Igor Danchenko, source for Steele dossier, arrested as part of Durham probe

An analyst who was a primary source for a 2016 dossier of allegations against Donald Trump has been arrested on charges arising from special counsel John H. Durham’s probe of that matter, a spokesman for Durham said.

Igor Danchenko’s role in providing information to British ex-spy Christopher Steele, who compiled the accusations about Trump in a series of reports, has long been a subject of investigators’ scrutiny.

Steele presented the dossier to the FBI, and it became part of the basis for secret surveillance court orders targeting former Trump adviser Carter Page as the FBI investigated possible ties between the 2016 Trump presidential campaign and Russia.

Durham’s probe into that FBI investigation has also led to an indictment of a lawyer connected to Democrats, on a charge he lied to the FBI. In addition, a former FBI lawyer who worked on the Page surveillance application later pleaded guilty to altering an email related to that case.

The charges against Danchenko were not immediately known, though they are expected to be unsealed later Thursday, according to people familiar with the matter. The arrest was first reported by the New York Times.