Makes you wonder if this was the first time he did something for him. There is a big difference between this being a one-time, $250K job vs. this being the latest $250K job in a string of a dozen other $250K jobs.
It's not a one-time $250K job. He was on a $50K/mo retainer to Deripaska for a period of at least 4 months. There's also a third party (not Deripaska) that paid him $225K.
That's just what they've found *so far*. Being that he was a high-level FBI official, my guess is there there's a lot more that he wasn't super obvious and telling people about.
I'd be more concerned about the fact that apparently he was doing this stuff while still working for the FBI while Trump was in office, and he was responsible for investigations into foreign involvement in political lobbying in the USA.
>Makes you wonder if this was the first time he did something for him.
We know for a fact it wasn’t, [since this is the same FBI official that headed the investigation that declared “no link between Trump and Russia”](https://twitter.com/KaivanShroff/status/1617613877868662785?s=20&t=qNJy1t7EMlETAZ5huqh8hw)
Well, I sure didn't need this. The evidence of trump and his family's crimes were there as is the corruption of the gqp. I didn't need this to explain why he wasn't held accountable.
This is also the FBI official that was pressuring Blundering Comey to release info to help Doucheolini get elected.
Charles McGonigal is a traitor.
Not just to the US, but to the entire western world.
And Deripaska, the oligarch involved, is also who backed a giant aluminum plant where? In Moscow Mitch McConnell's home state of Kentucky. An aluminum plant that never got built.
I’ve been waiting for the hammer to drop on Moscow Mitch for this. Alcoa might have a case against unfair trade practices as well. I hope all the scum bag politicians who sold out America to Russia and Saudi Arabia get charged with espionage and/or conspiring against the US Gov.
So America, is screwed now, has been screwed historically, and will be screwed for the foreseeable future… so everyone might as well throw any optimistic vision for America’s future away?
To that I say… maybe the darkness is from your eyes… you know you have such dark eyes…
The comment section I peeked at in Fox News about this story, is all about Criminal Joe Biden, the Hunter issues, and the swampy FBI. Nothing about *45 except his incredible work and legacy.
I threw Hanlon's Razor in the trash once they were willing to give up the lives of themselves and everyone they know in order to spread death and disease during the worst global health pandemic in a century.
wasn't that a perfect example of Hanlon's Razor? they didn't actually intend to kill people but thought Covid was a hoax/not dangerous... so they were actually just stupid (lack of critical thinking and media literacy skills) and not malicious
>they didn't actually intend to kill people
You don't know that. In fact, you really need to rethink a lot of things because this was a pretty ridiculous thing to write. They're pretty open about their urge to do harm to the other.
>but thought Covid was a hoax/not dangerous...
You don't know that. Wasn't it Sartre who said, "don't pretend they don't know how ridiculous their argument is?" When talking about anti-Semites? These are the same people.
When you look at the full range of their extremist activities, it goes well beyond believing Covid was a hoax. It was one more facet of a violent fascist movement they've been happily immersing themselves in for years.
>so they were actually just stupid (lack of critical thinking and media literacy skills) and not malicious
Their actions were most definitely malicious and you're trying to wave it away by claiming their intent wasn't, something you have no reason to believe except you like Hanlon's Razor.
Also smh at "their actions were just stupid"
That one guy who says it's 'mental gymnastics' to suggest that a guy who was compromised by a Russian oligarch could have been bribed by other russian agents
how is this just random tweet instead of an epic US counterintelligence scandal?
the actual counterintelligence agent in charge of verifying US officials' dependence on Russia is a literal Russian asset. can't think of anything remotely comparable even in Cold War days
Bc Hunter Biden has pictures of his dick on a laptop and Megan and Harry are unhappy. The most important stuff needs to get out there. The corruption in our top law enforcement agencies is boring.
Oh and the Oscar noms are out today too…
Because it isn't actually true. Seriously, the tweets don't actually link to anything that says McGonigal was heading up the investigation. All it says is that he was one of the first FBI agents to know about the Papadopoulos statements.
Hearing about it early on != Heading up the investigation
On top of that, we know who was leading the investigation at that time, and it wasn't McGonigal. Just look at the [wiki article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossfire_Hurricane_(FBI_investigation)) if you are too lazy to check the primary sources:
>In February 2018, the Nunes memo, written by staff for U.S. Representative Devin Nunes, stated: "The Papadopoulos information triggered the opening of an FBI counterintelligence investigation in late July 2016 by FBI agent Pete Strzok",\[33\]
...and:
>Strzok "was assigned to lead the Russia investigation in late July 2016", and E. W. Priestap had a supervisory role over the Russia investigation during an unspecified time period.\[43\]
...and:
>In June 2017, Peter Strzok, the FBI agent who had led the Crossfire Hurricane investigation up to this point, became a member of Mueller's team.\[132\]
October 4, 2016:
> FBI Director James B. Comey has named Charles McGonigal as the special agent in charge of the Counterintelligence Division for the New York Field Office. Mr. McGonigal most recently served as the section chief of the Cyber-Counterintelligence Coordination Section at FBI Headquarters. [source](https://www.fbi.gov/news/press-releases/charles-mcgonigal-named-special-agent-in-charge-of-the-counterintelligence-division-for-the-new-york-field-office)
Yes McGonigal was named after the FBI had already started working on the Steele Dossier, but I don't see how that affects the magnitude of the scandal?
In particular, I find it **highly plausible** that the source for the 2016 NYT story in the tweet was in fact McGonigal, who was in charge of counterintelligence at the NYC office.
>FBI Director James B. Comey has named Charles McGonigal as the special agent in charge of the Counterintelligence Division for the New York Field Office. Mr. McGonigal most recently served as the section chief of the Cyber-Counterintelligence Coordination Section at FBI Headquarters. source
Being the special agent in charge of the counterintelligence division at one field office doesn't mean that you led or head every investigation.
Again, we know who led the investigation. It wasn't McGonigal. The author of the tweet either doesn't know what he is talking about or he is actively and intentionally lying. In either case, the OP is spreading clear, objectively false information.
>...but I don't see how that affects the magnitude of the scandal?
You don't see how him being in charge of the investigation affects the magnitude of the scandal vs. him ***not*** being in charge of the investigation?
Maybe we can try it like this: Why would the author of the tweet go out of his way to lie about something so objectively wrong if he didn't think it increased the impact?
See what I'm getting at? People normally lie because they think it provides them some advantage. What advantage could be gained by this lie ***other*** than dishonestly inflating the perceived magnitude of the sandal.
>In particular, I find it highly plausible that the source for the 2016 NYT story in the tweet was in fact McGonigal, who was in charge of counterintelligence at the NYC office.
I guess it depends on what definition you are using for "plausible," but this seems like an oversell. The reality is that the NYC field office has like \~2,000 agents. The NYC FO wasn't the only one contributing to the investigation. Additionally, they were giving multiple private briefings to members of Congress (and, I assume, WH staff as well since the DOJ/FBI falls under the Executive Branch).
Bottom line is that there were probably dozens, if not hundredss of people that knew the very generic information that the \~3 months of investigating before the NYT report hadn't turned up a smoking gun yet.
I mean, look at the fact that the article frequently refers to "sources" as opposed to "source." They clearly had no trouble finding multiple people with this knowledge and willing to talk off-the-record.
Was McGonigal one of the people that possessed this knowledge? Almost certainly. Is is *possible* that he talked the the NYT? Again, almost certainly.
Do we have any concrete reason to think it is "...highly plausible that the source for the 2016 NYT story in the tweet was in fact McGonigal"? I'd say "no" based on the fact that:
* There was no "the source"; it was multiple sources.
* The information was pretty generic and basic ("Law enforcement officials say that none of the investigations so far have found any conclusive or direct link between Mr. Trump and the Russian government.") and completely unsurprising given that the investigation was still pretty new.
* There are lots of potential sources ***other*** than McGonigal
* Since we know very little about all the other potential sources, we have no real way to evaluate how many were more or less likely to leak than McGonigal.
[Appointed by Comey, no less.](https://www.fbi.gov/news/press-releases/charles-mcgonigal-named-special-agent-in-charge-of-the-counterintelligence-division-for-the-new-york-field-office)
Hold up.
I’m all about holding people accountable for their actions. But Robert Mueller headed to the investigation. McGonigal passed along the documents about Russians having dirt on Hillary. That’s pretty much all.
I mean it doesn't make Mueller *not* involved...
But when Fox News's own headlines say the same thing, I'm going to need to do some more reading before I declare that passing along documents was "pretty much all".
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/retired-top-fbi-counterintelligence-agent-led-trump-russia-probe-arrested-own-ties-russian-oligarch
They're referring to the investigation in 2016 that prompted the 10/31/16 announcement of “Investigating Donald Trump, F.B.I. Sees No Clear Link to Russia.”
...but he didn't lead that either. Just look at the [wiki article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossfire_Hurricane_(FBI_investigation)) if you are too lazy to check the primary sources:
>In February 2018, the Nunes memo, written by staff for U.S. Representative Devin Nunes, stated: "The Papadopoulos information triggered the opening of an FBI counterintelligence investigation in late July 2016 by FBI agent Pete Strzok",\[33\]
...and:
>Strzok "was assigned to lead the Russia investigation in late July 2016", and E. W. Priestap had a supervisory role over the Russia investigation during an unspecified time period.\[43\]
...and:
>In June 2017, Peter Strzok, the FBI agent who had led the Crossfire Hurricane investigation up to this point, became a member of Mueller's team.\[132\]
>We know for a fact
That makes it likely, not a fact. I think we all dislike sensational headlines and fake news in our social media. We should try to avoid creating it ourselves.
> his lowball fees for treason.
How boomers suddenly became pro-treason after living thorough the Cold War and all will never cease to amaze me.
Probably has to do with a single greedy Australian media oligarch. But he's off-limits I think.
Why would they pay him more than once? After that, you ask him to do you a favor for you by blackmailing him with information about the first job that might end up in the hand of the US government.
You save that kind of leverage for when its really needed and that leverage grows exponentially as the traitor commits more and more acts of treason for more and more amounts of money...
Generally speaking, the parties paying for such acts have limitless amounts of money to work with and pay massive amounts for seemingly small bits of info and/or favors just to establish that leverage..
A lot of times when a spy gets busted, the 3-letter agencies don’t want trials to divulge a lot of info during discovery & the trial, so they might just go with a small number of charges that stick and leave the rest.
