FBI Follies: Bureau secretly probed Trump as a Russian asset for firing Comey: declassified memos

he FBI opened a criminal probe specifically targeting Donald Trump in May 2017, alleging the newly elected president may have been acting as a Russian asset when he fired then-Director James Comey even though the bureau’s own evidence overwhelmingly showed at the time there was no collusion with the Kremlin.

Internal memos newly declassified by the White House show the investigation – codenamed “Oxferd Comma” – was launched in the immediate aftermath of Comey’s May 9, 2017, firing and was predicated on an allegation that previously released memos show the bureau’s own agents had mostly dismissed.

“The FBI is opening a full investigation based on an articulable factual basis that reasonably indicates that President Donald J. Trump may be or has been, wittingly or unwittingly, involved in activities for or on behalf of the Government of the Russian Federation which may constitute violations of federal criminal law or threats to the national security of the United States,” the electronic communication opening the probe on May 16, 2017, stated.

Goal of the investigation was to determine if Trump was directed by or controlled by the Russian Federation 

“The goal of the investigation is to determine if President Trump is or was directed by, controlled by, and/or coordinated activities with, the Russian Federation in a manner constituting a threat to the national security of the United States and/or a violation of federal criminal statutes,” it added. “In addition, this investigation will also seek to determine whether President Trump and others yet to be named obstructed and/or conspiracy to obstruct any associated FBI investigation.”

OXFERD COMMA – Opening EC – redacted and declassified by FBI 7.30.26 (2).pdf

The memo, written by the FBI’s counterintelligence division and approved by then-FBI General Counsel James Baker and then-Assistant Director for Counterintelligence William Priestap, made clear the concerns about Russian influence and obstruction included Comey’s firing, in part because of the public explanations Trump gave for the termination.

“This alternative explanation can be reasonably read to imply that the FBI’s counterintelligence investigation was a factor in President Trump’s decision to terminate Comey,” the memo stated.

Both the Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein were advised that the probe had been launched, the memos show.

OXFERD COMMA – FBI Informs DOJ – redacted and declassified by FBI 7.30.26.pdf

The FBI marked the investigation as a “sensitive investigative matter” and declared it was “the least intrusive method to address the serious national security risk posed by the activities alleged.”

But that decision proved anything but nonintrusive: it prompted the appointment of Special Counsel Robert Mueller by Rosenstein and a nearly two-year probe that hampered the start of the Trump presidency even though Mueller’s team, like the FBI before it, was unable to substantiate any collusion between Russia and Trump’s campaign during the 2016 election.

MuellerReportFinal.pdf

A subsequent investigation by Special Counsel John Durham – released by the Biden Justice Department in 2023 – concluded there was no basis for the FBI to even open the original Crossfire Hurricane investigation into alleged Trump-Russia collusion.

durhamreport (1).pdf

The newly declassified Oxferd Comma memos show the case was closed on April 9, 2019, a few weeks after Mueller’s probe was sunset with a final report and no charges against Trump.

“The Special Counsel provided the Attorney General with a confidential report explaining his prosecution and declination decisions,” the closing memo noted.

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Spanish Leftists’ Push to Replace ‘Right-Wingers and Racists’ With Migrants: Is It Full Speed Ahead?

I called it at the time the most mask-drop moment by a leftist ever. That the radical admission came from the mouth of a petite Spanish woman only added to its shock value.

The tirade of Irene Montero, the political secretary of Spain’s far-left Podemos party (unlike normal conservatives who are smeared with the “far-right” label, these people really are far-left), was so rage-filled that it prompted Elon Musk to say she was advocating genocide. Here’s what Montero said earlier this year:

I want to ask migrant and racialized people that they please don’t leave us alone with so many retrograde right-wingers, and of course we do want them to vote, of course we do, we’ve achieved regularized-status legal papers, status regularization now already, and now we’re going either after full citizenship or after changing the law so that they can vote, of course. I hope for Great Replacement theory, I hope we manage to sweep this country of retrograde right-wingers and racists with migrant people, with working people, of course  I want replacement to take place. Replacement of retrograde right-wingers. Replacement of racists. Replacement of scroungers, and that we manage to do it with the working people of this country, whatever skin color they may present, whether Chinese, black, brown, with all comrades the working people of this country.

