Analyst pleads not guilty to Durham charges of lying to FBI

Igor Danchenko, an analyst who worked on the controversial Steele dossier on former President Trump, pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to charges that he lied to the FBI about his work on the report. 

A federal judge in Virginia set a trial date for Danchenko for April 18. The charges unsealed last week were brought by John Durham, the Justice Department special counsel appointed by Trump to probe federal law enforcement’s investigation into his 2016 presidential campaign. 

Durham’s office in its indictment accuses Danchenko of lying to the FBI about where he obtained the information used in the dossier, which included allegations that Trump participated in lewd acts during a trip to Russia.

Federal prosecutors accuse Danchenko of hiding the fact that he was fed information by a Democratic donor and political operative.

The donor is not named in the indictment, but The Washington Post has identified him as Charles Dolan Jr.

The case is one of three criminal prosecutions that Durham’s office has brought so far in his long-running and wide-ranging investigation into possible political motivations behind the investigation into Trump’s campaign.

Danchenko’s lawyer did not immediately respond when asked for comment.