A former FBI Special Agent and a Bureau Analyst who were part of Robert Mueller’s team testified that Charles Dolan, a Clinton-allied business associate, was not investigated by the office. They also refused to interview him despite their repeated requests.
Brittany Hertzog and Amy Anderson, the former FBI intelligence analysts, both testified that they believed Dolan should be interviewed by the FBI. Their business connections with Igor Danchenko, a Russian national, were partly responsible for Dolan’s interview. ). John Durham (special counsel to Danchenko) has also been charged with lying about the source of the Democratic-funded dossier.
Members of the Mueller team also said they were concerned about Dolan’s connections with Olga Galkina, a Danchenko friend. Danchenko had identified Galkina as a sub-source for the dossier. Danchenko introduced Galkina and Dolan to the dossier in 2016.
Dolan spent many decades in Russia including 2016, doing business with Russia’s government. Anderson, Hertzog expressed concern over Dolan’s possible dossier connections as well as Dolan’s close relationship with Russian officials including Dmitry Peskov, who is the press secretary of Vladimir Putin.
Anderson claimed and Hertzog that Dolan wasn’t being investigated, despite possible dossier connections through Galkina or Danchenko.
Anderson is currently an FBI assistant legal attache in Ottawa. Anderson claimed that she was part of the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane Team, as well as the Mueller team, between April 2017 and January 2018. Anderson also stated that her career is centered around Russian counterintelligence and that she “worked on the dossier in particular” while she worked on the Mueller investigation.
She said she was informed of Danchenko’s existence by Kevin Helson, his handling agent, and Brian Auten, FBI supervisory Intelligence analyst. Brian Auten had spoken to Steele source Steele back in January 2017. She stated that Galkina was also discovered by Hertzog’s database checks.
Anderson met Galkina in Cyprus, and interviewed her in August 2017. Anderson claimed that she had spoken to Auten and sent an email asking for an investigation into Dolan.
Anderson claimed that the item sat for three to four weeks. Anderson testified that Joe Nelson was her supervisory special agent and that she told Anderson later that the item would never be opened.
Anderson claimed she deleted the memo that she had requested from FBI’s Sentinel System to conduct a Dolan investigation, after being told it wouldn’t happen.
Galkina was also mentioned as having told the FBI agent about their meeting in Cyprus. Galkina claimed Danchenko’s friend was “mostly forthcoming”, but she said that she was hesitant about telling us about Mr. Dolan, and that she didn’t want to.
Anderson said that she had asked Galkina questions about Dolan’s connections to the dossier on a car ride near the end of her Cyprus trip. Galkina said that Anderson was cautious. Galkina asked me to remove my sunglasses before we started talking about Dolan.
The defense team found this line of questioning unacceptable and Judge Anthony Trenga stopped them proceeding.
Anderson stated that Dolan’s investigation would have revealed important information about the dossier. This would have enabled FBI agents to conduct interviews, and issue subpoenas.
Anderson acknowledged that Danchenko was responsible for organizing the FBI meeting with Galkina. Anderson acknowledged that Danchenko had provided some of the information in her launch document.
Hertzog is a former Russian counterintelligence analyst and now works for NASDAQ. Anderson and Auten also shared her concerns regarding Dolan, but there were differences within Mueller and some members of the special counsel didn’t want Dolan to be investigated.
Hertzog said that she was primarily focused on Galkina, and that Dolan’s connections to alleged sources and subsources of the dossier were a national security threat.
A former FBI analyst claimed she created a Galkina Report that contained Dolan references. Hertzog claimed that she serialized the report in three case folders to try to get it reviewed by the Washington Field Office.
Hertzog said that although she was not told to continue investigating the Dolan-Danchenko link, she wanted to see Galkina information form higher-ups as she believed there was a Dolan connection.
Dolan testified that he falsified the source of a claim about Trump’s 2016 campaign. This was later included in Steele’s discredit dossier.