It was a political confession at its most revealing. There’s the reference to Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s plan to regularize more than 500,000 illegal migrants, with the admission that they’re seen as future leftist voters. There’s the shameless call for replacing naturalized citizens with illegal migrants. There’s the proud declaration that she views her political opponents as not merely wrong, but evil. And then there’s the standing ovation at the end to remind you how effective the left can be at rallying the mob.

It hits even harder in the aftermath of last month’s invasion of the Spanish North African enclave of Ceuta by an estimated 70,000 illegal migrants from Morocco. Want to take a guess how Montero responded to the crisis? Hint: It wasn’t with compassion for the Spaniards in Ceuta.

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Jasmine Crockett Said the Quiet Part Out Loud About James Talarico’s Chances

If Democrats were counting on Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) being a team player this cycle, they severely miscalculated. Sure, after she lost the Democrat Senate primary to state Rep. James Talarico (D-Texas) earlier this year, she endorsed him right away, but it’s basically been the cold shoulder ever since.

While Democrats nationwide are convinced Talarico represents their best chance to flip Texas, Crockett just threw cold water on their fantasy when she told a national reporter she has no idea if Talarico can win, and let slip the sign that he probably won’t.

Crockett sat down with NBC News reporter Sahil Kapur while she was in St. Louis, and he asked her a simple question: does she believe Talarico can flip Texas’ U.S. Senate seat this November? Her answer wasn’t the confident, party-line response Democrats wanted.

“I don’t know,” Crockett admitted.

That alone would have been enough to set off alarm bells inside a party desperate to project inevitability in Texas. But Crockett kept going, laying out exactly why she isn’t buying the hype. She said she doesn’t trust the polling that’s been floating around, because Texas polls have a long history of overstating Democrats’ chances right before Election Day. “I watch money,” she told Kapur.

“When I look at the money, if Republicans start spending money in Texas, then I’ll be convinced,” Crockett said. “But right now, national Republicans decided they wanted to dump money into North Carolina, as well as Georgia. That’s where they’re fighting, and national Democrats have not decided to dump money into Texas either.”

She went further, pointing to the two parties’ Senate campaign arms, which typically form joint fundraising partnerships with their endorsed candidates. “I look at: where does the NRSC stand? Where does DSCC stand? Right now, neither one are investing, which tells me that their internals are saying the same thing,” Crockett said. She added that she won’t commit to which races she’ll actually help with until roughly September or October.

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Mamdani Reverses Policy Requiring Govt. ID to Buy His Food

Communist New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani abruptly reversed his policy of requiring government ID to purchase food in his government-run supermarkets.

Even funnier is that, although we have it all on video, he’s now pretending that was never his policy. Remember, communists will tell any lie necessary to further the agenda. Communists have no ethics other than doing whatever is necessary to bring about the revolution. So, Mamdani is perfectly comfortable lying, knowing he will have the help of corrupt, far-left media outlets like the Associated Press, who publish lying fact checks, like this one, that brazenly and happily lie on his behalf.

Here is what  Jeanny Pak, the Interim President & CEO of NYC Economic Development Corporation, told the world during a Monday press conference with the Mayor standing a few feet away…

Yes, if you look at our RFP [Request for Proposals] for the operator, we are looking to make sure that we target New Yorkers, whether it be [through] a sort of a library card-esque [system], and also, we manage who’s buying and that it’s focused on everyday New Yorkers. So, we are mindful of that, and we’re going to make sure that we have all the things in place to ensure that that does not happen.

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Max Miller Destroys His Career in Disastrous, Shambolic CNN Interview

Well. That was an unmitigated disaster. 

In today’s edition of Save My Career, embattled Rep. Max Miller (R-Ohio) appeared on CNN yesterday evening, where anchor Jake Tapper cross-examined him — live on the air — about allegations of spousal abuse, child abuse, and drug use. And it was certainly a memorable performance for all the wrong reasons.

Why’d he go on CNN? 

We’ll get into that in just a sec, but we must first identify Miller’s PR objectives:

  1. Reassure Republican voters so that he doesn’t face pressure to drop out of his reelection race. (GOP abandonment is his #1 vulnerability. If he loses MAGA’s base, his career is kaput.) He wants us to believe that Team MAGA still needs him.
  2. Put his latest scandal(s) behind him. (This has “already been addressed” and is therefore “yesterday’s news.”) Time to move on.
  3. Appear credible, honest, and trustworthy — so we believe his denials.

