Tag: russiagate

Why is Russiagate’s Origin Story Redacted?

On January 11, 2019, at the peak of Russiagate mania and months before the release of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s deflating report, the New York Times for the first time made public a remarkable fact. In “FBI Opened Inquiry Into Whether Trump Was Secretly Working on Behalf of Russia,” a trio of Times reporters revealed that in the days after Donald Trump’s May 2017 firing of FBI Director James Comey, the Bureau “began investigating whether he had been working on behalf of Russia.”

The country first learned the FBI was investigating “any links between individuals associated with the Trump campaign and the Russian government” when Comey testified in Congress in March, 2017. Comey then was referring to the FBI’s much-ballyhooed Crossfire Hurricane probe, which was opened in July, 2016 and targeted the likes of George Papadopoulos and Carter Page.

This second FBI probe disclosed by the Times in 2019 carried far more explosive implications, making its delayed disclosure unusual. It’s one thing for the FBI to investigate possible “links” between foreigners and a presidential campaign. It’s another for Deputy Director of the FBI Andrew McCabe to open an investigation into whether a sitting president, i.e. his boss, is “working on behalf of Russia.”

“Imagine even opening this investigation up on just your average Joe,” says Aaron Maté of RealClear Investigations. “That would be crazy, unless you have some real predication. But this is the fucking president. Andrew McCabe decides that he can do this. On what basis?”

Either the FBI had evidence to start such an investigation, which would be damning to Trump, or it didn’t, which would be damning to the FBI. Which was it?

The 2019 Times story suggested the FBI probe was begun in part to determine if Trump’s “firing of Mr. Comey constituted obstruction of justice.” Beyond that, details were scant, and once the new investigation was folded into Robert Mueller’s inquiry, the reasons for its opening disappeared into the proverbial dustbin of history. Even when Special Counsel John Durham issued his report on the FBI and Crossfire Hurricane, he made just one mention of this second investigation, saying it was beyond his purview:

We also have not interpreted the Order as directing us to consider the handling ofthe investigation into President Trump opened by the FBI on May 16, 2017.

Nobody seemed to care what this second investigation was about, or what evidence was submitted to justify its opening, until Aaron and RealClear in December, 2022 sent a Freedom of Information request. They sought a copy of the original document explaining why the FBI opened a new “Sensitive Investigative Matter” on May 16, 2017. It took over two full years for the Bureau to respond. The answer was a middle finger: six pages, almost entirely redacted, with the exception of a few paragraphs.

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FBI still hiding key Russiagate details, newly released document shows

As Donald Trump re-enters the White House on a pledge to end national security state overreach, the Federal Bureau of Investigation is still hiding critical details on the Russia conspiracy investigation that engulfed his first term.

In response to a Freedom of Information request that I filed in August 2022, the FBI on December 31, more than two years later, released a heavily redacted copy of the document that opened an explosive and unprecedented counterintelligence probe of the sitting president as an agent of the Russian government.

The Electronic Communication, dated May 16, 2017, claimed to have an “articulable factual basis” to suspect that Trump “wittingly or unwittingly” was illegally acting on behalf of Russia, and accordingly posing “threats to the national security of the United States.” The FBI’s “goal,” it added, was “to determine if President Trump is or was directed by, controlled by, and/or coordinated activities with, the Russian Federation.” It additionally sought to uncover whether Trump and unnamed “others” obstructed “any associated FBI investigation” – a reference to Crossfire Hurricane, the initial FBI inquiry into the Trump campaign’s suspected cooperation with an alleged Russian interference plot in the 2016 election.

While Crossfire Hurricane, which was formally opened on July 31, 2016, had by that point focused on members of Trump’s orbit, the May 2017 probe was specifically targeted at the president himself during his fourth month in office. The investigation of Trump was undertaken at the behest of then-acting FBI director Andrew McCabe, one week after Trump had fired his former boss and mentor, James B. Comey.

