ALEXANDRIA, Virginia — The FBI agent assigned to be the handler for Igor Danchenko sought to have the bureau pay the main source for British ex-spy Christopher Steele’s discredited anti-Trump dossier more than $500,000, as the FBI apparently relied on him in Russia-related investigations, according to new revelations in special counsel John Durham‘s investigation.
FBI agent Kevin Helson, who was the handling agent for Danchenko as he worked as a paid informant and confidential human source for the bureau from March 2017 to October 2020, testified Thursday that the dossier source went on to become a key part of the FBI’s efforts to combat Russian malign influence in the United States, and, after Danchenko was publicly identified as the former MI6 agent’s main source in the summer of 2016, Helton sought to reward Danchenko lucratively.
FBI WANTED TO SUSPEND ANALYST WHO INTERVIEWED STEELE SOURCE
The FBI agent made an October 2020 request to pay Danchenko a lump sum of $346,000; testimony revealed that would have brought the total amount the Russian lawyer and analyst had been paid by the bureau over a few years up to a total of $546,000. The lump-sum payment request was denied.
Claims in Steele’s dossier were undermined by Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz, who, in a late 2019 report, criticized the DOJ and the FBI for at least 17 “significant errors and omissions” related to the FISA warrants against onetime Trump campaign aide Carter Page, who was never charged with any wrongdoing, and for the bureau’s “central and essential” reliance on Steele’s dossier.
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Helson testified Thursday that he had written in 2020 that, from 2017 through that time, Danchenko had provided assistance in 25 ongoing FBI investigations and contributed to at least 40 intelligence reports. The FBI agent testified that these investigations and reports largely or entirely to combating Russian malign influence.
Danchenko is standing trial after he was charged in November 2021 with five counts of making false statements to the bureau. He has pleaded not guilty, and his lawyers claim the FBI will praise his work for the bureau.
