorney Mark E. Schamel, a partner at Lowenstein Sandler LLP.
'Mr. Danchenko is a respected research analyst who uncovered and exposed Vladimir Putin’s plagiarized Ph.D. thesis and whose work has been recognized all over the world for its intellectual rigor and accuracy,' said Schamel.
Attorney Mark E. Schamel slammed the charges in a fiery statement
'Mr. Danchenko’s body of work, for the United States, is above reproach,' he added.
'For the past five years, those with an agenda have sought to expose Mr. Danchenko’s identity and tarnish his reputation while undermining U.S. National Security. From the moment he was inappropriately revealed, he has been the focus of unrelenting politically motivated attacks,' the attorney said.
'This latest injustice will not stand. We will expose how Mr. Danchenko has been unfairly maligned by these false allegations,' Schamel concluded.
At a brief hearing in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, on Thursday afternoon, prosecutors did not ask that Danchenko be detained as he awaits trial.
Magistrate Judge Theresa Buchanan ordered Danchenko's release on a $100,000 unsecured bond.
Danchenko, 43, was the primary researcher for Steele's dossier alleging that Trump's 2016 presidential campaign conspired with Russia in a covert operation to beat Hillary Clinton, and that Russia had incriminating videos that could be used to blackmail Trump.
Many of the dossier's claims remain unproven or have been debunked, though the document was cited by the FBI and Special Counsel Robert Mueller in secret warrant applications to spy on a Trump campaign advisor.
British ex-spy Christopher Steele compiled the 2016 dossier alleging that Trump's 2016 presidential campaign conspired with Russia
Danchenko, a Russian-born analyst living in Virginia, was a key source for Steele, feeding him tidbits apparently collected in part from a longtime Democratic party ally
At a brief hearing in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, on Thursday afternoon, prosecutors did not ask that Danchenko be detained as he awaits trial
The indictment alleges that Danchenko lied to federal investigators by saying that he had not gotten information about Trump from a certain US-based executive at an American public relations firm, who had deep and longstanding ties to the Democratic Party.
In fact, Danchenko did communicate with the unnamed PR exec, and used him as a key source for one or more of the allegations in the Steele report, according to the indictment.
The PR executive was revealed last week as Charles Dolan, a state chairman for both of Bill Clinton's successful presidential campaigns in 1992 and 1996, and an advisor to Hillary Clinton's 2008 campaign.
Charles H. Dolan Jr, also known as Chuck, was revealed as a source for Danchenko's story
'Chuck understands and appreciates your interest. I can confirm that he is PR Executive-1 in the indictment,' said his lawyer, Ralph Drury Martin, in a statement.
'As he is a witness in an ongoing case, it would not be appropriate for Chuck to comment further on the allegations in the indictment at this time.'
Dolan previously worked as executive director of the Democratic Governors’ Association, and actively campaigned for Hillary Clinton in 2016, according to the indictment.
The indictment against Danchenko was issued on Wednesday by a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia, where he is believed to live in the DC suburb of Alexandria.
The charging document outlines five instances in which Danchenko allegedly lied to FBI agents about his work on the Steele dossier.
In addition to lying about contact with Dolan, Danchenko is accused in four counts of fabricating information about an anonymous phone call he claimed he received in July 2016 from someone he believed to be the president of the Russian-American Chamber of Commerce.
The information purportedly conveyed by the anonymous caller included the allegation that there were ongoing communications between the Trump campaign and Russian officials, and that the Kremlin might help get Trump elected. The indictment claims the purported call never took place.
The most explosive allegations in the indictment related to Dolan, whose relationship with Danchenko is detailed at length.
Dolan worked for both Bill and Hillary Clinton's presidential campaigns
Special Counsel John H. Durham is investigating whether the FBI's Trump-Russia probe, code-named 'Crossfire Hurricane,' was opened and conducted legally
According to the indictment, an employee at a DC think tank introduced Danchenko to Dolan in February 2016.
Subsequently, the two men discussed collaborating in Danchenko's work for Steele, and Dolan enlisted Danchenko's help planning a conference for business executives in Moscow in October 2016.
Dolan said of Danchenko in a June 2016 email to an acquaintance: 'He is too young for KGB. But I think he worked for FSB,' referring to Russia's Federal Security Service, the successor organization to the Soviet KGB.
'Since he told me he spent two years in Iran. And when I first met him he knew more about me than I did. [winking emoji],' the email added.
Danchenko has publicly denied being a Russian spy.
Dolan has not been charged.
According to the indictment, Danchenko told Dolan in an August 16, 2016 email that he had a 'project against Trump' and asked for 'any thought, rumor, allegation' regarding the resignation of Trump Campaign Chairman Paul Manafort, who is identified in the indictment as 'Campaign Manager-1'.
Dolan responded in an email that he'd had a 'drink with a GOP friend' and shared gossip that former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewnandowski 'hates' Manafort and remained close to Trump.
The allegation appeared nearly verbatim in a portion of Steele's dossier, dated August 22, 2016.
The indictment states that Dolan later admitted to the FBI that he had never met with a 'GOP friend,' but instead had fabricated the meeting and gleaned his insights from public news sources.
Dolan insisted that he wasn't aware of the nature of Danchenko's 'project against Trump, and had no idea the information he furnished would later be provided to the FBI by Steele.
According to the indictment, Danchenko told Dolan in an August 16, 2016 email that he had a 'project against Trump' and asked for 'any thought, rumor, allegation'
Dolan responded in an email that he'd had a 'drink with a GOP friend' and shared gossip that former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski 'hates' Paul Manafort
The allegation appeared nearly verbatim in a portion of Steele's dossier (seen above)
In a subsequent interview with FBI agents on June 15, 2017, Danchenko falsely stated that he had never spoken to Dolan about information that later appeared in the Steele dossier, according to the indictment.
The indictment also suggests, without confirming, that Dolan may have played some role in other aspects of the dossier, including its most salacious and inflammatory claims regarding deviant sex acts in the presidential suite of the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Moscow.
The indictment notes that in June 2016, Dolan stayed in the Moscow hotel and spoke with the general manager, whom Danchenko later claimed was his source for the explosive allegation.
Prosecutors allege that Danchenko's false statements about his communications with Dolan were 'highly material' in part because they influenced the FBI's investigative steps as they probed the dossier's claims.
Steele is a former British intelligence officer who prepared the dossier for Fusion GPS, which was working for a law firm that represented the Democratic Party and Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign.
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