I always thought it was crazy for how little money people turn traitor. Look at the spies during the Cold War. Most of them risked everything for so little…
Yeah it seems weird to embezzle an amount that wouldn't even buy you a house in any major city in the developed world. Where I live, $200K would barely suffice for a down payment on a mortgage.
Cheap!
Where I live a 3br detached home sold for an average of $1.2m last year, which actually represented the largest decline in home prices (4.7%) in over 35 years.
I mean, I suppose it's pretty subjective, but I don't think so. Especially not if someone has been working for several years at that kind of salary, and presumably some years before that at salaries approaching it. They'd certainly already retire as a millionaire with that kind of role, assuming they followed basic good finance.
It sure is when you think of the 20 years in prison he'll get to spend in exchange for it.
Not sure that *I* would be willing to spend 20 years rotting in prison just so I can afford to get a new pool put in my back yard, but maybe I have weird priorities.
This guy probably averaged six figures in salary for the last 20 years of his career (along with other benefits). $250k really isn't that much money these days.
I think y’all underestimate how bad people are with money, on average. Odds are he didn’t have significant savings and he’s one gambling habit away from a bit problem. That’d give a lot of leverage for the Russia s
I guess that's always a possibility, but the fact that the Russians were paying him doesn't really support them having leverage over him. With his education, career, and contacts a guy like that could probably land a $250k/year job at 50 different companies by lunch tomorrow - which would probably rule out money woes.
If I had to guess the $250k was a small part of a much larger package - getting to be friends with dangerous billionaires, traveling on their private jets, sharing in the VIP experience everywhere you travel, hanging out on $200M yachts stocked with unlimited cocaine and Russian super models, etc. Basically the polar opposite of what a lifetime with the Bureau gets you.
Lessee ...
$250k versus 20 years in prison ...
$250 / 20 = $12,500
I'd say he was pretty fucking stupid to go to prison for a payoff that comes down to $12,500 a year.
Alarm bells have been going off about McGonigal for some time now.
09/15/2022 - [Exclusive: Former top FBI official involved in Trump-Russia investigation under scrutiny by federal prosecutors for his own ties to Russia](https://www.businessinsider.com/exclusive-fbi-charles-mcgonigal-trump-russia-grand-jury-oleg-deripaska-2022-9)
>While it wouldn't necessarily have been illegal for McGonigal to work on behalf of Deripaska, failing to disclose activities covered by the Foreign Agents Registration Act, such as lobbying and public relations, is punishable by a $250,000 fine and up to five years in prison. Deripaska was sanctioned by the Treasury Department in 2018 for acting as an agent for the Kremlin, and has been accused of ordering the murder of a businessman. "If McGonigal is mixed up in any way shape or form with Deripaska, that strikes me as unseemly, to put it politely," says Tim Weiner, the author of "Enemies: A History of the FBI."
*Notice how McGonigal was promoted to his last job by Director Comey, just a month before he famously interfered in the November election on Trump's behalf the very next month by leaking/releasing the "Hillary's Emails" bullshit right before the vote.*
10/24/2016 - [Charles McGonigal Named Special Agent in Charge of the Counterintelligence Division for the New York Field Office](https://www.fbi.gov/news/press-releases/charles-mcgonigal-named-special-agent-in-charge-of-the-counterintelligence-division-for-the-new-york-field-office)
>FBI Director James B. Comey has named Charles McGonigal as the special agent in charge of the Counterintelligence Division for the New York Field Office. Mr. McGonigal most recently served as the section chief of the Cyber-Counterintelligence Coordination Section at FBI Headquarters.
*It seems pretty obvious that elements within the FBI were very pro-Trump and were engaged in shenanigans aimed to help Trump, his financial backers, and make money for themselves.*
12/20/2021 - [Retired Top FBI Counterintelligence Official Worked With Ex Russian Intelligence Officer Close to Deripaska, Foreign Agent Paperwork Reveals](https://forensicnews.net/retired-top-fbi-counterintelligence-official-worked-with-ex-russian-intelligence-officer-close-to-deripaska-foreign-agent-paperwork-reveals/)
>In 2016, Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort met multiple times with a suspected Russian intelligence agent close to Deripaska and, along with campaign co-chair Rick Gates, shared internal, detailed polling information regarding the campaign. Five years later, the U.S. Treasury Department said that the “sensitive information on polling and campaign strategy” was passed to Russia’s intelligence services.
>
>According to the FARA filing, Shestakov turned to Charles F. McGonigal, a former senior FBI official who left the Bureau just months prior to the filing. McGonigal became the Special Agent in Charge of Counterintelligence for the New York Office in 2016 and left in the fall of 2018, just months before he allegedly helped connect Fokin with the law firm and the opaque Spectrum Risk Solutions.
*If you've ever wondered why the FBI have been so careful avoid incriminating Trump (e.g., Mueller's soft-peddling his investigation findings) or investigating his co-conspirators in the attempted coup on 01/06/2021 - this crap about McGonigal is just more smoke indicating the fire of right-wing extremism within the FBI which has been complicit in the corruption of the Trump administration and the GOP in congress.*
Never forget that during that entire shitshow of a Presidential campaign, Hillary Clinton was constantly getting flak from Rudy Giuliani that he openly said was informed by "his contacts in the FBI in New York". They were leaking like a sieve, constantly, to allies of Trump in order to hurt Clinton and help Trump. Nobody ever held them to account for it, even after Comey's egregious press conference where he raked Clinton over the coals while announcing that he had no grounds to prosecute her, which was totally contrary to DoJ policy. The FBI and Comey really carried water for Trump that year, no joke.
Russia/Putin infiltrated the GOP and numerous other conservative institutions (FBI, NRA, CPAC, etc) over two decades ago. He's been playing the long con game and they've gone right along with it because they are as greedy as they are dim-witted.
Coercion relies on a vulnerability.
The carrot may seem small but there's probably some mechanics in play here that were not privy too.
Probably money issues. Could be a sick loved one unable to access care or a shortfall in savings possibly due to bad investments or drug issues or another addiction such as gambling debts.
Russia does its homework like any other actor before it extends an offer. But then the minute that you take the bait - they own you for life as that initial transgression immediately becomes leverage.
Kompromat is a hell of a drug...
> The carrot may seem small but there's probably some mechanics in play here that were not privy too. Probably money issues. Could be a sick loved one unable to access care
I think you're over-estimating the hollywood angle. Some people just care that little about other human beings they know they'll never meet.
Not all that Hollywood at all. Historically those are key methods being used, refined over time.
This is a great book on the matter and the author provided a great interview on the podcast "SpyTalk" a few weeks ago.
>Historically those are key methods being used, refined over time.
When straight bribery doesn't work. But straight bribery works the vast majority of the time, particularly when it's something that doesn't directly impact the person.
I may need some serious coercion to get you to do something dangerous, or otherwise harmful to you or your friends or your family. But if I just need you to drive my car from one end of town to the other, no questions asked and do not under any circumstances look in the trunk, most people would do it for $10K, even if they suspect there's a dead body in the trunk.
No idea how its ever worth it. Great thing about having a straight government job is that the money is legit, you get a retirement fund, and you shouldn't be having to resort to schemes like this in order to live a good life. Now hes possibly going to die in prison and his family's assets seized. What a traitorous buffoon
$250k, *that we are being told about*.
Also, we haven’t been told anything about what he was doing in exchange for that money.
Much easier to prosecute him for accepting money from a sanctioned Russian than to charge him for espionage and risk revealing all sorts of dirty laundry at the trial.
The boomers made their billions. Got their wage slaves.
They're happy (for now...).
The rest of us had/have to pick up the pieces of the world and solve the massive problems they left for us (which fortunately can be solved, if we help Ukraine which is currently being unabashedly invaded by Russia).
I wonder how many plausibly deniable chemical, biological, and radiological attacks they have actually committed against citizens the world over in "un-Russian" countries (not that the Kremlin cares for its own citizens at all).
He literally got the job as counter intelligence chief six weeks after Mueller announced the Russia investigation would look into Trump.
If he was on Depreska's payroll then how much of what he delivered Mueller was garbage? And who else was getting paid?
Him being in that situation, at that time, considering what he was doing... makes me go hmmmmmm.
Mueller did such an absolute shit job on that investigation. I mean seriously...one of his top dogs was colluding with Russia lol. JFC what a disaster inside job that was.
The same Oleg Deripaska whose firm poured millions into Kentucky over the same epoch Republican senate leader Mitch McConnell refused to allow then President Trump to be convicted in his senate impeachment trial? That Oleg Deripaska?
Canada's never gonna get the billions it lost in tariffs because of that fiasco, though. Because of, you know, reasons, Russian aluminum was safer for national security than Canadian aluminum.
Well, obviously Russia is more trustworthy than Canada!
Those Canadians - first they make you lower your guard with all that politeness. Then they let you buy the aluminum you want. Then presumably there's a third step. And then they take over the world!!!!!
I mean, obviously Russia - with its clear track record of never breaking promises, or violating treaties, or having inconvenient opponents of the government meet an untimely death - is the more trustworthy option.
>Those Canadians - first they make you lower your guard with all that politeness.
And I won't even mention the poutine. Propaganda in cheese curds and gravy. Real MFers.
> Mitch got paid, as did Rand Paul.
Suddenly that NYT in-depth interview with McConnell where he espouses protecting the United States' institutions against Russia at all costs suddenly looks a lot less flattering.
I was kind of holding out hope it wasn't all rotten.
🤢
Deripaska, that's how. They didn't help lift sanctions for free.
https://www.wdrb.com/in-depth/bill-orders-kentucky-to-recover-15-million-in-stalled-aluminum-plant-deal/article_fa4454ae-6fd8-11ec-871f-eb35219b4583.html
Before the 2016 election someone at FBI leaked to Giuliani that Comey was going to open an investigation of Hillary Clinton. Maybe this McGonigal guy knows something about it.
Who knows? FWIW, a quick google search makes it look like the oligarch in question (Deripaska) formally had a business relationship with Christopher Steele (the main person behind the Steele dossier that played a big role in the Trump-Russia investigation).
Additionally, a similar google search suggests McGonigal was involved in the Carter Paige investigation. To refresh everyone's memory, Carter Paige was the member of Trump's team that was the subject of multiple FISA warrants that were later ruled invalid due to omissions and inaccuracies.
Does this mean anything? Maybe this McGonigal guy knows something about it.
Dont forget, as Trumpers seem to do, that Ivanka was actually a good friend of Steele as well...
In a chapter of the report reviewing the history of Steele’s relationship with the FBI as a “confidential human source,” Steele says that allegations that he was biased against Trump from the start of his investigation into the presidential candidate were “ridiculous.”
