Russian who was source of infamous golden showers claims about Donald Trump speaks for first time to say ‘I stand by my raw intelligence’ and threatens to sue president and Lindsey Graham
- Trump tweeted about Igor Danchenko calling him ‘primary subsource’ for the Steele dossier
- Danchenko says he is now ‘afraid for his life’
- Accuses Sen. Lindsey Graham of outing him His lawyer demanded White House counsel cease claims
- ‘I’m afraid for my life. I want to stay healthy. I want to stay alive’
A New York-based Russia expert who was outed as a key ‘subsource’ of the infamous Steele dossier says he fears for his life and may sue President Trump and Sen. Lindsey Graham to protect his reputation.
Trump tweeted about Igor Danchenko in September, blasting out a retweet to his millions of followers calling him ‘primary subsource’ for the Steele dossier.
Information about Danchenko’s role in gathering information for the dossier in 2016 emerged during Senate look-backs at the Russia probe.
Igor Danchenko was identified as a subsource for the Steele Dossier, and now says he fears for his life
He spoke to the FBI during its 2018 ‘Crossfire Hurricane’ probe, which Trump regularly derides as a witch hunt. South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham accuses Danchenko of feeding Kremlin information to steele, whose work product contained salacious information about Trump’s alleged conduct in a Moscow hotel room during the Miss Universe pageant.
‘It’s a stigma. Being a ‘Russian spy’ is quite different from being James Bond. There are myths,’ Danchenko told the Guardian in his first interview since his role was exposed.
He also didn’t back down with the dossier’s claim that the Russians’ may have held compromising information on Trump. ‘I stand by it. I got it right,’ he said.
But he also downplayed the raciest parts of the work product, which also argued broadly that the Russians held financial leverage over the president.
Ex British Intelligence officer Christopher Steele compiled the dossier on Donald Trump
Co-owner if the Miss Unioverse Organization US billionaire Donald Trump (R) poses next to Miss Venezuela and Miss Universe 2013 Gabriela Isler after the 2013 Miss Universe competition in Moscow on November 9, 2013
Danchenko also faults South Carolina Lindsey Graham for calling him a source of the dossier
He traveled to Russia and St. Petersburg, Russia to assist Steele in his reports.
He said his own work with sources of information in Russia amounted to ‘hearsay’ and ‘jest.’
But the information, when it failed to be corroborated, got used by Trump and his allies to trash the dossier and portray it as an effort to smear him.
He theorized: ‘I think they thought I would be an easy target to discredit the dossier. By doubling down on this they would be able to discredit the whole Russia investigation.’
He told Reuters in an email: ‘I am exactly what the Department of Justice National Security Division, the FBI, the FBI Inspector General, the Special Counsel and the Republican Senate Intelligence Committee has determined; an experienced expert in Russian affairs who has spent more than a decade in business intelligence.’
‘My academic and business intelligence work in Russia has always been on behalf of Western clients and never on behalf of Russia,’ her added.
Even after publication of the FBI transcript of his interview, Danchenko would not reveal the sources who provided him information. ‘I stand by my raw intelligence,’ he said.
The interview comes in the final week of the campaign where Russia and the Trump probes continue to loom large.
The New York Times on Wednesday revealed new information about a Trump Organization banking account held in China, while Trump and his allies are touting information purportedly gained from Hunter Biden’s laptop about Democratic nominee Joe Biden’s son’s business ties.
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) has claimed the material is Russian disinformation, prompting angry pushback from Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe, who was one of Trump’s most vocal defenders during the Russia probe.
Danchenko has suggested legal action, with lawyer Mark Schamel sending a cease-and-desist letter to White House counsel Pat Cipollone. It said the disclosures were harming Danchenko’s reputation and ‘endangering his life’.