Free Republic

Apologies for any inexact language, I’m dictating from the road back from Ithaca. This afternoon a story came out on Public that I co-wrote with Michael Shellenberger and Alex Gutentag. Like our previous collaborations, this is a breaking news story, one that we worked on for many weeks. Without giving away the whole story, this first installment relies on a never-released classified report to describe a broad political espionage campaign that reportedly involved at least 26 Trump aides and associates. I strongly urge anyone interested in the topic to check out the article, titled “CIA Had Foreign Allies Spy On...

When the Trump-Russia operation began unraveling, it was clear that there was an international cast of characters involved in the frame-up. The operation to get Trump — in time to torpedo his election in 2016 and then subvert his presidency — involved the Hillary Clinton campaign, the CIA's John Brennan, who informed President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden of the operation, the FBI, which appeared to cover it up, a reputed Russian spy working for a Democrat think tank, a mysterious Maltese professor, an international honeypot, an Australian diplomat, and a British spy. It was the earthly equivalent of...

Anxious FBI chiefs are trawling through 'numerous' top-level investigations spanning 22 years for fear they were compromised by convicted bureau spook Charles McGonigal, DailyMail.com can reveal. The forensic clean-up operation ranges over the entire time the philandering former head of counterintelligence in New York worked for the agency. McGonigal, 55, has already been sentenced to four years and two months in prison for taking money and conspiring with a sanctioned Russian oligarch who is a crony of despot President Vladimir Putin. But the full possible repercussions of his treachery are outlined in a sentencing memorandum by the US government for...

Just watching Real America's Voice interviewing Steve Gray, boss at the FBI of Charlie McGonigal, the Russian spy in the FBI who was a liberal Democrat and very close friend of Peter Stroek and Christopher Wray. Steve Gray stated that this guy is the tip of a many cases. He says absolutely Charlie will flip against Stroek and Wray

Former FBI agent Peter Strzok said Wednesday on MSNBC’s “Deadline” that he believed supporters of former President Donald Trump were “engaging in threats of violence,” while supporters of President Joe Biden were not prone to violence. Strzok said, “My biggest concern is that we have the presumptive Republican nominee for president who has and continues to engage in calls for violence from his supporters. Look, there’s an interesting data point here. Just shortly after the Michigan Supreme Court indicated they weren’t going to take this up, Donald Trump took to Truth Social and lauded their decision, talked about how they...

a prominent FBI official, Charles McGonigal, was sentenced to a prison stint. He was convicted of conspiracy and bribery involving a Russian oligarch who is known for being an extremely close associate of Vladamir Putin. While this is being widely reported on today there is a very notable omission seen from the various major news outlets covering this sentencing. To set the stage correctly we need to flash back briefly over what we have been told over the past seven or so years. With the rise of Donald Trump in Republican circles, one of the earliest complaints leveled against him...

Former high-ranking FBI official Charles McGonigal started tearing up Thursday as he was sentenced to 50 months in federal prison for colluding with a Russian oligarch to evade US sanctions. McGonigal, 55, was ordered to surrender by Feb. 26, 2024, made to serve three years of supervised release following his time behind bars, and was fined $40,000. After he exited the courthouse, McGonigal told onlookers, “Happy holidays.” McGonigal, who helmed the FBI’s counterintelligence division in New York from 2016 to 2018, pleaded guilty to the charge back in August. “[McGonigal] well knew his actions violated those sanctions,” Manhattan federal judge...

A former high-ranking FBI official has been sentenced to over four years in prison for colluding with Russian oligarchs.Charles McGonigal, once the Special Agent in Charge (SAC) of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division in New York, faced charges for conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and committing money laundering.McGonigal, 55, from New York City, was sentenced to 50 months in prison and ordered to pay a $40,000 fine on Thursday.McGonigal was arrested earlier this year for conspiring with Oleg Deripaska, a Russian oligarch sanctioned by the U.S. government.His guilty plea in August followed a detailed investigation revealing...

Charles McGonigal, who had been the special agent in charge of the FBI‘s counterintelligence division in New York, is accused of taking secret payments from Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska in exchange for investigating a rival oligarch, according to court documents. Mr. McGonigal, 54, is one of the highest-ranking FBI officials ever charged with a crime. He faces one count of violating U.S. sanctions, one count of money laundering and two conspiracy counts.

The FBI’s reputation problems have accelerated with the arrest on corruption charges of Charles McGonigal, the former chief of counterintelligence for the FBI’s New York field office, one of the most powerful spy-hunters in the country - who also happened to be connected to Hunter Biden. In twin indictments last month, McGonigal was charged with taking secret cash payments from a former Albanian intelligence officer, holding secret meetings with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, and attempting to remove top Kremlin oligarch Oleg Deripaska from a US sanctions list. The Albanians cited by prosecutors tie this scandal to Hunter Biden and...

