Nov. 4 (UPI) -- Russian analyst Igor Danchenko, the primary source of the so-called "Steele Dossier" of information involved in Democrats' investigation of ties between former President Donald Trump and Moscow, has been arrested by federal authorities.
Authorities said Thursday that Danchenko was arrested as part of special counsel John Durham's investigation into the dossier, which was compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele.
Danchenko contributed some of the information to the dossier, which was later used by the FBI to secure warrants to surveil a former Trump campaign aide.
An indictment charges him with five counts of lying to the FBI during interviews in 2017 about where he got information included in the dossier. Steele hired Danchenko to gather information on Trump from people he knew in Russia.
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Durham was appointed last year by former Attorney General William Barr to investigate the origins of the FBI's investigation into Trump's 2016 campaign and Russia that ultimately produced the Mueller report.
Barr gave Durham special counsel status to ensure that his work would continue after Joe Biden became president.
Most of the claims in the Steele Dossier have been either refuted or unproven. Some of the information ended up on the FBI's wiretapping application to monitor Trump campaign adviser Carter Page in October 2016.
Other portions were leaked to news media and the website Buzzfeed published parts of the dossier in 2017 before Trump took office. An inspector general's report later slammed the FBI for using the dossier in its application to surveil Page.
In September, Durham charged an attorney with lying to the FBI about his ties to 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