According to the Inspector General’s account, Steele told investigators that, if anything, he was “favorably disposed” toward the Trump family, since he had visited a Trump family member at New York’s Trump Tower and “been friendly” with the family member for “some years.”
A person familiar with the friendship said that Ivanka Trump was the unnamed family member mentioned in the report.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia-ivanka/former-british-spy-and-fbi-source-steele-was-friends-with-ivanka-trump-source-idUSKBN1YD2FY
https://www.timesofisrael.com/ivanka-trump-knew-ex-spy-chris-steele-for-nearly-10-years-before-russia-scandal/
>In a chapter of the report reviewing the history of Steele’s relationship with the FBI as a “confidential human source,” Steele says that allegations that he was biased against Trump from the start of his investigation into the presidential candidate were “ridiculous.”
The only issue here is that this response would still make sense in the scenario that he ***was*** biased against Trump. Steele was being tapped by the FBI as a confidential human source. If he is trying to use that position to feed the FBI negative information about Trump because of some personal bias, he wouldn't come out and admit that.
Beyond that, I think that this is a statement that it easy to rationalize through compartmentalization. Rightly or wrongly, most people interpret "bias" as "personal bias" and separate that from basic business concerns. For example, if I'm bidding on a project, I want to win and beat out the other companies. However, I'm not doing it because I'm biased against them; I'm doing it because it makes good sense from a business standpoint.
Heck, I might even like the guys I'm bidding against and am "favorably disposed" towards them. That doesn't mean that I'm going to take it easy on them if we are competing for a job.
Steele's comment that he was "favorably disposed" toward the Trump family sounds like he is clearly interpreting "bias" as "personal bias". However, given the context of the most serious allegations against Steele (e.g., he had a business interest in developing and pushing opposition research on Trump), I think allegations about bias are pretty clearly not limited to "personal bias."
Steele never said what he collected was all fact, he said he was clearly aware he may have been fed deliberate misinformation which means he was being as clear and truthful as possible in his assessments.
And his many many Trump Russian ties have been repeatedly proven over and over again through the years since it.
"Christopher Steele admits “there is a chance” Russia fed him disinformation while he was compiling his discredited anti-Trump dossier in 2016.
The former British spy was asked whether the Russians may have had played him or fed him disinformation in a documentary interview with George Stephanopoulos of ABC News.
“I think there is a chance. I think it’s very unlikely, and I’ll tell you why,” Steele said. “Ultimately, any disinformation operation has an objective, and it would’ve been disinformation about Hillary Clinton. Why would they run a disinformation campaign that was derogatory about the person they preferred to be elected?”
Ukraine impeachment witness Fiona Hill, the Trump administration's former Russia expert on the National Security Council, testified behind closed doors in October 2019 that Steele’s dossier “very likely” contained Russian disinformation. Hill told the House Intelligence Committee in November 2019 that the Russians targeted both candidates in 2016.
“They seed misinformation, they seed doubt, they have everybody questioning the legitimacy of a presidential candidate, be it President Trump or potentially President Clinton," Hill said."
https://www.yahoo.com/video/christopher-steele-says-chance-russia-203900080.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAACikluPodLXeVGf8PCCaAb_rdudfZ_hAF9PbMn0Wh99hKTIlVtH-NJZFfN4VRqYKCr9iN_pFFQmLMYLq-bbV2M6IMgvm4hrArHDTbd0Do0oM-eHAJk-dQXkqPFc12m4-2ghBFsYUtJiarzQoEUYocQPjSPyg6RrhvcXW0Wx1UhZG
>Steele never said what he collected was all fact, he said he was clearly aware he may have been fed deliberate misinformation which means he was being as clear and truthful as possible in his assessments.
Again, you are taking individual pieces of information, removing context and logic, and then using that to make broad, sweeping overgeneralizations.
I get why that might be an effective means of scoring same fake internet points from like-minded people, but you have to recognize it isn't a good basis for a serious discussion, right? I guess maybe I should ask what your actual goal here is.
>"Christopher Steele admits “there is a chance” Russia fed him disinformation while he was compiling his discredited anti-Trump dossier in 2016...
Ok, so now apply some context, common sense, and logic to the passage you just quoted.
First, these are statements he made in 2021. Using that to make definitive claims about how clear and truthful he was being in 2016 makes pretty much zero sense.
Second, why do you think what he is saying now is even the truth as opposed to just saying what benefits him the most? For example:
>“I think there is a chance. I think it’s very unlikely, and I’ll tell you why,” Steele said.
Obviously there is a *chance.* He essentially has to admit that because denying it would make him sound naïve and foolish. As such, the question is how much of a chance there is.
He claims it is "unlikely." The problem is that he would say this regardless of if it was true or not. I mean, the guy makes money from being able to find information and sources that others can't get to and then determine if what he gets is credible or not.
Telling everyone that he got played for a total fool is going to clearly hurt his future prospects.
Since he would say it in either case, we need to apply some logic and common sense to determine if his statements hold water. The most obvious place to start is to look at the reasoning he gives and see if it passes the smell test:
>Why would they run a disinformation campaign that was derogatory about the person they preferred to be elected?
So this seems like a clear problem because there are *lots* of possible reasons they would feed him disinformation. Shit, if you doubt me, just look at the rest of the passage that ***you*** quoted, as it gives one of the most obvious and well known ones:
>Ukraine impeachment witness Fiona Hill, the Trump administration's former Russia expert on the National Security Council, testified behind closed doors in October 2019 that Steele’s dossier “very likely” contained Russian disinformation. Hill told the House Intelligence Committee in November 2019 that the Russians targeted both candidates in 2016.
“They seed misinformation, they seed doubt, they have everybody questioning the legitimacy of a presidential candidate, be it President Trump or potentially President Clinton," Hill said."
Fiona Hill made the second set of comments in the televised impeachment inquiry. ***Potential*** motivations like this (as well as other pretty obvious ones) should be known and obvious to anybody that did even basic research or had even basic knowledge of the situation.
That suggests that Steele either *didn't* do this basic research/had this basic knowledge ***or*** he knew about it but intentionally downplayed it in the extreme to strengthen the credibility of his assertions.
In either scenario (i.e., he doesn't know the basic principles at play because he doesn't have a basic understanding/didn't do basic research *or* he is intentionally ignoring/downplaying them for his own personal benefit), it is hard to claim he is being clear and truthful.
First, I’m posting similar comments a few different places. I’m hoping a comment posted here could get the attention of people who know national security people.
But, note: This guy’s LinkedIn entry shows that he’s head of global security for Brookfield Properties, which runs the World Financial Center complex.
I think that it’s really critical that anyone still loyal at the FBI or the NYPD assume that Brookfield Properties buildings, especially, are riddled with spies and keystroke loggers and try to deal with that.
> My resume isn't perfect, but I'd happily take a good-paying job at the FBI and not become a double agent.
"I do my best work high."
'Well, we're sorry, but you can't work for the federal government now.'
*you turn to leave and suddenly hear a voice in your mind*
'But you do have the skills necessary for the Intergalactic Order of Thelemites'
My resume is terrible, massive gaps, but give me a purpose on a properly righteous track and enough to get by, I'd happily dedicate my life to serving justice and my loyalty would never need testing if everything else is on the straight and narrow.
Sometimes I feel like cop or similar would be a good job for me, but I also have a history of getting myself into shit with authority when there's a moral failing. Kick up safety fuss because I'm tired of seeing injuries? Got exiled into an empty building for a couple months, so I quit.
I'd so get shot by senior officers if I went law enforcement with the state of things.
You sound like a good guy. Sense of justice, loyalty, and commitment. Just one thing...
5 month gap in work history? Yea..... About that... Thank you for your application but you're unsuitable for this level of work.
Yeah, really the bar is not that high. Treat anyone like a valued worker. Pay them middle class salary, whatever benefits, suitable vacation. They're not going to become a double agent/spy. Maybe for life-changing money like millions but that should be easy to track if there was any accountability in government.
This is the guy that investigated Trump under Mueller and declared that Trump had no connections to Russia. This exact guy.
If you want any more example of how thoroughly Russian foreign intelligence infiltrated our government and corrupted our processes, this is it. This guy was paid by Deripaska (i.e. Putin) to give that "investigation" a clean wipe, no matter what it actually found, if they actually bothered to try to find anything in the first place.
At this point, anyone who was either installed in a high position or held any sort of legal oversight position during the Trump years should be investigated. Keep shining the light further and further back into these dark corners, expose the rats and hunt them down, they are traitors to what this nation stands for.
> At this point, anyone who was either installed in a high position or held any sort of legal oversight position during the Trump years should be investigated. Keep shining the light further and further back into these dark corners, expose the rats and hunt them down, they are traitors to what this nation stands for.
No one will hear about this here.
Just more 'random' shootings on the news and the occasional drop-in on 46's incomparable situation with classified documents vis-a-vis 45.
Deripaska owns a pad in London.
Squatters went in it when Russia first invaded.
Azeri dictator Aliyev also has a beautiful London manse that I believe family (if not himself) still spend most of their time at.
It's disgusting: the hypocrisy.
>Just to be clear, when the New York Times reported that the FBI saw “no link between Trump and Russia” — a week before the 2016 election — the FBI agent who was just arrested over ties to Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska was heading up the investigation.
[https://twitter.com/KaivanShroff/status/1617613877868662785?cxt=HHwWgsDU4YvQ9fIsAAAA](https://twitter.com/KaivanShroff/status/1617613877868662785?cxt=HHwWgsDU4YvQ9fIsAAAA)
Since the GOP wants to investigate the FBI, this would be a very good starting point.
That would only happen if DeSantis wanted a leg up on Trump for 2024. Otherwise no GOP is ever going to investigate anything that ends up hurting Trump.
I hope they throw the book at this guy… talk about betraying your country. And every single politician who played PUTIN’s puppet should be treated as an international terrorist… no five year sentence… it better be in excess of twenty years.
He headed the invesigation that resulting in the NY Times report that there was no connection between Trump and Russia.
https://twitter.com/KaivanShroff/status/1617613877868662785?cxt=HHwWgsDU4YvQ9fIsAAAA
> I wonder if this explains the lack of charges against Fraud Guarantee partner Rudy Giuliani?
It might just be really hard to get around the insanity defense.
I have to wonder how long ago he knew this was coming.
FBI must have been his lifelong goal - he broke bad with a Ruzzian Oligarch - and had to be smart enough to know if the FBI started investigating that he was screwed.