According to the declassified document, McCabe’s decision was approved by FBI Assistant Director Bill Priestap, who had also signed off on the opening of Crossfire Hurricane; and Jim Baker, the FBI general counsel. Baker was a longtime friend of Michael Sussmann, a lawyer for the presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton, and a key figure in the dissemination of Clinton-funded disinformation to the FBI that falsely tied Trump to Russia. In his FBI role, Baker personally circulated the conspiracy theory, manufactured by “researchers” working with the Clinton campaign, that the Trump campaign and Russia were communicating via a secret server. After leaving the FBI, Baker served as deputy general counsel at Twitter, where he backed the company’s censorship of reporting on the contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop, based on yet another conspiracy theory that the laptop files were Russian disinformation.

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A Liar and the Father of Lies

Since 2001 (when I started paying close attention), I have observed the United States government commit a series of massive frauds for the benefit of its cronies in the Military-Industrial Complex, Wall Street, and—most recently in 2020-2021—for the Bio-Pharmaceutical Complex.

In 2016, the racketeers who run the U.S. government were threatened by the improbable election of Donald Trump, and they immediately set about trying to sabotage it. Using the FBI as their primary tool, they fabricated the story that Trump had won the election by colluding with agents of the Russian government.

On the face of it, the story was the stupidest thing I’d ever heard, and it was then that I realized that America’s so-called “educated class” is ignorant and childish. The sheer magnitude of the lie that was told twenty-four seven for months on end was stupendous to behold, and it reminded of Jesus telling the Pharisees—with stunning frankness—that they are sons of the devil.

You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

I’m impressed by the great literary quality of this verse (John 8:44), and I wonder if it inspired Shakespeare when he created his villains Iago and Richard III, who are, first and foremost, liars. As Iago says of his plan to destroy Othello:

The Moor is of a free and open nature,

That thinks men honest that but seem to be so,

And will as tenderly be led by the nose. As asses are.

I have’t. It is engender’d. Hell and night

Must bring this monstrous birth to the world’s light.

Or Richard III says about his plot to seize the English crown:

Plots have I laid, inductions dangerous,

By drunken prophecies, libels, and dreams

To set my brother Clarence and the king

In deadly hate the one against the other.

Plots have I laid, inductions dangerous. I thought of this line this morning when I read a an essay by fellow Substack authors Jeff Carlson & Hans Mahncke titled “Alexander Downer Exposes FBI’s Deceit in Opening Russia Investigation”

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The Spies Who Hate Us

Brownstone Institute has been tracking a little-known federal agency for years. It is part of the Department of Homeland Security created after 9-11. It is called the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency or CISA. It was created in 2018 out of a 2017 executive order that seemed to make sense. It was a mandate to secure American digital infrastructure against foreign attack and infiltration. 

And yet during the Covid year, it assumed three huge jobs. It was the agency responsible for dividing the workforce between essential and nonessential. It led the way on censorship efforts. And it handled election security for 2020 and 2022, which, if you understand the implications of that, should make you spit out your coffee upon learning. 

More than any other agency, it became the operationally relevant government during this period. It was the agency that worked through third parties and packet-switching networking to take down your Facebook group. It worked through all kinds of intermediaries to keep a lid on Twitter. It managed LinkedIn, Instagram, and most of the other mainstream platforms in a way that made you feel like your opinions were too crazy to see the light of day. 

The most astonishing court document just came out. It was unearthed in the course of litigation undertaken by America First Legal. It has no redaction. It is a reverse chronicle of most of what they did from February 2020 until last year. It is 500 pages long. The version available now takes an age to download, so we shrunk it and put it on fast view so you can see the entire thing. 

What you discover is this. Everything that the intelligence agencies did not like during this period – doubting lockdowns, dismissing masking, questioning the vaccine, and so on – was targeted through a variety of cutouts among NGOs, universities, and private-sector fact-checkers. It was all labeled as Russian and Chinese propaganda so as to fit in with CISA’s mandate. Then it was throttled and taken down. It managed remarkable feats such as getting WhatsApp to stop allowing bulk sharing. 

