So the guy who was bringing up the narrative that Trump was influenced by Russia/Putin’s toy was actually for the Russians?

To be honest, read the article.

The guy was in the FBI, then retired.

He wanted to make $$$.

He got a job for a Russian oligarch trying to get him off the naughty list.

He’s charged with working for a banned individual.

That bothers me somewhat, depending on what he was doing. I don’t get how it’s illegal to be hired by a person to try and get them off the government’s bad list. I assume there is more to it than that…

Of course, it does paint this guy as a whore.

quote:

Originally posted by crbutler:
So the guy who was bringing up the narrative that Trump was influenced by Russia/Putin’s toy was actually for the Russians?

To be honest, read the article.

The guy was in the FBI, then retired.

He wanted to make $$$.

He got a job for a Russian oligarch trying to get him off the naughty list.

He’s charged with working for a banned individual.

That bothers me somewhat, depending on what he was doing. I don’t get how it’s illegal to be hired by a person to try and get them off the government’s bad list. I assume there is more to it than that…

Of course, it does paint this guy as a whore.

Read it again.....he started working with the oligarch while STILL working for the FBI. And this is the agent who said Trump wasn't tied to Russians.

The guy was covering up for the Russians and Trump and a whore and a traitor.

Unlike Trump, this asshole is going to jail. Both should.

he was investigating the democrats false Russia Russia Russia allegations against trump.

how's about not letting your TDS get in the way once in a while.

quote:

And this is the agent who said Trump wasn't tied to Russians.

When did he say that?

Newsweek: "During his time in the FBI, McGonigal participated in investigations of Russian oligarchs, including Deripaska.

He was also one of the key figures who helped trigger special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into allegations that Trump's campaign team colluded with Russia to help the former president win the 2016 election."

Sure doesn't sound as though he was running defense for Trump.

From Timothy Snyder @TimothyDSnyder

8:06 AM Jan 25, 2023

In April 2016, I broke the story of Trump and Putin, using Russian open sources. Afterwards, I heard vague intimations that something was awry in the FBI in New York, specifically counter-intelligence and cyber. We now have a suggestion as to why. 0/20

The person who led the relevant section, Charles McGonigal, has just been charged with taking money from the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. Follow this thread to see just how this connects to the victory of Trump, the Russian war in Ukraine, and U.S. national security. 1/20

The reason I was thinking about Trump & Putin in 2016 was a pattern. Russia had sought to control Ukraine, using social media, money, & a pliable head of state. Russia backed Trump the way that it had backed Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych, in the hopes of soft control 2/20

Trump & Yanukovych were similar figures: interested in money, & in power to make or shield money. And therefore vulnerable partners for Putin. They also shared a political advisor: Paul Manafort. He worked for Yanukovych from 2005-2015, taking over Trump's campaign in 2016. 3/20

You might remember Manafort's ties to Russia from 2016. He (and Jared Kushner, and Donald Trump, Jr.) met with Russians in June 2016 in Trump Tower as part of, as the broker of the meeting called it, "the Russian government's support for Trump" (#RoadToUnfreedom, p. 237)[1]. 4/20

Manafort had to resign as Trump's campaign manager in August 2016 when news broke that he had received $12.7 million in cash from Yanukovych. But these details are just minor elements of Manafort's dependence on Russia. (#RoadToUnfreedom, p. 235). 5/20

Manafort worked for Deripaska, the same Russian oligarch to whom McGonigal is linked, between 2006 and 2009. Manafort's assignment was to soften up the U.S for Russian influence. He promised "a model that can greatly benefit the Putin government." (#RoadToUnfreedom, p. 234). 6/20

While Manafort worked for Trump in 2016, though, Manafort's dependence on Russia was deeper. He owed Deripaska money, not a position one would want to be in. Manafort offered Deripaska "private briefings" on the campaign. He was hoping "to get whole." (#RoadToUnfreedom, 234) 7/20

Reconsider how the FBI treated the Trump-Putin connection in 2016. Trump and other Republicans screamed that the FBI had overreached. In retrospect, it seems the exact opposite took place. The issue of Russian influence was framed in a way convenient for Russia and Trump. 8/20