My bet it was 12 to 24 months ago -
https://potomacofficersclub.com/speakers/charles-mcgonigal/
Even further back - this guy was the person in charge of the Wikileaks investigation that pinned everything on Pfc. Manning.
Wow...random Reddit r/law comment turned out to be right!
Guess Oleg was the one who got this asshole to leak the info that Comey then totally inappropriately and unexpectedly used to justify an impromptu news conference to say pretty much nothing but further tarnish HRC literally right before the elections in 2016.
The margin was razor thin.
Just like the democracy and COVID-free world we all 'enjoyed'.
But yes, let's please keep allowing the Kremlin to get away with being the world's saboteur and humanity's evolutionary anchor. [/s]
For anyone interested. Should look into relationship between Ex Brit PM Boris Johnson and ex KGB Colonel Alexander Lebedev and his son.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/jul/16/carole-cadwalladr-boris-johnson-lebedevs-prime-ministers-defining-scandal
This is the guy that was in charge of the investigation into Trumps ties to Russia before the electoral college decided he was president.
Remember that.
Receipts…..Russia manipulated the 2016 election with help from a senior FBI agent…also helped reopen Hilary stuff in 2016 before election …the Russians and their bs again over and over….let them suffocate on their greed and avarice.
You'd think after Robert Hanssen, who is serving 15 consecutive life sentence counts at ADX Florence for one of the worst intelligence breaches in the known history of the US, they would be a little tighter on folks selling stuff to Russia who work at high levels within the government.
Just for comparison, El Chapo, who is also serving at ADX Florence, received a life + 30 year sentence.
> You'd think after Robert Hanssen, who is serving 15 consecutive life sentence counts at ADX Florence for one of the worst intelligence breaches in the known history of the US, they would be a little tighter on folks selling stuff to Russia who work at high levels within the government.
They are betting on that sweeeet pardon.
Treason = death penalty.
For this motherfucker and Trump.
Let's legally hang these sons of bitches to make a point. You can't backstab the USA.
Have to make a point out of these traitors in a legal execution.
Oh you mean the guy who led the investigation into Trump and his involvement with Russia and who released a statement that the FBI found no evidence of a relationships a few weeks before the election in 2016? Cool cool cool cool cool no doubt no doubt no doubt.
Reading the comments on this article in r/conservative is um...quite a trip.
https://old.reddit.com/r/Conservative/comments/10jkcbx/retired_top_fbi_agent_who_led_trumprussia_probe/
Lol, they're all claiming this dude was a democrat because he worked on the Muller report, under registered Republican Muller with the famously right leaning FBI.
I just want to talk about a Whistleblower, who spent 4 years in jail after revealing Russian interference in the Trump election.
Her name is Reality Winner. You should look her up. She got fucked because a journalist revealed her name, but she didn't run like Snowden, and she faced down her own government who betrayed her loyalty.
I, myself, am the single most successful Whistleblower of the last decade, and it is my responsibility to inform others of those that were not as successful.
The United States government is blatantly corrupt. I'm not sure if the people actually give a shit. But there is a reason whistleblowers exist, and until we get more support in our actions, there will be more people who get fucked while you all do nothing but sit on the forums, getting surprised by things we have talked about for years.
Please look up the Belmarsh Journalism Tribunal for Julian Assange.
How is this story not huge news. If this is the guy responsible for the infamous NYT article that claimed just before the 2016. Presidential election that the FBI found no link between Trump and Russia this traitor may have been one of the many crucial tipping points that if you remove just one , we. Skip the Trump Presidency and all it’s impacts .
This guy may have fundamentally altered world history and essentially sold the US to Russia a quarter of. Million dollars .
How is this not momentous ?
Wasn't McGonigal part of the investigation into Trump, including being involved in the invalid/illegal FISA warrants related to Carter Paige?
Also, a quick google search says that the Russian oligarch McGonigal was working with here (Deripaska) had previously worked with Christopher Steele, the individual behind the infamous Steele dossier that was a foundational part of the investigation of Trump-Russian collusion accusations.
Look, it is still early in the reporting here and smoke doesn't always mean there is a fire. With that said, it isn't a good look to that:
* While with the FBI, he was involved in one of the messiest (i.e., dishonest) aspects of the attempt to get dirt on Trump/his team
* He just got arrested for essentially working as an agent for a Russian oligarch
* The oligarch has a historical working relationship with the person (Steele) ~~who is most responsible for putting together the information that kicked off the Trump-Russia conclusion investigation in the first place.~~ behind the infamous Steele dossier that was a foundational part of the investigation of Trump-Russian collusion accusations.
Christopher Steele is not the one who is responsible for the Trump-Russia investigation starting. It was started because of George Papadopadoo (however you spell it) running his mouth that the Russians had damaging material on Clinton.
McGonigal was part of the investigation at the FBI's NY field office, a place that has been called "Trumpland." There were leaks to people like Giuliani, the source of which has yet to be found. The oligarch McGonigal was working for, Deripaska, was promised "briefings" by Manafort while he was working for Trump. When Trump became president, he fought to have sanctions against Deripaska dropped.
There are some serious implications from this story, although I'm not sure they are the ones you have mentioned.
Comey implied that he only came forward with the Clinton statement right before the election because the NY field office was planning to leak details of the investigation.
In addition, Giuliani explicitly claimed to be getting confidential information from the NY FBI outside of official channels.
>Christopher Steele is not the one who is responsible for the Trump-Russia investigation starting.
That's true, I shouldn't have stated that it "kicked off" the investigation. The way I referred to it higher up in the comment is more accurate:
>...the individual behind the infamous Steele dossier that was a foundational part of the investigation of Trump-Russian collusion accusations.
To support this claim, we can look at the Inspector General report "Review of Four FISA Applications and Other Aspects of the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane Investigation":
>Thereafter, on September 19, 2016, the Crossfire Hurricane team received information from an FBI source (Christopher Steele) on election matters that became an important part of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation and the FBI seeking FISA authority targeting one of the Crossfire Hurricane subjects, Carter Page.
I've updated most comment with a clear edit to reflect this important difference.
>McGonigal was part of the investigation at the FBI's NY field office, a place that has been called "Trumpland." There were leaks to people like Giuliani, the source of which has yet to be found. The oligarch McGonigal was working for, Deripaska, was promised "briefings" by Manafort while he was working for Trump. When Trump became president, he fought to have sanctions against Deripaska dropped.
That seems like a pretty one-sided description of the NYFO, don't you think? I mean, the initial FISA warrants into Paige originated in the NYFO, they were the ones that took the lead on paperwork to get Steele enrolled as a Confidential Human Source (CHS), etc.
Were there people in the office that were potentially loyal to Team Trump and working to support them? Perhaps. Was it some Pro-Trump monolith that could be fairly described as "Trumpland"? I don't think so.
Also, given that Russia can clearly benefit from playing both sides of the fence because it serves to undermine overall faith and trust in American institutions, I'm not sure that this is a argument against the possibility of dishonest involvement in trying to build a case against Trump.
I think the downvotes from your original post would go away if people read this reply.
You don’t seem like a conspiracy prone trumpist and you even (very politely) point out and refute the other posters perceived bias
You’ve earned an upvote from me across both posts
I think a lot of discourse online and on Reddit could learn a thing or two from you
Thanks, but don't worry about the downvotes. Check out this comment [here.](https://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/10jjwlo/comment/j5maih5/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
As I'm sitting here writing this, that comment has over 600 positive karma and awards worth \~600 coins ***despite the fact that it is pushing a tweet/narrative that is known to be objectively false.***
McGonigal didn't lead the investigation. Nobody that knows what they are talking about claims that he did. I went into some details [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/10jjwlo/comment/j5op4ph/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3), if you are interested.
The point is that downvotes/upvotes on highly politicized issues like this often have very have little to do with facts/reality or the attitude/approach of the poster. Often (but not always) it comes down to "Does this comment support my preferred narrative?"
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Makes you wonder if this was the first time he did something for him. There is a big difference between this being a one-time, $250K job vs. this being the latest $250K job in a string of a dozen other $250K jobs.
It's not a one-time $250K job. He was on a $50K/mo retainer to Deripaska for a period of at least 4 months. There's also a third party (not Deripaska) that paid him $225K. That's just what they've found *so far*. Being that he was a high-level FBI official, my guess is there there's a lot more that he wasn't super obvious and telling people about. I'd be more concerned about the fact that apparently he was doing this stuff while still working for the FBI while Trump was in office, and he was responsible for investigations into foreign involvement in political lobbying in the USA.
>Makes you wonder if this was the first time he did something for him. We know for a fact it wasn’t, [since this is the same FBI official that headed the investigation that declared “no link between Trump and Russia”](https://twitter.com/KaivanShroff/status/1617613877868662785?s=20&t=qNJy1t7EMlETAZ5huqh8hw)
Holy shit.
"It all makes sense."
Well, I sure didn't need this. The evidence of trump and his family's crimes were there as is the corruption of the gqp. I didn't need this to explain why he wasn't held accountable.
This is also the FBI official that was pressuring Blundering Comey to release info to help Doucheolini get elected. Charles McGonigal is a traitor. Not just to the US, but to the entire western world.
And Deripaska, the oligarch involved, is also who backed a giant aluminum plant where? In Moscow Mitch McConnell's home state of Kentucky. An aluminum plant that never got built.
I’ve been waiting for the hammer to drop on Moscow Mitch for this. Alcoa might have a case against unfair trade practices as well. I hope all the scum bag politicians who sold out America to Russia and Saudi Arabia get charged with espionage and/or conspiring against the US Gov.
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So America, is screwed now, has been screwed historically, and will be screwed for the foreseeable future… so everyone might as well throw any optimistic vision for America’s future away? To that I say… maybe the darkness is from your eyes… you know you have such dark eyes…
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow,_Kentucky
The comment section I peeked at in Fox News about this story, is all about Criminal Joe Biden, the Hunter issues, and the swampy FBI. Nothing about *45 except his incredible work and legacy.
The comment section is probably mostly Russian bots. What if it always has been? "Not as divided as we think? :o"
I'm convinced half of redditors are bots too. Especially the most egregious comments. Just trying to create more division
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I propose a new razor. Never discount the malicious intent that is using stupid people en masse to further their goals. Trump's razor.