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Was Russia or the Deep State Behind the 57 Polling Locations Across the Country that Received Bomb Threats?

During and after the 2024 Election, at least 57 polling locations across the country received bomb threats. Was this a targeted operation by Russia, China, or the Deep State?

A report from NBC from election night claimed that at least 50 election locations were targeted across multiple battleground states with bomb threats.

Hoax bomb threats targeting polling places and election offices briefly disrupted voting in five battleground states, with the FBI saying the threats in four of those states came from Russian email domains. The origin of the threats in the fifth state was not clear.

The threats targeted at least 50 sites across Georgia, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Wisconsin and Michigan, authorities said.

…The Russian Embassy in the U.S. said any accusation that it was behind the threats was “vicious slander” and “nonsense,” according to the government-owned news service RIA Novosti.

In Pennsylvania there were at least 13 voting locations throughout the state that reported bomb threats. The threats were reportedly received via email. Most were reported on election day.

An email announcing a bomb threat at the Chester County Government Services Center on 601 Westtown Road in West Chester was sent to Chester County Voter Services on Tuesday night, shortly before polls closed, according to investigators.

Chester County Emergency Officials responded to the building which was evacuated. The Chester County Sheriff’s Office K9 Unit conducted a sweep and determined the threat was unfounded. The building was later reopened.

The FBI blamed this incident [email] being from overseas origin. Does anyone trust this guy?

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Elon Musk Delivers Harrowing News to ‘Treasonous’ Liar and Leaker Alexander Vindman After He Seemingly Accuses Musk of Selling State Secrets to Putin

Ukrainian-born Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman (US Army Ret.) may be about to pay the ultimate price for his crimes against America if the world’s richest man has any say.

As The Gateway Pundit previously reported, Vindman was a crucial figure in the first impeachment of President Trump over his “perfect” phone call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in 2019. But he was caught repeatedly lying during his testimony before Congress, which made him a leftist hero.

The truth is that Vindman was a leaker who thought his opinions overruled the Trump administration. He was moved from the White House with his twin brother (who was unfortunately elected to Congress this month) after his unsuccessful attempt, along with Eric Ciaramella, to remove the sitting president from office.

Even Vindman’s boss testified that he was a leaker and a liar who could not be trusted.

Vindman has now made things worse for himself after hurling a disgusting smear toward X owner and DOGE co-chairman Elon Musk in a late October MSNBC interview uncovered by X users on Wednesday.

In the interview, Vindman said Russian President Vladimir Putin is using Musk to do his bidding. This includes Musk potentially selling state secrets to Russia.

“Clearly, Putin has a type. He likes narcissists and egomaniacs that he knows as a case officer can easily pander to manipulate, to do his dirty work,” Vindman said. “Russia has been using different levers — whether that’s corruption networks, in this case, its influencers like Donald Trump, like Elon Musk, to kind of sow discord.”

“It’s possible that some of that is seeping through,” Vindman added. “He’s (Putin) been using the richest man in the world to do his bidding. In some cases, that’s encouraging him probably to support Donald Trump.

“That’s not speculation. We see how far Elon has gone. And then using Twitter as a disinformation platform.”

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Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz Calls Trump DNI Nominee Tulsi Gabbard A ‘Russian Asset’

Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) joined MSNBC this week where she claimed Donald Trump’s Director of National Intelligence nominee Tulsi Gabbard is “a Russian asset.”

“Tulsi Gabbard is someone who has met with war criminals, violated the Department of State’s guidance and secretly, clandestinely went to Syria and met with Assad who gassed and attacked his own people with chemical weapons. She’s considered to be essentially by most assessments a Russian asset and would be the most dangerous…” Schultz said before being asked by an MSNBC anchor if she considers Gabbard a Russian agent.

She answered, “Oh yes, there’s no question I consider her someone who is likely a Russian asset who would be, as the DNI responsible for managing our entire intelligence community, hold all of our most significant intelligence information and secrets, and essentially would be a direct line to our enemies.”

