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FBI hired Russian spy as primary source for anti-Trump probe

Prosecutor Durham unveils Igor Danchenko's name as a confidant in the so-called 'Steele Dossier'. Danchenko had links to Russian intelligence.

FBI Flickr

Flickr

Published by
Alejandro Baños

Attorney General John Durham revealed that the FBI paid Russian businessman Igor Danchenko as a confidential informant in the investigation against Trump in 2016. Court filings unsealed by U.S. Attorney Durham point to Danchenko as the FBI's main source in the Steele Dossier case, which was funded by Hillary Clinton.

Prosecutor Durham will go to trial against Danchenko in a Virginia federal court after being charged with five counts of lying to the federal institution. The attorney general could present evidence that Danchenko lied in the Steele Dossier with false statements about Donald Trump and his alleged relationship with Russian prostitutes and the Moscow government. A hoax that was broadcast by the media prior to the 2016 elections.

Danchenko reported to the FBI that Donald Trump engaged in sexual activity with prostitutes at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Moscow. This information was allegedly communicated to him by the hotel management.

For his part, prosecutor Durham spoke with Bernd Kuhlen, manager of the hotel, who acknowledged that he “did not have any conversations with the Russian businessman" and will testify at the trial, Durham himself said:

Mr. Kuhlen does not recall ever meeting or speaking with the defendant in June 2016, or at any time. He also has denied having knowledge of the Ritz-Carlton allegations at any time prior to their being reported in the media, discussing such allegations with, or hearing them. Mr. Kuhlen will testify at trial that he was the only 'western' member of the hotel management in June 2016.

FBI and Danchenko

Danchenko and the FBI had a relationship between March 2017 and October 2020, when the agents fired him for his lies, as indicated in court filings:

In March 2017, the FBI signed the defendant up as a paid confidential human source of the FBI. The FBI terminated its source relationship with the defendant in October 2020. As alleged in further detail below, the defendant lied to FBI agents during several of these interviews.

Despite Danchenko's ties to the Russian intelligence services, the FBI hired him to be its chief informant on the Steele Dossier. The federal bureau fired Danchenko believing that some of his statements were exaggerated or lacked credibility.

Links with Moscow

The files disclosed by U.S. Attorney Durham contain the FBI's concerns. The Federal Bureau's suspicions of his ties to Moscow about Danchenko began in 2009, when they opened an investigation into him for trying to acquire classified information from the Obama Administration. Despite this, the FBI hired him eight years later.

This investigation against Danchenko was closed in 2010. After that, the Russian businessman had further contacts with Russian intelligence services until he was hired, as noted by prosecutor Durham:

During his January 2017 interview with the FBI, the defendant initially denied having any contact with Russian intelligence or security services but later contradicted himself and stated that he had contact with two individuals who he believed to be connected to those services.

FBI's image sinks

The hiring of a confidential informant with ties to Russian intelligence is not the only controversy involving the FBI.

The raid on Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago home and the Hunter Biden case also compromise the image of both the FBI. His reputation is falling with both Republican and Democratic voters, as the latest polls show.

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