A former top FBI official in New York has been arrested over his ties to a Russian oligarch, law enforcement sources told ABC News Monday. Charles McGonigal, who was the special agent in charge of counterintelligence in the FBI's New York Field Office, is under arrest over his ties to Oleg Deripaska, a Russian billionaire who has been sanctioned by the United States and criminally charged last year with violating those sanctions. McGonigal retired from the FBI in 2018. He was arrested Saturday afternoon after he arrived at JFK Airport following travel in Sri Lanka, the sources said.

Charles McGonigal, the former head of counterintelligence at the FBI field office in New York City who was involved in the investigation into the Trump campaign’s contacts with Russia during the 2016 election, has fallen under the scrutiny of a grand jury convened by U.S. attorneys late last year for his own ties with Russia and other foreign governments, reports Insider. The grand jury is reportedly investigating McGonigal’s business dealings with a top aide to Oleg Deripaska, the billionaire Russian oligarch who was at the center of allegations that Russia colluded with the Trump campaign, according to a recently obtained...

Protesters on Monday seized a mansion linked to the sanctioned Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska in one of central London's most exclusive addresses. Banners were unfurled from the property at 5 Belgrave Square, including one stating "This property has been liberated", alongside the Ukrainian flag. Police, who were called out in the early hours, arrived and set up a cordon before later using a drill to break open the front door to gain entry and used a crane to access the balcony.

In March 2011, then-Vice President Joe Biden gave a much-ballyhooed speech at Moscow State University arguing the Obama-Biden reboot of U.S.-Russia relations had achieved great success, even singling out as an example the U.S. aluminum giant Alcoa for its new business ties inside Vladimir Putin's country. "The reset is working," Biden crowed. "Working for all of us. Working for Russia. And I would presumptuously suggest working for the world." That reset didn't last long. Putin's forces would invade the Crimea region of Ukraine in 2014 in an act of aggression that haunts Biden to this day. This week, now-President Biden...

Fired FBI executive Andrew McCabe says America's conservatives are as bad as Islamic terrorists and the federal government needs vastly increased powers to spy on them. The stunning words from McCabe came during his recent speech at the University of Chicago, and were captured by a report in The Federalist about his comments on conservatives. "I can tell you from my perspective of spending a lot of time focused on the radicalization of international terrorists and Islamic extremist and extremists of all stripes … is that this group shares many of the same characteristics of those groups that we've seen...

Hunter Biden boasted he could provide intelligence on the shady Russian oligarch whose Greenwich Village townhouse was raided by the FBI on Tuesday. The president’s son said he could provide Alcoa, a giant US aluminium firm, with knowledge about the “elite networks” connected to Oleg Deripaska in a proposal from his company Rosemont Seneca, emails on Hunter’s laptop show. Federal agents carried out “law enforcement activity” on Tuesday at the Gay Street townhouse and a Washington mansion tied to Deripaska, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Deripaska was investigated for money laundering and extortion and sanctioned by the...

A dark money group based in California contributed $2 million to The Democracy Integrity Project, the organization that has contracted with Fusion GPS and Christopher Steele to investigate President Donald Trump. The Democracy Integrity Project’s founder, a former staffer for Sen. Dianne Feinstein, has acknowledged to the FBI that the group provides information to the press, lawmakers and investigators. Fund for a Better Future is the second Democracy Integrity Project donor to have been identified. George Soros gave $1 million to the group. A dark money group with links to several high-profile liberal activists contributed $2 million to The Democracy...

Christopher Steele should print up calling cards embossed with the words, "Liar For Hire." He could do splashy commercials bragging that Hillary Clinton is a happily satisfied customer. The former British spy pocketed buckets of money from the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee (not to mention cash from the FBI courtesy of you, the American taxpayer) by conjuring up a phony dossier that was used to smear Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential election and trigger an FBI investigation that badly damaged his presidency. When you think about it, it was one helluva grift. Until it was exposed....

Oleg Deripaska could be a target of Durham’s spygate probe SOURCE — NBC NEWS FBI agents on Tuesday swarmed the home of Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska in Washington, D.C., an agency spokesperson confirmed to NBC News. The reason for their presence wasn’t immediately clear. The spokesperson said the agency is conducting “law enforcement activity at the home,” but wouldn’t elaborate. Deripaska is a billionaire oil tycoon with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. He was among two dozen Russian oligarchs and officials who were sanctioned by the Treasury Department in April 2018. A press release announcing the sanctions said...

FBI agents are at the home of Russian tycoon Oleg Deripaska, the agency confirmed Tuesday. The agents are conducting “court-authorized law enforcement activity” at Deripaska’s home in Washington, D.C., an FBI spokeswoman told CNBC. The spokeswoman did not provide additional details about the FBI presence. Multiple agents were seen restricting access to the property, NBC News reported.