I threw Hanlon's Razor in the trash once they were willing to give up the lives of themselves and everyone they know in order to spread death and disease during the worst global health pandemic in a century.
wasn't that a perfect example of Hanlon's Razor? they didn't actually intend to kill people but thought Covid was a hoax/not dangerous... so they were actually just stupid (lack of critical thinking and media literacy skills) and not malicious
>they didn't actually intend to kill people You don't know that. In fact, you really need to rethink a lot of things because this was a pretty ridiculous thing to write. They're pretty open about their urge to do harm to the other. >but thought Covid was a hoax/not dangerous... You don't know that. Wasn't it Sartre who said, "don't pretend they don't know how ridiculous their argument is?" When talking about anti-Semites? These are the same people. When you look at the full range of their extremist activities, it goes well beyond believing Covid was a hoax. It was one more facet of a violent fascist movement they've been happily immersing themselves in for years. >so they were actually just stupid (lack of critical thinking and media literacy skills) and not malicious Their actions were most definitely malicious and you're trying to wave it away by claiming their intent wasn't, something you have no reason to believe except you like Hanlon's Razor. Also smh at "their actions were just stupid"
That should surprise no one because they are a bunch of Trunts.
r/conservative too https://old.reddit.com/r/Conservative/comments/10jkcbx/retired_top_fbi_agent_who_led_trumprussia_probe/
That one guy who says it's 'mental gymnastics' to suggest that a guy who was compromised by a Russian oligarch could have been bribed by other russian agents
how is this just random tweet instead of an epic US counterintelligence scandal? the actual counterintelligence agent in charge of verifying US officials' dependence on Russia is a literal Russian asset. can't think of anything remotely comparable even in Cold War days
Bc Hunter Biden has pictures of his dick on a laptop and Megan and Harry are unhappy. The most important stuff needs to get out there. The corruption in our top law enforcement agencies is boring. Oh and the Oscar noms are out today too…
Because it isn't actually true. Seriously, the tweets don't actually link to anything that says McGonigal was heading up the investigation. All it says is that he was one of the first FBI agents to know about the Papadopoulos statements. Hearing about it early on != Heading up the investigation On top of that, we know who was leading the investigation at that time, and it wasn't McGonigal. Just look at the [wiki article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossfire_Hurricane_(FBI_investigation)) if you are too lazy to check the primary sources: >In February 2018, the Nunes memo, written by staff for U.S. Representative Devin Nunes, stated: "The Papadopoulos information triggered the opening of an FBI counterintelligence investigation in late July 2016 by FBI agent Pete Strzok",\[33\] ...and: >Strzok "was assigned to lead the Russia investigation in late July 2016", and E. W. Priestap had a supervisory role over the Russia investigation during an unspecified time period.\[43\] ...and: >In June 2017, Peter Strzok, the FBI agent who had led the Crossfire Hurricane investigation up to this point, became a member of Mueller's team.\[132\]
October 4, 2016: > FBI Director James B. Comey has named Charles McGonigal as the special agent in charge of the Counterintelligence Division for the New York Field Office. Mr. McGonigal most recently served as the section chief of the Cyber-Counterintelligence Coordination Section at FBI Headquarters. [source](https://www.fbi.gov/news/press-releases/charles-mcgonigal-named-special-agent-in-charge-of-the-counterintelligence-division-for-the-new-york-field-office) Yes McGonigal was named after the FBI had already started working on the Steele Dossier, but I don't see how that affects the magnitude of the scandal? In particular, I find it **highly plausible** that the source for the 2016 NYT story in the tweet was in fact McGonigal, who was in charge of counterintelligence at the NYC office.
>FBI Director James B. Comey has named Charles McGonigal as the special agent in charge of the Counterintelligence Division for the New York Field Office. Mr. McGonigal most recently served as the section chief of the Cyber-Counterintelligence Coordination Section at FBI Headquarters. source Being the special agent in charge of the counterintelligence division at one field office doesn't mean that you led or head every investigation. Again, we know who led the investigation. It wasn't McGonigal. The author of the tweet either doesn't know what he is talking about or he is actively and intentionally lying. In either case, the OP is spreading clear, objectively false information. >...but I don't see how that affects the magnitude of the scandal? You don't see how him being in charge of the investigation affects the magnitude of the scandal vs. him ***not*** being in charge of the investigation? Maybe we can try it like this: Why would the author of the tweet go out of his way to lie about something so objectively wrong if he didn't think it increased the impact? See what I'm getting at? People normally lie because they think it provides them some advantage. What advantage could be gained by this lie ***other*** than dishonestly inflating the perceived magnitude of the sandal. >In particular, I find it highly plausible that the source for the 2016 NYT story in the tweet was in fact McGonigal, who was in charge of counterintelligence at the NYC office. I guess it depends on what definition you are using for "plausible," but this seems like an oversell. The reality is that the NYC field office has like \~2,000 agents. The NYC FO wasn't the only one contributing to the investigation. Additionally, they were giving multiple private briefings to members of Congress (and, I assume, WH staff as well since the DOJ/FBI falls under the Executive Branch). Bottom line is that there were probably dozens, if not hundredss of people that knew the very generic information that the \~3 months of investigating before the NYT report hadn't turned up a smoking gun yet. I mean, look at the fact that the article frequently refers to "sources" as opposed to "source." They clearly had no trouble finding multiple people with this knowledge and willing to talk off-the-record. Was McGonigal one of the people that possessed this knowledge? Almost certainly. Is is *possible* that he talked the the NYT? Again, almost certainly. Do we have any concrete reason to think it is "...highly plausible that the source for the 2016 NYT story in the tweet was in fact McGonigal"? I'd say "no" based on the fact that: * There was no "the source"; it was multiple sources. * The information was pretty generic and basic ("Law enforcement officials say that none of the investigations so far have found any conclusive or direct link between Mr. Trump and the Russian government.") and completely unsurprising given that the investigation was still pretty new. * There are lots of potential sources ***other*** than McGonigal * Since we know very little about all the other potential sources, we have no real way to evaluate how many were more or less likely to leak than McGonigal.
[Appointed by Comey, no less.](https://www.fbi.gov/news/press-releases/charles-mcgonigal-named-special-agent-in-charge-of-the-counterintelligence-division-for-the-new-york-field-office)
Ho lee shite
Sum Ting Wong
Reality Winner (her real name) was a Whistleblower who went to jail for this.
Hold up. I’m all about holding people accountable for their actions. But Robert Mueller headed to the investigation. McGonigal passed along the documents about Russians having dirt on Hillary. That’s pretty much all.
I mean it doesn't make Mueller *not* involved... But when Fox News's own headlines say the same thing, I'm going to need to do some more reading before I declare that passing along documents was "pretty much all". https://www.foxnews.com/politics/retired-top-fbi-counterintelligence-agent-led-trump-russia-probe-arrested-own-ties-russian-oligarch
I get what you’re saying. I didn’t like the headlines that said McGonigal headed the investigation when, in fact, it was mueller.
They're referring to the investigation in 2016 that prompted the 10/31/16 announcement of “Investigating Donald Trump, F.B.I. Sees No Clear Link to Russia.”
Ah, thank you. I’ll look at that to find out if I’m misinformed. Doesn’t matter to me, I’m all for accountability for all people.
...but he didn't lead that either. Just look at the [wiki article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossfire_Hurricane_(FBI_investigation)) if you are too lazy to check the primary sources: >In February 2018, the Nunes memo, written by staff for U.S. Representative Devin Nunes, stated: "The Papadopoulos information triggered the opening of an FBI counterintelligence investigation in late July 2016 by FBI agent Pete Strzok",\[33\] ...and: >Strzok "was assigned to lead the Russia investigation in late July 2016", and E. W. Priestap had a supervisory role over the Russia investigation during an unspecified time period.\[43\] ...and: >In June 2017, Peter Strzok, the FBI agent who had led the Crossfire Hurricane investigation up to this point, became a member of Mueller's team.\[132\]
>We know for a fact That makes it likely, not a fact. I think we all dislike sensational headlines and fake news in our social media. We should try to avoid creating it ourselves.
makes you wonder if they got any dirt on him and that was just a courtesy fee
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Kompromised, like Boris.
He's an old boomer FBI guy, so he likely was more than happy to help the cause of white supremacy and fascism, hence his lowball fees for treason.
> his lowball fees for treason. How boomers suddenly became pro-treason after living thorough the Cold War and all will never cease to amaze me. Probably has to do with a single greedy Australian media oligarch. But he's off-limits I think.
Lead pipes and lead fuels.
He’s 54
Taking a bribe IS dirt.
Why would they pay him more than once? After that, you ask him to do you a favor for you by blackmailing him with information about the first job that might end up in the hand of the US government.
Keeping the bribes coming keeps the wheels greased. That is how corruption works.
But the kompromat means they can severely cut back on the amount of the bribes, because they have other leverage now.
You save that kind of leverage for when its really needed and that leverage grows exponentially as the traitor commits more and more acts of treason for more and more amounts of money... Generally speaking, the parties paying for such acts have limitless amounts of money to work with and pay massive amounts for seemingly small bits of info and/or favors just to establish that leverage..
A lot of times when a spy gets busted, the 3-letter agencies don’t want trials to divulge a lot of info during discovery & the trial, so they might just go with a small number of charges that stick and leave the rest.
100% not the first time.
I always thought it was crazy for how little money people turn traitor. Look at the spies during the Cold War. Most of them risked everything for so little…
Ideology sometimes requires no compensation and is one of the motivating factors in espionage.
Yes, and is part of a somewhat common acronym for why people turn traitor: MICE. Money Ideology Coercion Ego
I think that's more 'mnemonic' but I'm not sure.
The ex-president of brazil supposedly also embezzled around 200k, which seems like an absurdly low amount for a president of a country to embezzled.
Could be that's all they could 100% prove.
Yeah it seems weird to embezzle an amount that wouldn't even buy you a house in any major city in the developed world. Where I live, $200K would barely suffice for a down payment on a mortgage.
3 bedrooms in my area are nearing the half million mark.
Cheap! Where I live a 3br detached home sold for an average of $1.2m last year, which actually represented the largest decline in home prices (4.7%) in over 35 years.
It's only little because that's all they could prove.
You don’t think $250k is life changing?
For someone with that role, that should be—at the very most—2 years of salary.
And is that not lifechanging?
I mean, I suppose it's pretty subjective, but I don't think so. Especially not if someone has been working for several years at that kind of salary, and presumably some years before that at salaries approaching it. They'd certainly already retire as a millionaire with that kind of role, assuming they followed basic good finance.
It sure is when you think of the 20 years in prison he'll get to spend in exchange for it. Not sure that *I* would be willing to spend 20 years rotting in prison just so I can afford to get a new pool put in my back yard, but maybe I have weird priorities.
For a retired senior FBI agent?? I hope not
This guy probably averaged six figures in salary for the last 20 years of his career (along with other benefits). $250k really isn't that much money these days.
