Spy was offered $US1M to prove Donald Trump Russia link

Money was never paid because Christopher Steele did not provide hard evidence to substantiate the claims made in his dossier.

Igor Danchenko arrives at court in Alexandria, Virginia, this week. Picture: AFP

Senior Republicans have criticised “astounding” revelations that the FBI offered the former British spy Christopher Steele up to $US1m ($1.58m) to verify allegations in his dossier about Donald Trump’s links to Russia.

The money was never paid because Mr Steele did not provide hard evidence to substantiate the claims made in the dossier he was commissioned to compile for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign.

Republicans seized on the proposed fee, which emerged during the trial of Igor Danchenko, one of Mr Steele’s main sources. They allege the FBI became politicised by its determination to prove that Mr Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia. The charge of collusion was not proven by a special counsel investigation under the former FBI director Robert Mueller, which found numerous links between the Russian government and the Trump campaign but no criminal conspiracy.

Mr Danchenko, a Russian citizen once investigated as a potential Russian agent, was sent by Mr Steele to Russia to dig for material on Mr Trump. He has pleaded not guilty to five charges of lying to the FBI about the source of his information, which included lurid rumours about Mr Trump’s behaviour in a Moscow hotel that the former president has always denied.

“The lengths the FBI was willing to go to at taxpayer expense to justify their investigation into the Trump campaign is just astounding and downright scary,” Chuck Grassley, the lead Republican member of the Senate judiciary committee, said.

The Steele dossier was not behind the launch of Crossfire Hurricane, the FBI’s original investigation into the 2016 Trump campaign, but contributed to an atmosphere of suspicion and was investigated by the bureau.

Prosecutors allege Mr Danchenko “fabricated and concealed a source” in his interviews with the FBI in January 2017 when they were trying to “corroborate or refute” details in the dossier. Danny Onorato, for Mr Danchenko, told the jury prosecutors would “try to convince you that his truthful answer was somehow false … a truthful statement to an FBI agent … cannot be a crime”.

The trial continues.

The Times