One of the two men acquitted at trial in John Durham’s notorious investigation of the investigators appears to be seeking to write a tell-all book about his experience.
Gotham Ghostwriters, an agency dedicated to matching writers with those with a story to tell, put out a request on Wednesday for a “political investigation defendant memoir project.”
The request doesn’t identify the client by name, but its description of their background and history matches – and could only really match – Igor Danchenko, the Russian-born U.S. citizen intelligence analyst who was hired to compile portions of the Steele Dossier.
Per the release, sent out to its mailing list of writers-for-hire, the client is a “Russian-American intelligence and political analyst” who played a key role in what the announcement describes as a “high-profile political opposition research report during the 2016 presidential election.”
That oppo research report in turn partly triggered an unnamed investigation, which then led to high-profile criminal charges and the subject’s acquittal, according to the request.
“Subsequently, he was prosecuted by the Department of Justice on charges of lying to Federal officials, but was acquitted on all counts,” the request reads.
The announcement describes the opposition research report as “controversial” and “extremely high profile.”
Durham charged Danchenko in November 2021 with five counts of making false statements to the FBI, after which he was acquitted at trial in October 2022.
Gotham declined to comment on whether the client is Danchenko, saying in a statement that the agency “has a strict policy of not publicly disclosing or commenting on the identify of our clients.”
Danchenko declined to comment, only telling TPM that he was “actively looking for work in my field.”
Durham secured a guilty plea from former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith for improperly altering evidence used for a search warrant application. Durham brought charges against former Perkins Coie lawyer Michael Sussmann for making a false statement to the FBI, but Sussmann was acquitted.
Of the three, Danchenko is the only Russian-born person to face charges from Durham, and the only one whose charges directly related to the Steele Dossier.
Durham faced a mixture of criticism and ridicule for his conduct, with the false statements charges against Sussmann and Danchenko both dissolving at trial. Apparently undeterred by his defeats, Durham included allegations that had been debunked in both cases in his final report released last month.
Per the request for ghost writers, the planned memoir will be released before the 2024 election with the pitch going out to publishers this fall.
The announcement describes the story as “one part political drama and one part high-stakes espionage thriller that offers chilling insights into flaws in the US justice system, all framed around an everyman whose American Dream was transformed into an American nightmare by corrupt and partisan legislators and justice officials.”