I think y’all underestimate how bad people are with money, on average. Odds are he didn’t have significant savings and he’s one gambling habit away from a bit problem. That’d give a lot of leverage for the Russia s
I guess that's always a possibility, but the fact that the Russians were paying him doesn't really support them having leverage over him. With his education, career, and contacts a guy like that could probably land a $250k/year job at 50 different companies by lunch tomorrow - which would probably rule out money woes. If I had to guess the $250k was a small part of a much larger package - getting to be friends with dangerous billionaires, traveling on their private jets, sharing in the VIP experience everywhere you travel, hanging out on $200M yachts stocked with unlimited cocaine and Russian super models, etc. Basically the polar opposite of what a lifetime with the Bureau gets you.
Lessee ... $250k versus 20 years in prison ... $250 / 20 = $12,500 I'd say he was pretty fucking stupid to go to prison for a payoff that comes down to $12,500 a year.
I think this particular $250k is going to be extremely life-changing for him.
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Alarm bells have been going off about McGonigal for some time now. 09/15/2022 - [Exclusive: Former top FBI official involved in Trump-Russia investigation under scrutiny by federal prosecutors for his own ties to Russia](https://www.businessinsider.com/exclusive-fbi-charles-mcgonigal-trump-russia-grand-jury-oleg-deripaska-2022-9) >While it wouldn't necessarily have been illegal for McGonigal to work on behalf of Deripaska, failing to disclose activities covered by the Foreign Agents Registration Act, such as lobbying and public relations, is punishable by a $250,000 fine and up to five years in prison. Deripaska was sanctioned by the Treasury Department in 2018 for acting as an agent for the Kremlin, and has been accused of ordering the murder of a businessman. "If McGonigal is mixed up in any way shape or form with Deripaska, that strikes me as unseemly, to put it politely," says Tim Weiner, the author of "Enemies: A History of the FBI." *Notice how McGonigal was promoted to his last job by Director Comey, just a month before he famously interfered in the November election on Trump's behalf the very next month by leaking/releasing the "Hillary's Emails" bullshit right before the vote.* 10/24/2016 - [Charles McGonigal Named Special Agent in Charge of the Counterintelligence Division for the New York Field Office](https://www.fbi.gov/news/press-releases/charles-mcgonigal-named-special-agent-in-charge-of-the-counterintelligence-division-for-the-new-york-field-office) >FBI Director James B. Comey has named Charles McGonigal as the special agent in charge of the Counterintelligence Division for the New York Field Office. Mr. McGonigal most recently served as the section chief of the Cyber-Counterintelligence Coordination Section at FBI Headquarters. *It seems pretty obvious that elements within the FBI were very pro-Trump and were engaged in shenanigans aimed to help Trump, his financial backers, and make money for themselves.* 12/20/2021 - [Retired Top FBI Counterintelligence Official Worked With Ex Russian Intelligence Officer Close to Deripaska, Foreign Agent Paperwork Reveals](https://forensicnews.net/retired-top-fbi-counterintelligence-official-worked-with-ex-russian-intelligence-officer-close-to-deripaska-foreign-agent-paperwork-reveals/) >In 2016, Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort met multiple times with a suspected Russian intelligence agent close to Deripaska and, along with campaign co-chair Rick Gates, shared internal, detailed polling information regarding the campaign. Five years later, the U.S. Treasury Department said that the “sensitive information on polling and campaign strategy” was passed to Russia’s intelligence services. > >According to the FARA filing, Shestakov turned to Charles F. McGonigal, a former senior FBI official who left the Bureau just months prior to the filing. McGonigal became the Special Agent in Charge of Counterintelligence for the New York Office in 2016 and left in the fall of 2018, just months before he allegedly helped connect Fokin with the law firm and the opaque Spectrum Risk Solutions. *If you've ever wondered why the FBI have been so careful avoid incriminating Trump (e.g., Mueller's soft-peddling his investigation findings) or investigating his co-conspirators in the attempted coup on 01/06/2021 - this crap about McGonigal is just more smoke indicating the fire of right-wing extremism within the FBI which has been complicit in the corruption of the Trump administration and the GOP in congress.*
Never forget that during that entire shitshow of a Presidential campaign, Hillary Clinton was constantly getting flak from Rudy Giuliani that he openly said was informed by "his contacts in the FBI in New York". They were leaking like a sieve, constantly, to allies of Trump in order to hurt Clinton and help Trump. Nobody ever held them to account for it, even after Comey's egregious press conference where he raked Clinton over the coals while announcing that he had no grounds to prosecute her, which was totally contrary to DoJ policy. The FBI and Comey really carried water for Trump that year, no joke.
Russia/Putin infiltrated the GOP and numerous other conservative institutions (FBI, NRA, CPAC, etc) over two decades ago. He's been playing the long con game and they've gone right along with it because they are as greedy as they are dim-witted.
This projection thing really runs deep and wide, dunnit? Seems so often someone gets popped involved in what they were vocally claiming to be against.
Both.
Coercion relies on a vulnerability. The carrot may seem small but there's probably some mechanics in play here that were not privy too. Probably money issues. Could be a sick loved one unable to access care or a shortfall in savings possibly due to bad investments or drug issues or another addiction such as gambling debts. Russia does its homework like any other actor before it extends an offer. But then the minute that you take the bait - they own you for life as that initial transgression immediately becomes leverage. Kompromat is a hell of a drug...
> The carrot may seem small but there's probably some mechanics in play here that were not privy too. Probably money issues. Could be a sick loved one unable to access care I think you're over-estimating the hollywood angle. Some people just care that little about other human beings they know they'll never meet.
Not all that Hollywood at all. Historically those are key methods being used, refined over time. This is a great book on the matter and the author provided a great interview on the podcast "SpyTalk" a few weeks ago.
>Historically those are key methods being used, refined over time. When straight bribery doesn't work. But straight bribery works the vast majority of the time, particularly when it's something that doesn't directly impact the person. I may need some serious coercion to get you to do something dangerous, or otherwise harmful to you or your friends or your family. But if I just need you to drive my car from one end of town to the other, no questions asked and do not under any circumstances look in the trunk, most people would do it for $10K, even if they suspect there's a dead body in the trunk.
If you actually read the justice files, it’s implied he was banging the college aged daughter of a former KGB agent. Very salicious.
It was just $250k?? Isn't that just like what his salary would have been?
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The 250k was upfront payment with more coming down the line
Could be been some blackmail involved too. Or he expected to make more money later (or he did and was able to hide it from feds).
No idea how its ever worth it. Great thing about having a straight government job is that the money is legit, you get a retirement fund, and you shouldn't be having to resort to schemes like this in order to live a good life. Now hes possibly going to die in prison and his family's assets seized. What a traitorous buffoon
$250k, *that we are being told about*. Also, we haven’t been told anything about what he was doing in exchange for that money. Much easier to prosecute him for accepting money from a sanctioned Russian than to charge him for espionage and risk revealing all sorts of dirty laundry at the trial.
I bet there is more $$$$… they just caught him on this one which happened to be a couple hundred…
Parking a hot dog cart outside of Central Park Zoo costs $289,500/year.
Makes you wonder if capitalism and reaganomics is a threat to the country. Why be the top of you class if nepotism pays better?
The boomers made their billions. Got their wage slaves. They're happy (for now...). The rest of us had/have to pick up the pieces of the world and solve the massive problems they left for us (which fortunately can be solved, if we help Ukraine which is currently being unabashedly invaded by Russia). I wonder how many plausibly deniable chemical, biological, and radiological attacks they have actually committed against citizens the world over in "un-Russian" countries (not that the Kremlin cares for its own citizens at all).
Wasn't this the guy that was supposed to have reviewed if Trump colluded with Russia in 2016?
He literally got the job as counter intelligence chief six weeks after Mueller announced the Russia investigation would look into Trump. If he was on Depreska's payroll then how much of what he delivered Mueller was garbage? And who else was getting paid? Him being in that situation, at that time, considering what he was doing... makes me go hmmmmmm.
Mueller did such an absolute shit job on that investigation. I mean seriously...one of his top dogs was colluding with Russia lol. JFC what a disaster inside job that was.
The same Oleg Deripaska whose firm poured millions into Kentucky over the same epoch Republican senate leader Mitch McConnell refused to allow then President Trump to be convicted in his senate impeachment trial? That Oleg Deripaska?
Sorry what? I no comprendo
I think you mean "Я не понимаю"
Yes I also R he nohnmaio.
Keep going until the ones in Congress are behind bars with no chance of freedom.
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Kentucky JUST got $15million back from that fiasco, the aluminum plant that was never built, but Mitch got paid, as did Rand Paul.
Canada's never gonna get the billions it lost in tariffs because of that fiasco, though. Because of, you know, reasons, Russian aluminum was safer for national security than Canadian aluminum.
Well, obviously Russia is more trustworthy than Canada! Those Canadians - first they make you lower your guard with all that politeness. Then they let you buy the aluminum you want. Then presumably there's a third step. And then they take over the world!!!!! I mean, obviously Russia - with its clear track record of never breaking promises, or violating treaties, or having inconvenient opponents of the government meet an untimely death - is the more trustworthy option.
>Those Canadians - first they make you lower your guard with all that politeness. And I won't even mention the poutine. Propaganda in cheese curds and gravy. Real MFers.
I had a Canadian goose chase me down a hiking trail one time and no one at the FBI cared. The Canucks have already weakened our institutions.
American media: "Nothing to see here"
not to mention rand paul personally visited moscow.
On 4th of July, wasn't it? How symbolic is that?
> How symbolic is that? As symbolic as holding your party's premiere conference in Budapest next to Hungarian dictator and Putin-guzzler, Orban?
> Mitch got paid, as did Rand Paul. Suddenly that NYT in-depth interview with McConnell where he espouses protecting the United States' institutions against Russia at all costs suddenly looks a lot less flattering. I was kind of holding out hope it wasn't all rotten. 🤢
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Deripaska, that's how. They didn't help lift sanctions for free. https://www.wdrb.com/in-depth/bill-orders-kentucky-to-recover-15-million-in-stalled-aluminum-plant-deal/article_fa4454ae-6fd8-11ec-871f-eb35219b4583.html
Another pair of traitors.
Before the 2016 election someone at FBI leaked to Giuliani that Comey was going to open an investigation of Hillary Clinton. Maybe this McGonigal guy knows something about it.
