authorities arrest who contributed steele dossier

In May 2017 the original FBI Russia investigation was placed in the hands of special counsel Robert Mueller. intelligence had already concluded at the end of 2016, without use of Steele's report, that Moscow tried to help Trump win election. It included the unproven allegation that Moscow has damning videotapes of Trump's sexual misbehavior during a 2013 trip to Moscow. Trump, who may run again for president in 2024, has repeatedly branded the Russia investigation a political 'witch hunt' and alleged that the Steele dossier was part of a 'Deep State' effort to smear him. Much of what it suggested has never been proven, and some allegations have been shown false.ĭanchenko, a Russian national, was arrested as part of the investigation by special counsel John Durham examining the foundations for the Justice Department's own 2016-2017 probe into Trump's ties to Russia.

The Steele dossier, a compendium of raw intelligence reports commissioned by Democratic Party consultants, sparked strong concerns that Trump could be beholden to Moscow. Igor Danchenko, a consultant and former researcher in Russian affairs at the Brookings Institution, was indicted for lying to FBI investigators in early 2017 about his own sources for the dossier. A Russia expert who was a key source for the explosive dossier by former British spy Christopher Steele that purportedly documented ties between Donald Trump's 2016 election campaign and Moscow was arrested Thursday, the U.S.

Authorities arrest who contributed steele dossier