It couldn’t be missed at the time of the 2016 presidential election: Then-candidate Donald Trump’s “links” to “Russia”.
After all, the US Justice Department was investigating it, the FBI claimed it had enough evidence to need permission to spy on the Trump campaign.
The story went on for years, all the way through Robert Mueller’s years-long review that found …nothing!
Even today, after it’s been documented that the stories were made up, pushed by the Hillary Clinton campaign to divert voters’ attention from her own email scandal, there STILL are those to chant “Russia collusion” at the drop of a hat.
Now there may be at least a bit of justice. According to the Washington Times, one of those involved in the Russian conspiracy theory is pleading guilty.
According to the report, “to charges of colluding with Russia himself, a federal judge suggested…”
It is Charles McGonigal, a former special agent in charge of the FBI’s counterintelligence division in New York, who was part of the FBI’s “Trump-Russian collusion probe into former President Donald Trump’s campaign”.
But Jennifer Reardon, a Manhattan-based federal judge, wrote in an order that attorneys for McGonigal wish to change their plea in the case.
He originally pleaded not guilty to corruption charges, including conspiring to evade US sanctions, money laundering, conspiring to commit money laundering and conspiring to violate federal law against doing business with sanctioned individuals, the report documented.
Each count carries a potential prison term of 20 years.
Reardon scheduled a hearing for August 15 after noting, “The court has been informed that defendant Charles McGonigal may wish to enter a change of plea”.
McGonigal was an FBI counterintelligence agent in New York, and if the case proceeds as expected, would be the fourth major FBI figure involved in the Trump-Russia conspiracy theory to face criminal charges, or end up under investigation.
The report said he’s accused of illegally accepting payments for his work with Oleg Deripaska, a sanctioned Russian oligarch – reportedly in exchange for investigating a rival Russian. There are cases involving him in both Washington and New York, and there’s no word anything has changed in the Washington case.