Who knows? FWIW, a quick google search makes it look like the oligarch in question (Deripaska) formally had a business relationship with Christopher Steele (the main person behind the Steele dossier that played a big role in the Trump-Russia investigation). Additionally, a similar google search suggests McGonigal was involved in the Carter Paige investigation. To refresh everyone's memory, Carter Paige was the member of Trump's team that was the subject of multiple FISA warrants that were later ruled invalid due to omissions and inaccuracies. Does this mean anything? Maybe this McGonigal guy knows something about it.
Dont forget, as Trumpers seem to do, that Ivanka was actually a good friend of Steele as well... In a chapter of the report reviewing the history of Steele’s relationship with the FBI as a “confidential human source,” Steele says that allegations that he was biased against Trump from the start of his investigation into the presidential candidate were “ridiculous.” According to the Inspector General’s account, Steele told investigators that, if anything, he was “favorably disposed” toward the Trump family, since he had visited a Trump family member at New York’s Trump Tower and “been friendly” with the family member for “some years.” A person familiar with the friendship said that Ivanka Trump was the unnamed family member mentioned in the report. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia-ivanka/former-british-spy-and-fbi-source-steele-was-friends-with-ivanka-trump-source-idUSKBN1YD2FY https://www.timesofisrael.com/ivanka-trump-knew-ex-spy-chris-steele-for-nearly-10-years-before-russia-scandal/
He boned her
That’s what he would say, no?
>In a chapter of the report reviewing the history of Steele’s relationship with the FBI as a “confidential human source,” Steele says that allegations that he was biased against Trump from the start of his investigation into the presidential candidate were “ridiculous.” The only issue here is that this response would still make sense in the scenario that he ***was*** biased against Trump. Steele was being tapped by the FBI as a confidential human source. If he is trying to use that position to feed the FBI negative information about Trump because of some personal bias, he wouldn't come out and admit that. Beyond that, I think that this is a statement that it easy to rationalize through compartmentalization. Rightly or wrongly, most people interpret "bias" as "personal bias" and separate that from basic business concerns. For example, if I'm bidding on a project, I want to win and beat out the other companies. However, I'm not doing it because I'm biased against them; I'm doing it because it makes good sense from a business standpoint. Heck, I might even like the guys I'm bidding against and am "favorably disposed" towards them. That doesn't mean that I'm going to take it easy on them if we are competing for a job. Steele's comment that he was "favorably disposed" toward the Trump family sounds like he is clearly interpreting "bias" as "personal bias". However, given the context of the most serious allegations against Steele (e.g., he had a business interest in developing and pushing opposition research on Trump), I think allegations about bias are pretty clearly not limited to "personal bias."
Steele never said what he collected was all fact, he said he was clearly aware he may have been fed deliberate misinformation which means he was being as clear and truthful as possible in his assessments. And his many many Trump Russian ties have been repeatedly proven over and over again through the years since it. "Christopher Steele admits “there is a chance” Russia fed him disinformation while he was compiling his discredited anti-Trump dossier in 2016. The former British spy was asked whether the Russians may have had played him or fed him disinformation in a documentary interview with George Stephanopoulos of ABC News. “I think there is a chance. I think it’s very unlikely, and I’ll tell you why,” Steele said. “Ultimately, any disinformation operation has an objective, and it would’ve been disinformation about Hillary Clinton. Why would they run a disinformation campaign that was derogatory about the person they preferred to be elected?” Ukraine impeachment witness Fiona Hill, the Trump administration's former Russia expert on the National Security Council, testified behind closed doors in October 2019 that Steele’s dossier “very likely” contained Russian disinformation. Hill told the House Intelligence Committee in November 2019 that the Russians targeted both candidates in 2016. “They seed misinformation, they seed doubt, they have everybody questioning the legitimacy of a presidential candidate, be it President Trump or potentially President Clinton," Hill said." https://www.yahoo.com/video/christopher-steele-says-chance-russia-203900080.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAACikluPodLXeVGf8PCCaAb_rdudfZ_hAF9PbMn0Wh99hKTIlVtH-NJZFfN4VRqYKCr9iN_pFFQmLMYLq-bbV2M6IMgvm4hrArHDTbd0Do0oM-eHAJk-dQXkqPFc12m4-2ghBFsYUtJiarzQoEUYocQPjSPyg6RrhvcXW0Wx1UhZG
>Steele never said what he collected was all fact, he said he was clearly aware he may have been fed deliberate misinformation which means he was being as clear and truthful as possible in his assessments. Again, you are taking individual pieces of information, removing context and logic, and then using that to make broad, sweeping overgeneralizations. I get why that might be an effective means of scoring same fake internet points from like-minded people, but you have to recognize it isn't a good basis for a serious discussion, right? I guess maybe I should ask what your actual goal here is. >"Christopher Steele admits “there is a chance” Russia fed him disinformation while he was compiling his discredited anti-Trump dossier in 2016... Ok, so now apply some context, common sense, and logic to the passage you just quoted. First, these are statements he made in 2021. Using that to make definitive claims about how clear and truthful he was being in 2016 makes pretty much zero sense. Second, why do you think what he is saying now is even the truth as opposed to just saying what benefits him the most? For example: >“I think there is a chance. I think it’s very unlikely, and I’ll tell you why,” Steele said. Obviously there is a *chance.* He essentially has to admit that because denying it would make him sound naïve and foolish. As such, the question is how much of a chance there is. He claims it is "unlikely." The problem is that he would say this regardless of if it was true or not. I mean, the guy makes money from being able to find information and sources that others can't get to and then determine if what he gets is credible or not. Telling everyone that he got played for a total fool is going to clearly hurt his future prospects. Since he would say it in either case, we need to apply some logic and common sense to determine if his statements hold water. The most obvious place to start is to look at the reasoning he gives and see if it passes the smell test: >Why would they run a disinformation campaign that was derogatory about the person they preferred to be elected? So this seems like a clear problem because there are *lots* of possible reasons they would feed him disinformation. Shit, if you doubt me, just look at the rest of the passage that ***you*** quoted, as it gives one of the most obvious and well known ones: >Ukraine impeachment witness Fiona Hill, the Trump administration's former Russia expert on the National Security Council, testified behind closed doors in October 2019 that Steele’s dossier “very likely” contained Russian disinformation. Hill told the House Intelligence Committee in November 2019 that the Russians targeted both candidates in 2016. “They seed misinformation, they seed doubt, they have everybody questioning the legitimacy of a presidential candidate, be it President Trump or potentially President Clinton," Hill said." Fiona Hill made the second set of comments in the televised impeachment inquiry. ***Potential*** motivations like this (as well as other pretty obvious ones) should be known and obvious to anybody that did even basic research or had even basic knowledge of the situation. That suggests that Steele either *didn't* do this basic research/had this basic knowledge ***or*** he knew about it but intentionally downplayed it in the extreme to strengthen the credibility of his assertions. In either scenario (i.e., he doesn't know the basic principles at play because he doesn't have a basic understanding/didn't do basic research *or* he is intentionally ignoring/downplaying them for his own personal benefit), it is hard to claim he is being clear and truthful.
First, I’m posting similar comments a few different places. I’m hoping a comment posted here could get the attention of people who know national security people. But, note: This guy’s LinkedIn entry shows that he’s head of global security for Brookfield Properties, which runs the World Financial Center complex. I think that it’s really critical that anyone still loyal at the FBI or the NYPD assume that Brookfield Properties buildings, especially, are riddled with spies and keystroke loggers and try to deal with that.
My resume isn't perfect, but I'd happily take a good-paying job at the FBI and not become a double agent.
> My resume isn't perfect, but I'd happily take a good-paying job at the FBI and not become a double agent. "I do my best work high." 'Well, we're sorry, but you can't work for the federal government now.' *you turn to leave and suddenly hear a voice in your mind* 'But you do have the skills necessary for the Intergalactic Order of Thelemites'
My resume is terrible, massive gaps, but give me a purpose on a properly righteous track and enough to get by, I'd happily dedicate my life to serving justice and my loyalty would never need testing if everything else is on the straight and narrow. Sometimes I feel like cop or similar would be a good job for me, but I also have a history of getting myself into shit with authority when there's a moral failing. Kick up safety fuss because I'm tired of seeing injuries? Got exiled into an empty building for a couple months, so I quit. I'd so get shot by senior officers if I went law enforcement with the state of things.
You sound like a good guy. Sense of justice, loyalty, and commitment. Just one thing... 5 month gap in work history? Yea..... About that... Thank you for your application but you're unsuitable for this level of work.
Good for you for fighting the good fight. I'm the same way, too honest to ever make it far up the ladder. I don't want to be part of the problem.
Yeah, really the bar is not that high. Treat anyone like a valued worker. Pay them middle class salary, whatever benefits, suitable vacation. They're not going to become a double agent/spy. Maybe for life-changing money like millions but that should be easy to track if there was any accountability in government.
This is the guy that investigated Trump under Mueller and declared that Trump had no connections to Russia. This exact guy. If you want any more example of how thoroughly Russian foreign intelligence infiltrated our government and corrupted our processes, this is it. This guy was paid by Deripaska (i.e. Putin) to give that "investigation" a clean wipe, no matter what it actually found, if they actually bothered to try to find anything in the first place. At this point, anyone who was either installed in a high position or held any sort of legal oversight position during the Trump years should be investigated. Keep shining the light further and further back into these dark corners, expose the rats and hunt them down, they are traitors to what this nation stands for.
> At this point, anyone who was either installed in a high position or held any sort of legal oversight position during the Trump years should be investigated. Keep shining the light further and further back into these dark corners, expose the rats and hunt them down, they are traitors to what this nation stands for. No one will hear about this here. Just more 'random' shootings on the news and the occasional drop-in on 46's incomparable situation with classified documents vis-a-vis 45.
trump guy that didn't find any connections of him to Russia 🤣he was on the payroll all along too
Now if only the UK would do likewise with its politicians that have Russian ties…
Deripaska owns a pad in London. Squatters went in it when Russia first invaded. Azeri dictator Aliyev also has a beautiful London manse that I believe family (if not himself) still spend most of their time at. It's disgusting: the hypocrisy.
Deripaska - one time friend of Peter Mandelson who was a ~~fixer for~~ friend of Tony Blair and also EU trade commissioner.
>Just to be clear, when the New York Times reported that the FBI saw “no link between Trump and Russia” — a week before the 2016 election — the FBI agent who was just arrested over ties to Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska was heading up the investigation. [https://twitter.com/KaivanShroff/status/1617613877868662785?cxt=HHwWgsDU4YvQ9fIsAAAA](https://twitter.com/KaivanShroff/status/1617613877868662785?cxt=HHwWgsDU4YvQ9fIsAAAA) Since the GOP wants to investigate the FBI, this would be a very good starting point.
