The real ‘Russia collusion’ story
F. Paul Valone
“In a hilarious and astonishing turn of events, one of the FBI officials who investigated Donald Trump for supposed Russian collusion has now been arrested for Russian collusion,” declared a popular conservative news source.
I wish the event truly was “hilarious” and “astonishing.” Sadly, it is neither.
At issue is the arrest, on Saturday, of Charles McGonigal, who ran counter intelligence for the FBI’s New York Field Office during the Trump-Russia collusion scandal. It seems that McGonigal was on the payroll of officially sanctioned (and criminally charged) Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska.
Oops.
Said Michael Driscoll, the FBI assistant director in charge, “As alleged, Mr. McGonigal and Mr. [Sergey] Shestakov, both U.S. citizens, acted on behalf of Deripaska and fraudulently used a U.S. entity to obscure their activity in violation of U.S. sanctions.”
McGonigal and Shestakov, it seems, unsuccessfully tried to get sanctions lifted for Deripaska. Worse, McGonigal allegedly received $225,000 from a “former” Russian intelligence officer while still employed by the FBI…