The FBI investigation, Crossfire Hurricane, focused on the narrow issue of personal connections between the Trump campaign and Russians. It missed Russia's cyber attacks and the social media campaign, which, according to Kathleen Hall Jamieson, won the election for Trump. 9/20

Once the issue of Russian soft control was framed narrowly as personal contact, Obama missed the big picture, and Trump had an easy defense. Trump knew that Russia was working for him, but the standard of guilt was placed so high that he could defend himself. 10/20

It is entirely inconceivable that McGonigal was unaware of Russia's 2016 cyber influence campaign on behalf of Trump. Even I was aware of it, and I had no expertise. It became one of the subjects of my book #RoadtoUnfreedom. 11/20

The FBI did investigate cyber later, and came to some correct conclusions. But this was after the election, and missed the Russian influence operations entirely. That was an obvious counterintelligence issue. Why did the FBI take so long, and miss the point? 12/20

I had no personal connection to this, but will just repeat what informed people said at the time: this sort of thing was supposed to go through the FBI counter-intelligence section in New York, where tips went to die. That is where McGonigal was in charge. 13/20

The cyber element is what McGonigal should have been making everyone aware of in 2016. In 2016, McGonigal was chief of the FBI's Cyber-Counterintelligence Coordination Section. That October, he was put in charge of the Counterintelligence Division of the FBI's NY office. 14/20

We need to understand why the FBI failed in 2016 to address the essence of an ongoing Russian influence operation. The character of that operation suggests that it would have been the responsibility of an FBI section whose head is now accused of taking Russian money. 15/20

Right after the McGonigal story broke, Kevin McCarthy ejected Adam Schiff from the House intelligence committee. Schiff is expert on Russian influence operations. It exhibits carelessness about national security to exclude him. It is downright suspicious to exclude him now. 16/20

Back in June 2016, Kevin McCarthy expressed his suspicion that Donald Trump was under Putin's influence. He and other Republican members concluded that the risk of an embarrassment to their party was more important than American security. #RoadToUnfreedom, p. 255. 17/20

The Russian influence operation to get Trump elected was real. It serves no one to pretend otherwise. We are still learning about it. Denying that it happened makes the United States vulnerable to ongoing Russian operations. 18/20

I remember a certain frivolity from 2016. Trump was a curiosity. Russia was irrelevant. Nothing to take seriously. Then Trump was elected, blocked weapon sales to Ukraine, and tried to stage a coup. Now Ukrainians are dying every day in the defining conflict of our time. 19/20

The McGonigal question goes even beyond these issues. He had authority in the most sensitive possible investigations within U.S. intelligence. Sorting this out will require a concern for the United States that goes beyond party loyalty. 20/20

quote:

Originally posted by Lamar:
he was investigating the democrats false Russia Russia Russia allegations against trump.

how's about not letting your TDS get in the way once in a while.

Impossible!

So far, news of the bombshell arrest of Charles McGonigal, the former FBI special agent, has focused on his central role in events leading up to the 2016 election.

But there is another issue raised by McGonigal's arrest that hasn't drawn nearly as much attention. At least it has not yet, but it may prove even more pivotal to bringing down the Trump crime syndicate. And that's McGonigal's curious association with the desperate attempts by Jared Kushner, and his father, Charles, to rescue an upside-down investment in 666 (now 660) 5th Avenue.

A little background. Kushner Properties bought the iconic Midtown property for a record $1.8 billion in 2007, just before the 2008 crash. About $1.3 billion purchase was financed, and the property was almost instantaneously hemmoraging big money. Some estimates valued the building at well less than half of the purchase price.

Remarkably, after years of failed efforts (including overtures to a Chinese company), the Kushners finally were able to sell a 99 year lease on the building to a company called Brookfield Asset Management in August 2018, with funding supplied by Qatar's sovereign wealth fund. The $1.2-billion lease payment for all 99 years was paid up front, allowing the Kushners to get the finance monkeys off their backs. Phew!

Crucially, after McGonigal retired from the FBI in September 2018, he was hired as senior vice president for security by none other than Brookfield... the company that saved the Kushners' asses.

Add to that the billions Trump got from Saudi murdering princes.

What a crime factory.

And some traitors here still kiss his ring.