Now let’s reverse-engineer Miller’s PR strategy: The benefit of using CNN — as opposed to Fox News, where the ratings (and Republican audience) are over triple the size — is threefold:

  1. By appearing on CNN, Miller is signaling that he’s unafraid of tough, hostile questions. You can accuse him of many things (some of which are admittedly horrific), but you can’t accuse him of seeking a softball interview. He wants us to conclude, “If Miller had anything to hide, he wouldn’t have gone on CNN.” Thus, he must be innocent.
  2. Jake Tapper was also a perfect foil because GOP audiences are already expecting him to be rude, nasty, and antagonistic towards Republicans. In a verbal conflict between Tapper and Miller, conservatives are STRONGLY predisposed to side with Miller because Tapper has made false accusations against Republicans for years. (Plus, since Joe Biden’s senility so spectacularly fooled Tapper, he’s clearly not that bright, and Miller probably figured he’d steamroll him.)
  3. Since CNN’s Republican audience is so small, more Republicans will hear about his interview than see it. This means Miller can claim credit for entering the “belly of the beast” (and answering all the tough questions without flinching), while spinning any problematic moments on X, conservative podcasts, Fox News, Newsmax, etc. — where the MAGA audience is more concentrated.

I understand why Miller adopted this strategy, but it was still PR malpractice. In fact, it was such an unholy trainwreck that his career is likely over.

The smarter PR approach would’ve been to sidestep the controversy instead of litigating it point-by-point: “I love my little girl more than life itself, and it just kills me that she’ll read all these horrible lies about her daddy one day. That’s why I’ll never say a bad word about my daughter’s mother — even when it exonerates me.”

That’s all he had to say!

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Socialist Mamdani Purges Business Leaders From Key NYC Fund

Radical socialist New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has purged a longstanding advisory board of business and civic leaders.

The Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City is a city-affiliated 501(c)(3) nonprofit that raises private donations to support public programs and City Hall priorities by partnering with agencies, philanthropies, and community groups.

According to Bloomberg News, Mamdani sent letters thanking the advisory board members for their service. A separate communication from the fund stated that the entire board of advisers would be disbanded.

The New York Post reports:

It’s raised hundreds of millions since its 1995 inception – including a staggering $107 million to support family members of rescue workers killed or injured in the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks.

During the darkest days of the COVID-19 pandemic, the fund raised $54.5 million for an emergency relief fund that covered meals and personal protective equipment (PPE) for healthcare workers.

But Mamdani started eroding the fund’s lucrative business connections as soon as he took office in April, appointing a former dockworker and a high school teacher to serve on the fund’s board of directors.

In April 2026, Mamdani started to overhaul the Fund’s Board of Directors, shifting it away from lucrative corporate and business leadership toward working New Yorkers and progressive advocates.

He added a Bronx public school teacher, a former longshoreman/UAW organizer, and his own chief of staff, Elle Bisgaard-Church, as chair.

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Zelensky Dismisses Ambassador to the U.S. Olga Stefanishyna, Investigated by the Ukrainian Anti-Corruption Agencies

Corruption probe sealed Stefanishyna’s fate.

The troublesome government reshuffle that Volodymyr Zelensky is implementing in his Kiev regime is still ongoing.

While most of the attention has been devoted to Zelensky’s firing of Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov – and subsequently of Commander-in-Chief General Oleksandr Syrsky, Ukrainian press has reported since the start that the reason for the shakeup was the Ambassador to the US, Olga Stefanishyna.

So, yesterday (3), as expected, Zelensky dismissed Stefanishyna.

And the reason why, that the AFP report tried to hide in the next-to-last paragraph: “According to Ukrainian media, Stefanishyna is under investigation by the country’s anti-corruption agency on suspicion of wrongdoing, although she has not been formally accused.

[…] In a Facebook post in which she also posted a letter asking to be relieved of her duties, Stefanishyna said the decision was her own and ‘dictated by personal circumstances’.”

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Nervous Chuck Schumer Dodges Questions About Endorsing Socialist Michigan Senate Candidate in General Election and Whether Rise of DSA is Good for Party

America’s top-ranking Democrat, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), is running away as the Democratic Socialists of America storm his party. 