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Russia Hoax Begins! Left Already Pointing to Moscow amid Harris Election Prospects

As Vice President Kamala Harris faces increasingly challenging odds in the current election, left-wing voices are reviving familiar claims of Russian interference to explain a potential defeat.

In an attempt to deflect responsibility and shield the administration from blame, left wing personalities are already turning to a narrative that blames Russian interference for the election outcome

Russia “wants Vice President Kamala Harris to lose,” largely because of the Biden administration’s policy in support of Ukraine, but also to instill and exploit division in the United States, reported CBS News host Margaret Brennan.

By “trying to be agents of chaos,” the Russian threat “doesn’t stop with Election Day — it continues well after,” she added. “It is making us doubt ourselves, our systems, each other, and possibly stoke violence.”

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FBI Whistleblower Tells Congress Former FBI Director James Comey Inserted Two Female Agent ‘Honeypots’ Inside Trump 2016 Campaign, Separate from Russia Hoax Investigation

So we are just finding out about this now?

According to an FBI whistleblower, former Directed James Comey inserted two female agents inside the Trump campaign in 2016.

The Washington Times reported that the female agents were directed to act as “honeypots” and travel with Trump and his staff.

This was an “off-the-books” operation and was separate from Comey and Obama’s Crossfire Hurricane operation that that targeted Trump based on false Russian collusion lies.

For years now we have not seen ANY high-level whistleblowers from the FBI during the debunked Crossfire Hurricane investigation of President Trump.

The entire FBI and DOJ was in on this assault on candidate and then President Trump for years despite knowing that the entire investigation was based on a lie that Trump was being influenced by Russia and Putin.

It was later well documented that it was Hillary Clinton who had created the lie from whole cloth. Hillary was later fined for funding the fake Russia dossier that was used to spy on Trump, his family, his campaign, and his administration.

The whistleblower told Congress that the investigation was hid from DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz, another lackey for the regime.

The details of this investigation was kept from President Trump’s criminal defense counsels.

This is the latest piece of evidence that details the absolute criminal mindset of the current FBI leadership.

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Policing the Narrative

The Deep State has struck again. The Biden Administration’s intrepid Department of Justice (DOJ), ever-vigilant in its quest for Russian bogeymen, has proudly announced the seizure of 32 internet domains. Their purported crime? Daring to challenge the regime’s approved narratives.

According to the allegations, Russian entities such as Social Design Agency (SDA), Structura National Technology, and ANO Dialog operated these domains under the guidance of the Russian government. These “Doppelganger” campaigns reportedly sought to reduce international support for Ukraine, promote pro-Russian policies, and influence voters in U.S. and foreign elections, including the upcoming 2024 U.S. Presidential Election.

The methods allegedly used in these efforts include cybersquatting (registering domain names closely resembling legitimate news sites), creating fake media brands, deploying paid influencers, utilizing AI-generated content, running social media advertisements, and producing bogus social media profiles that impersonate U.S. citizens or non-Russian individuals. According to the DOJ, these campaigns target audiences across several countries, including the U.S., Germany, Mexico, and Israel.

The U.S. Treasury Department has designated ten individuals and two entities connected to these activities, stating that their actions violate U.S. money laundering laws, criminal trademark laws, and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). The FBI spearheads the investigation while various U.S. Attorney’s offices and Justice Department divisions manage the prosecutions.

Attorney General Merrick Garland speaks of “Russian government propaganda,” but what’s the real propaganda here? Is it the belief that endless proxy wars and foreign election interference are in America’s best interest? Or the idea that our intelligence agencies aren’t actively shaping public opinion?

The authorities speak of “malign influence” and “disinformation,” but what they fear is the truth—about our political class’s corruption, the American economy’s decline, and the regulation of what people read and discuss.

Make no mistake: This isn’t just about Russia or “protecting democracy.” The real threat isn’t some shadowy Russian troll farm.

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