Feds charge Russian national who worked on Steele dossier with lying to FBI

A researcher who worked on the controversial Steele dossier has been arrested on charges stemming from the special counsel's investigation of the Russia probe.

A researcher who worked with Christopher Steele in assembling Steele's controversial dossier that contained explosive and unproven claims about former President Donald Trump has been arrested on charges stemming from the special counsel's investigation of the Russia probe, sources familiar with the matter confirm to ABC News.

Igor Danchenko, a Russian national living in the U.S., has previously defended his role in gathering information that Steele used in his dossier, including the salacious claim that Russian officials may have had a videotape of Trump watching prostitutes in a hotel room during a 2013 trip to Moscow. Trump has vehemently denied the claim and no evidence has surfaced to support the allegation.

Danchenko has been charged with five separate counts of making false statements to the FBI in interviews where he discussed how he obtained information that he later provided to Steele for inclusion in the dossier.

In the indictment handed down by a federal grand jury and signed by Special counsel John Durham, Danchenko is accused of falsely telling the FBI he had never communicated with an unidentified U.S.-based individual "who was a long-time participant in Democratic Party Politics" about any allegations included in the dossier -- whereas the indictment says Danchenko had actually sourced one or more of the allegations to that individual.