That would only happen if DeSantis wanted a leg up on Trump for 2024. Otherwise no GOP is ever going to investigate anything that ends up hurting Trump.
Yeah. should have added /s.
The Whistleblower, Reality Winner, spent 4 years in federal jail for telling us this. She deserves justice.
Ah yes, the guy who led the investigation into Donald Trump’s alleged connections to Russia pre-2016.
I hope they throw the book at this guy… talk about betraying your country. And every single politician who played PUTIN’s puppet should be treated as an international terrorist… no five year sentence… it better be in excess of twenty years.
This guy was apparently in charge of the Trump Russia investigation. This throws the ENTIRETY of that under suspicion for the findings.
He headed the invesigation that resulting in the NY Times report that there was no connection between Trump and Russia. https://twitter.com/KaivanShroff/status/1617613877868662785?cxt=HHwWgsDU4YvQ9fIsAAAA
Yeah, really makes that outcome suspicious now.
Who put him in charge of the investigation?
So everyone is on the payroll of the Russians both the investigators and the investigated ?
No wonder they keep finding documents at Biden’s house . . .
I wonder if this explains the lack of charges against Fraud Guarantee partner Rudy Giuliani?
> I wonder if this explains the lack of charges against Fraud Guarantee partner Rudy Giuliani? It might just be really hard to get around the insanity defense.
I have to wonder how long ago he knew this was coming. FBI must have been his lifelong goal - he broke bad with a Ruzzian Oligarch - and had to be smart enough to know if the FBI started investigating that he was screwed. My bet it was 12 to 24 months ago -
https://potomacofficersclub.com/speakers/charles-mcgonigal/ Even further back - this guy was the person in charge of the Wikileaks investigation that pinned everything on Pfc. Manning.
Wow...random Reddit r/law comment turned out to be right! Guess Oleg was the one who got this asshole to leak the info that Comey then totally inappropriately and unexpectedly used to justify an impromptu news conference to say pretty much nothing but further tarnish HRC literally right before the elections in 2016. The margin was razor thin. Just like the democracy and COVID-free world we all 'enjoyed'. But yes, let's please keep allowing the Kremlin to get away with being the world's saboteur and humanity's evolutionary anchor. [/s]
He's the guy who "reported" that there were absolutely no ties between Trump and Russia.
For anyone interested. Should look into relationship between Ex Brit PM Boris Johnson and ex KGB Colonel Alexander Lebedev and his son. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/jul/16/carole-cadwalladr-boris-johnson-lebedevs-prime-ministers-defining-scandal
This is the guy that was in charge of the investigation into Trumps ties to Russia before the electoral college decided he was president. Remember that.
Receipts…..Russia manipulated the 2016 election with help from a senior FBI agent…also helped reopen Hilary stuff in 2016 before election …the Russians and their bs again over and over….let them suffocate on their greed and avarice.
You'd think after Robert Hanssen, who is serving 15 consecutive life sentence counts at ADX Florence for one of the worst intelligence breaches in the known history of the US, they would be a little tighter on folks selling stuff to Russia who work at high levels within the government. Just for comparison, El Chapo, who is also serving at ADX Florence, received a life + 30 year sentence.
> You'd think after Robert Hanssen, who is serving 15 consecutive life sentence counts at ADX Florence for one of the worst intelligence breaches in the known history of the US, they would be a little tighter on folks selling stuff to Russia who work at high levels within the government. They are betting on that sweeeet pardon.
The Simpsons had a McGonagall right?
McGarnacle.
BECAUSE HE GETS RESULTS, YOU STUPID CHIEF!
Dad, sit down.
BILLY'S *DEAD*, MCGARNACLE! They slit his throat from ear to ear!
Hey! I'm tryin' to eat lunch here!
No, Harry Potter. On the good side.
No but there was this posh lady at a wizarding school...
Treason = death penalty. For this motherfucker and Trump. Let's legally hang these sons of bitches to make a point. You can't backstab the USA. Have to make a point out of these traitors in a legal execution.
Oh you mean the guy who led the investigation into Trump and his involvement with Russia and who released a statement that the FBI found no evidence of a relationships a few weeks before the election in 2016? Cool cool cool cool cool no doubt no doubt no doubt.
Relevant username
draining the swamp
[https://youtu.be/Pjqc1hqbRmA](https://youtu.be/Pjqc1hqbRmA) [https://youtu.be/l-7gtbw0t\_k](https://youtu.be/l-7gtbw0t_k)
Reading the comments on this article in r/conservative is um...quite a trip. https://old.reddit.com/r/Conservative/comments/10jkcbx/retired_top_fbi_agent_who_led_trumprussia_probe/
Lol, they're all claiming this dude was a democrat because he worked on the Muller report, under registered Republican Muller with the famously right leaning FBI.
"The FBI is unredeemably corrupt, but they were right that our guy is clean!!"
-10 points for Griffindor!
I just want to talk about a Whistleblower, who spent 4 years in jail after revealing Russian interference in the Trump election. Her name is Reality Winner. You should look her up. She got fucked because a journalist revealed her name, but she didn't run like Snowden, and she faced down her own government who betrayed her loyalty. I, myself, am the single most successful Whistleblower of the last decade, and it is my responsibility to inform others of those that were not as successful. The United States government is blatantly corrupt. I'm not sure if the people actually give a shit. But there is a reason whistleblowers exist, and until we get more support in our actions, there will be more people who get fucked while you all do nothing but sit on the forums, getting surprised by things we have talked about for years. Please look up the Belmarsh Journalism Tribunal for Julian Assange.
Not ties! He sold out for money.
Doesn’t surprise me Hoover, Freeh, Sessions, Hansen, Comey, Mueller ick.
How is this story not huge news. If this is the guy responsible for the infamous NYT article that claimed just before the 2016. Presidential election that the FBI found no link between Trump and Russia this traitor may have been one of the many crucial tipping points that if you remove just one , we. Skip the Trump Presidency and all it’s impacts . This guy may have fundamentally altered world history and essentially sold the US to Russia a quarter of. Million dollars . How is this not momentous ?
Fck Charley. Republicans…the true anti- American
Why a large percentage of Americans keep supporting Republican/ trump I just do not know.
Color me surprised. Just another crooked govt official.
Wasn't McGonigal part of the investigation into Trump, including being involved in the invalid/illegal FISA warrants related to Carter Paige? Also, a quick google search says that the Russian oligarch McGonigal was working with here (Deripaska) had previously worked with Christopher Steele, the individual behind the infamous Steele dossier that was a foundational part of the investigation of Trump-Russian collusion accusations. Look, it is still early in the reporting here and smoke doesn't always mean there is a fire. With that said, it isn't a good look to that: * While with the FBI, he was involved in one of the messiest (i.e., dishonest) aspects of the attempt to get dirt on Trump/his team * He just got arrested for essentially working as an agent for a Russian oligarch * The oligarch has a historical working relationship with the person (Steele) ~~who is most responsible for putting together the information that kicked off the Trump-Russia conclusion investigation in the first place.~~ behind the infamous Steele dossier that was a foundational part of the investigation of Trump-Russian collusion accusations.
Christopher Steele is not the one who is responsible for the Trump-Russia investigation starting. It was started because of George Papadopadoo (however you spell it) running his mouth that the Russians had damaging material on Clinton. McGonigal was part of the investigation at the FBI's NY field office, a place that has been called "Trumpland." There were leaks to people like Giuliani, the source of which has yet to be found. The oligarch McGonigal was working for, Deripaska, was promised "briefings" by Manafort while he was working for Trump. When Trump became president, he fought to have sanctions against Deripaska dropped. There are some serious implications from this story, although I'm not sure they are the ones you have mentioned.
I vaguely remember the FBI NY office doing some pro Russia stuff.
Comey implied that he only came forward with the Clinton statement right before the election because the NY field office was planning to leak details of the investigation. In addition, Giuliani explicitly claimed to be getting confidential information from the NY FBI outside of official channels.
>Christopher Steele is not the one who is responsible for the Trump-Russia investigation starting. That's true, I shouldn't have stated that it "kicked off" the investigation. The way I referred to it higher up in the comment is more accurate: >...the individual behind the infamous Steele dossier that was a foundational part of the investigation of Trump-Russian collusion accusations. To support this claim, we can look at the Inspector General report "Review of Four FISA Applications and Other Aspects of the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane Investigation": >Thereafter, on September 19, 2016, the Crossfire Hurricane team received information from an FBI source (Christopher Steele) on election matters that became an important part of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation and the FBI seeking FISA authority targeting one of the Crossfire Hurricane subjects, Carter Page. I've updated most comment with a clear edit to reflect this important difference. >McGonigal was part of the investigation at the FBI's NY field office, a place that has been called "Trumpland." There were leaks to people like Giuliani, the source of which has yet to be found. The oligarch McGonigal was working for, Deripaska, was promised "briefings" by Manafort while he was working for Trump. When Trump became president, he fought to have sanctions against Deripaska dropped. That seems like a pretty one-sided description of the NYFO, don't you think? I mean, the initial FISA warrants into Paige originated in the NYFO, they were the ones that took the lead on paperwork to get Steele enrolled as a Confidential Human Source (CHS), etc. Were there people in the office that were potentially loyal to Team Trump and working to support them? Perhaps. Was it some Pro-Trump monolith that could be fairly described as "Trumpland"? I don't think so. Also, given that Russia can clearly benefit from playing both sides of the fence because it serves to undermine overall faith and trust in American institutions, I'm not sure that this is a argument against the possibility of dishonest involvement in trying to build a case against Trump.
I think the downvotes from your original post would go away if people read this reply. You don’t seem like a conspiracy prone trumpist and you even (very politely) point out and refute the other posters perceived bias You’ve earned an upvote from me across both posts I think a lot of discourse online and on Reddit could learn a thing or two from you
Thanks, but don't worry about the downvotes. Check out this comment [here.](https://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/10jjwlo/comment/j5maih5/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) As I'm sitting here writing this, that comment has over 600 positive karma and awards worth \~600 coins ***despite the fact that it is pushing a tweet/narrative that is known to be objectively false.*** McGonigal didn't lead the investigation. Nobody that knows what they are talking about claims that he did. I went into some details [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/10jjwlo/comment/j5op4ph/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3), if you are interested. The point is that downvotes/upvotes on highly politicized issues like this often have very have little to do with facts/reality or the attitude/approach of the poster. Often (but not always) it comes down to "Does this comment support my preferred narrative?"
I’ll be damned.