Forty-three-year-old analyst Danchenko has been charged with five cases of making false allegations to investigators who were investigating a possible Donald Trump connection to Russia to try to influence the election. The information he had just given, which he had previously given to Steel, was used in a file concerning Trump’s ties to Russia.
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According to federal prosecutors, Danchenko falsely stated that he had obtained information from an anonymous person calling him, suggesting that “communication between Trump’s election staff and Russian officials continued and that the caller suggested that the Kremlin could help elect Trump.”
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Danchenko originally planned to go to the authorities under the agreement, but when news of Danchenko’s allegations escaped, the FBI decided to arrest him.
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Trump has long faced unsubstantiated allegations of his connection to Russia, which Steele put together. Trump claimed that it was a political attack aimed at undermining his election campaign and questioning his presidency. According to Steel’s file, which was published by Buzzfeed in early 2017 before Trump’s inauguration, Russia provided Trump’s staff with compromising materials on Democrats to help elect a Republican candidate.
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Steele defended the news last month in an interview with ABC.
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According to documents submitted to the court on Thursday, Danchenko gave various explanations for the most disgusting accusation that Trump had fun with Russian prostitutes during a competition for the beauty queen at a Moscow-run hotel under secret service. In ambiguous statements, Danchenko then claimed that Trump’s cooperation with the Russians was more of a “rumor and speculation.”
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Steele compiled a report on Trump’s activities, which he put together with Danchenko’s help, for Fusion GPS. Hillary Clinton hired a law firm representing the National Committee of Democrats and the election staff.
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The information in the file became part of the FBI-led investigation into Russia’s influence in the US election, and contributed to the request for monitoring of Trump’s former adviser, Carter Page. According to the FBI, Page was part of “a well-organized conspiracy between Trump’s election staff and the Russian leadership.”
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Special Investigator John Durham
Photo: ČTK / AP
Danchenko’s prosecution is the third to be launched by a special Russian interference investigator, John Durham, to find out if the FBI was abusing surveillance and wiretapping. Durham’s investigation has so far led to the conviction of an FBI lawyer who admitted to changing the e-mail authorizing the viewing of Page.
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Michael Sussman, a prominent lawyer specializing in cyber security, whose firm is affiliated with Democrats, was accused. In September 2016, Sussman met with James Baker, who was in charge of the FBI at the Department of Justice, to provide him with data and other evidence of Trump’s secret communication with Alfa Bank in Moscow, without stating that he was acting as an advocate for one of the parties involved.
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