As part of John Durham’s special counsel, federal agents just arrested and charged Igor Danchenko, the primary sub-source who contributed to the discredited anti-Trump Steele dossier.
According to Fox News:
Danchenko’s arrest is linked to a federal grand jury indictment in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. Durham is charging Danchenko, a Russian citizen residing in Virginia, with five counts of making false statements to the FBI. The charges stemmed from statements Danchenko made relating to the sources he used in providing information to an investigative firm in the United Kingdom.
Danchenko is scheduled to make his first court appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Theresa C. Buchanan Thursday afternoon.
Danchenko is believed to be the sub-source for former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele, who compiled the dossier that served as the basis for Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants against Trump campaign aide Carter Page.
According to the indictment, in March, May, June, October and November of 2017, Danchenko made false statements regarding the sources of certain information that he provided to a U.K. investigative firm that was then included in reports prepared by the U.K. investigative firm and subsequently passed to the FBI.Â
Bombshell stuff. Igor Danchenko received info from a Democratic PR executive that he then passed along to Chris Steele. He withheld that from the FBI. Danchenko also lied about receiving a phone call from Sergei Millian. pic.twitter.com/sFwHkCuiNb
— Chuck Ross (@ChuckRossDC) November 4, 2021
The fact Fiona Hill was central to both spreading the Steele Dossier and ginning up the first Trump impeachment ought to set off klaxons. https://t.co/7yi7ykABRl
— Mark Hemingway (@Heminator) November 4, 2021
Much of the Steele dossier relied on information provided by Igor Danchenko, who is the subject of this indictment.
Per indictment, Danchenko was close to an unnamed Democratic PR Executive who worked in Russia and had associations with many key figures named in dossier pic.twitter.com/gE5X0mu70F
— Andrew Prokop (@awprokop) November 4, 2021
One of the other Danchenko/Steele Russian "sources" –
Was expecting to be rewarded w/ a job in the Hillary Clinton State Department.
This is worse than we imagined. pic.twitter.com/zUw3Z8I599
— Techno Fog (@Techno_Fog) November 4, 2021
Danchenko faces the following five fraud charges:
- Falsely denying he didnât talk to the Democrat PR executive (Dolan) about the dossier allegations.
- Falsely stating he took a 2016 call from Russian Sergei Millian (whom he says alleged a Trump/Russia conspiracy).
- Falsely stating in another FBI interview that he took the 2016 call from Millian.
- Falsely stating he talked to Millian more than once over the phone.
- False statements in another FBI interview about his conversations with Millian.
After months of silence, it seems the Durham probe is finally heating up.
Last month, former Pentagon chief of staff Kash Patel predicted that indictments were potentially coming targeting Fusion GPS and Glenn Simpson, and more “at the top,” but that it would take “a few more months.”
Let’s hope more is coming.
Matt Palumbo is the author of The Man Behind the Curtain: Inside the Secret Network of George Soros
