Even before the FBI interviewed Igor Danchenko over three days in late January 2017, the agency wanted to enroll the suspected primary sub-source of the discredited dossier authored by ex-British spy Christopher Steele as a confidential source, according to a document.
The document was listed as an exhibit for Danchenko’s trial by his defense but never was formally entered into evidence.
The date and description showed the FBI was recruiting the Russian national to be a source shortly after—or even as—he was working with Steele as a business intelligence analyst for London-based Orbis, Steele’s company, and collecting—by his own admission—80 percent of the raw material that appeared in the dossier.
That revelation, which wasn’t directly addressed during Danchenko’s five-day trial before U.S. Eastern District of Virginia Judge Anthony Trenga in Alexandria, Virginia, was first noticed by internet sleuth “walkafyre,” author of The MYE [Mid-year Exam] Files.
That same day—Jan. 12, 2017—that the FBI decided to convert Danchenko into a “confidential source,” Department of Justice (DOJ) Inspector General Michael Horowitz announced the Office of Inspector General was initiating “a review of allegations regarding certain actions by the DOJ and the FBI in advance of the 2016 election.”
In what was known as “Crossfire Hurricane,” the FBI and DOJ investigated Donald Trump and his campaign’s alleged links with Russia. The investigation was partly based on the dossier, which was funded by Trump rival Hillary Clinton and other Democrats.
Horowitz’s probe was launched “in response to requests from numerous chairmen and ranking members of congressional oversight committees, various organizations, and members of the public” to determine if the agency’s investigation of alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and then Russian government was politically motivated and based on “improper considerations.”
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