Schumer on Tuesday fielded questions from reporters during a weekly press conference, where he was asked about his party’s DSA wing and once again dodged the questions.

A reporter asked about tonight’s Michigan Senate primary between Schumer-backed Haley Stevens and far-left DSA-aligned Abdul El-Sayed, and whether Schumer would endorse the winner if El-Sayed emerges victorious.

El-Sayed has denied that he is a socialist, but he’s attended and spoken at at least six DSA events over the years, according to Fox.

“I’m not technically or practically DSA,” he claimed in an interview last month. “I am not somebody who is a socialist. I believe in capitalism; I just believe that capitalism has to be regulated.” He’s also been described as “a longtime friend of Detroit DSA” during a 2019 event where he was photographed with Socialist Rep. Rashida Tlaib.

Schumer responded with a complete non-answer. “Bottom line, we are going to win Michigan, take back the Senate, and have a majority,” he said before enthusiastically moving on to take a question from CNN’s Manu Raju.

Raju, however, asked an equally daunting question for the Senate Minority Leader: Is the rise of the DSA good for your party?

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Far-Left Influencer Hasan Piker Campaigning in Wisconsin: ‘A Republican Will Never be Elected in This State Ever Again’

Hasan Piker, the far-left influencer who has praised Mao Zedong and promoted multiple DSA candidates in this election season, was campaigning with Francesca Hong in Wisconsin this week.

While speaking to a crowd, he said that when their movement is done, “a Republican will never be elected in this state ever again.”

He repeatedly invokes the ‘working class’ which is ironic considering that the DSA has hardly any working class members and promotes policies that would harm working people more than anyone else.

The Daily Wire reports:

The frontrunner to be the Democratic Party’s nominee for governor in Wisconsin appeared alongside a radical leftist streamer who has argued that America “deserved” 9/11 and called for a Republican senator to be killed.

Francesca Hong, who has called for the police to be abolished, campaigned alongside Hasan Piker and leftist Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) during a rally in Milwaukee on Sunday. During the rally, Piker claimed that no Republican would ever be elected in Wisconsin ever again after the far-Left accomplished its goals.

“The good people of Wisconsin always knew that this wasn’t about scary ideas, and it was just about a working-class movement that wanted to help out one another,” he said. “A Republican will never be elected in this state ever again, once our movement is done.”

Piker, who has millions of followers across his social media, previously said that America “deserved” 9/11, argued that “you would kill [Florida GOP Senator] Rick Scott” if “you cared about Medicaid fraud,” and called for the streets to “soak” in “red capitalist blood.”

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Pete Buttigieg Wants to Abolish the Electoral College and Pack SCOTUS but Can’t See Why Anyone Thinks This is Radical

Just yesterday, we brought you part of a recent interview that Pete Buttigieg did where he was basically fantasizing about new ways to tax Americans.

Now there is more from the same interview where Buttigieg talks about abolishing the Electoral College and packing the Supreme Court and then goes on to say that he can’t believe anyone sees this as radical.

It looks like Mayor Pete is planning another run for president. The messages he is sharing in these interview clips are for the far left voters of the Democrat base. That is who he is talking to here.

He wants to let them know that he is one of them.

Transcript via Real Clear Politics:

Former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg told the “Diary of a CEO” podcast some of the changes he would make to America’s constitutional political system, listing four fundamental reforms that he says people should not consider “radical.”

“People forget, the best part about the Constitution is its ability to be amended!” he said, listing:

– Eliminating the Electoral College and deciding the presidency through a nationwide popular vote –

“I still can’t believe that anybody considers this radical,” he said. “I think people haven’t thought through how much benefit would come from that. If we did that, there are so many votes in red and blue states that you couldn’t ignore anymore. If you were running for president as a Democrat, you’d have to go to Texas. Even if Texas were still going to vote mostly for Republicans, you’d have to turn out every Democratic vote you could in Texas. I just think we’d be so much better off if a Republican and Democratic candidate were competing over Texas.”

– Reforming the number of justices and operating structure of the Supreme Court –

“I would have term limits, more justices, and some process that makes it less partisan who the justices are. There are some different ways to do that. The one I think is most interesting is called the balanced-bench proposal.”

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