Trump-Russia Steele dossier source acquitted of lying to FBI

A Russian analyst who worked on a discredited dossier linking Donald Trump to Russia has been found not guilty of lying to the FBI.

The Department of Justice charged Igor Danchenko, 43, as part of a probe into the FBI's inquiry into whether Mr Trump colluded with Russia to win in 2016.

The so-called Steele dossier was used by the FBI to obtain surveillance warrants on a top Trump aide.

Mr Danchenko was accused of lying to agents about the dossier's sources.

Special counsel John Durham, who brought the charges, was appointed by Mr Trump's attorney general in 2019 to look into the FBI's inquiry of ties between Russia and Mr Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.

The Steele dossier, published by news website Buzzfeed 10 days before Mr Trump took office, made a number of explosive claims linking Mr Trump to the Kremlin - including that Russia had compromising material on the Republican candidate.