FBI Officials Blocked Investigation Into Dossier Source With Russian Links: Testimony

Russian analyst Igor Danchenko walks to the Albert V. Bryan U.S. Courthouse in Alexandria, Va., on Oct. 11, 2022. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

ALEXANDRIA, Va.—An FBI supervisory agent and former bureau analyst both say they were prevented from opening an investigation into a longtime Democratic operative’s relationships with Russians and key players in assembling the anti-Donald Trump dossier authored by former British spy Christopher Steele.

FBI special agent Amy Anderson and former FBI counterintelligence expert Brittany Hertzog wanted to probe Charles Dolan, a longtime Clinton family associate who did business for years with top Russian officials and also provided information to Igor Danchenko, a key source for Steele’s dossier.

But special agent Joe Nelson, Anderson’s boss, blocked her efforts, Anderson testified.

Hertzog said she was blocked by Brian Auten, another official, who worked on special counsel Robert Mueller’s team.

Anderson and Hertzog testified on Oct. 14 during the trial of Russian business analyst Igor Danchenko before U.S. Eastern District of Virginia Judge Anthony Trenga.

Danchenko, a Russian national and Virginia resident, is charged with five counts of making false statements to FBI investigators during three January 2017 interviews. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges, which could carry a 25-year prison sentence if convicted.

Danchenko was the primary sub-source in funneling salacious accusations in 2016 about then-presidential candidate Donald Trump to former British intelligence agent Christopher Steele, who went on to compile a dossier while being paid by Democrats such as Hillary Clinton, Trump’s rival for the presidency.

Dolan

Danchenko was charged with lying about his contact with Dolan, a longtime Democratic operative, Clinton family associate, and billionaire founder who is now senior vice president of a Virginia-based public relations firm, though the charge was tossed on Friday.

Dolan himself testified Oct. 13 that he worked for Ketchum PR for 13 years and was frequently in Moscow and elsewhere in Russia working with the company’s clients.

Among those clients was the government of the Russian Federation and among those he worked most closely with was Dmitry Peskov, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s press secretary, who Hertzog described as overseeing Russian propaganda and misinformation.

Dolan in his testimony acknowledged that he had a close working relationship with Peskov as well as Olga Galkina, who came from the same town as Danchenko in Russia and was living in Cyprus.

Through Dolan’s decade-long connections with Danchenko, Dolan was able to secure a public relations contract with her employer, service.com.

Dolan and Danchenko also were in Moscow together in June and October 2016. The latter visit was for a business conference they helped organize.

Dolan and Galkina are among those suspected of helping Danchenko compile most of the information contained in the dossier written and published in 17 reports by Steele. Galkina denies she was involved, but FBI agents and Danchenko say she was.

Drew Attention

The connectivity between the three drew the attention of FBI investigators involved in the Crossfire Hurricane probe of the Trump campaign’s alleged collusion with Russian officials that in the spring of 2017 morphed into the Mueller investigation.

Anderson, a specialist in Russian counterintelligence who has been with the agency for 12 years, was involved in the investigation from April 2017 to January 2018 and was attempting to either verify the reports or determine they were not accurate.

In the course of that research, she became aware of the active connection between Danchenko, Dolan, and Galkina.

When asked by prosecutor Brittany Shaw if she believed further steps needed to be taken to investigate Dolan, Anderson said, “I did.”

“I wanted to look into him,” she said, lobbying for the agency to explore the Dolan–Peskov connection.

“Anyone who had access to the Kremlin would be important to look into,” she said, maintaining looking into Dolan’s activities was imperative in validating or debunking the dossier.

Anderson said it would be important for Russian actors like Peskov to know someone was looking for rumors and allegations against a presidential candidate and that it “would be of interest to investigators” to ascertain links between those seeking the information and officials in Russia.

In August 2017, Anderson and FBI supervisory counterintelligence analyst Auten went to Cyprus to speak with Galkina, a meeting arranged by Danchenko.

Over the span of the three days, “she seemed mostly forthcoming” but “was hesitant in talking to us about Dolan,” Anderson said.

On the last day, Anderson said, she directly asked Galkina if Dolan was involved in the dossier and other activities related to their investigation.

“We were in a car and she asked me to remove my sunglasses so she could look me in the eye and say, ‘Yes,’” Anderson recounted.

That comment induced objections from Danchenko’s defense team that Trenga sustained, advising the jury to disregard everything after Anderson said, she removed her sunglasses.

Attempts to Investigate

On the return flight, Anderson said she wrote a type of report the FBI uses to open investigations and submitted it to her supervisor, special agent Joe Nelson.

The report “sat for approximately three, four weeks,” she said, before her supervisor, special agent Joe Nelson, told her to close it.

Hertzog, a Russian counterintelligence specialist for 11 years before leaving the agency in 2019, under questioning from prosecutor Michael Keilty, recounted how Dolan was making multiple trips to Moscow and numerous trips to Cyprus in 2018.

Dolan’s “connectivity” to Galkina “was important,” she said, “especially considering his relationship with Peskov.”

“I was concerned,” Hertzog said. She “wanted to take investigatory steps against Dolan,” noting both Anderson and Auten shared her concerns.

She prepared a report that outlined Dolan’s connections with the Russian government, Danchenko, and Galkina and “serialized” it to three case files.

“I wanted others to see it,” especially the agency’s inspector general division, Hertzog said, because she wanted the FBI to act on the gathered intelligence.

“I believed further action was needed for Dolan,” Hertzog said.

However, she said, she was instructed by Auten “not to take further action relative to Dolan.”