Weekly Mind Dump, 12/10-12/16, 2023: Is Trump Passing Official Secrets to the Kremlin?
Weekly Mind Dump, 12/10-12/16, 2023: Is Trump Passing Official Secrets to the Kremlin?
And why did Russia collaborator, ex-FBI agent McGonigal get such a light sentence?
I was crashing on my latest piece, “My Big Fat Holiday Conspiracy Theory” this week when two big stories broke on the national security front: 1) 2700 pages of missing top secret intelligence coveted by Donald Trump, and 2) a measly four-year jail sentence handed down to Charles McGonigal, a former senior FBI special agent specializing in counterintelligence caught collaborating with a Russian oligarch who is close to Putin. Breaking stories happen. So I’m putting off my holiday cheer conspiracy theory essay to address these two breaking issues.
With a President Like Donald Trump, Putin Doesn’t Need to Spy on Us
The late, great Andy Rooney, of “60 Minutes” fame, was fond of saying, “Did you ever wonder why. . .?” Were he alive today, Andy would be asking on a Sunday evening, “Did you ever wonder why so many government secrets go missing under Donald Trump?”
Actually, I don’t wonder why. I have my own ideas and I’ll share them with you here.
CNN broke the news on the mystery of vanished top secret materials this week in “The mystery of the missing binder: How a collection of raw Russian intelligence disappeared under Trump,” reporting:
The binder contained raw intelligence the U.S. and its NATO allies collected on Russians and Russian agents, including sources and methods that informed the U.S. government’s assessment that Russian President Vladimir Putin sought to help Trump win the 2016 election, sources tell CNN.
The intelligence was so sensitive that lawmakers and congressional aides with top secret security clearances were able to review the material only at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, where their work scrutinizing it was itself kept in a locked safe.
The binder was last seen at the White House during Trump’s final days in office. The former president had ordered it brought there so he could declassify a host of documents related to the FBI’s Russia investigation.
His purpose was to selectively leak key parts in his ongoing effort to bamboozle Americans into believing that the FBI’s “Crossfire Hurricane” investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election was a “hoax.”
Cassidy Hutchinson told the House January 6 Committee that she saw her boss Mark Meadows leave with the binder from the White House on the last day of Trump’s presidency. Meadows had handed over a partially redacted copy of the collection to a pro-Trump media operative. Learning of this, White House legal counsel Pat Cipollone ordered the Secret Service to retrieve the documents, which were kept in a Whole Foods shopping bag. Through his lawyer, Meadows denies having the materials.
Here’s the thing about government secrets: once they stray from secure storage, they are ruined, like film exposed to daylight, and a national security damage assessment must be conducted. It’s akin to there being no such thing as “a little bit pregnant.” Once classified is leaked, the government must assume that our adversaries likely have it.
Former Homeland Security advisor to VP Mike Pence, Olivia Troye, told CNN’s Jake Tapper, “This is a thousand times worse” than Hillary’s emails. “This is on a whole other level.”
Trump has amply demonstrated that his commitment to safeguarding government secrets is as steadfast as his fealty to his wives, namely: zero. “Did you ever wonder why”: He ordered that support for Ukraine be excised from his 2016 campaign platform? At least 18 Trump associates had at least 140 contacts with Russians during the campaign or transition? He secretly hosted the Russian foreign minister and ambassador in the Oval Office early in his tenure? Seized the notes of and removed the State Department interpreter during his meeting with Putin in Helsinki? Jared Kushner attempted to establish a secret communications back channel with the Russian embassy? Trump purloined crates of classified documents, stashed them at Mar-a-Lago and then attempted to obstruct justice to cover up his crime? And on and on. . .
I’ve long held that Donald Trump is a Russian intelligence asset — before the Steele Dossier, before he even became president. See: “Tinker. Tailor. Mogul. Spy?” “The Case for Treason” and “Trump is a Russian Asset & Here’s Why.” And I’m not the only one. Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said in 2017: “This past weekend is a great demonstration to me of what a great case officer Vladimir Putin is. He knows how to handle an asset, and that’s what he’s doing with the president.” And in 2016, intelligence veteran Malcolm Nance: “At some point, he was co-opted by Vladimir Putin. And that means he bought into and embraced the dictatorial ideology that was done by a spymaster of the KGB.”
What was Trump planning to do with the 60-plus boxes of government documents he pilfered before leaving office and for which he now faces federal felony charges? Many others have yet to be located. And the 2700 pages of ultra-sensitive documents missing since January 20, 2021, his last morning in the White House?
My take: he monetized them, i.e., sold them to Russia. A man of no scruples, of zero loyalty to anyone or anything — including his country — but himself, Trump, likely a Russian intel asset since the 1980s, as president not only did Putin’s bidding, but also forked over reams of government secrets. It will all come into the light one day. And “Donald Trump” will replace “Benedict Arnold” as the icon of American treason.
Finally, as Andy Rooney reminded us, “All men are not created equal but should be treated as though they were under the law.”
The Dog that Didn’t Bark: The Mysterious Case of Convicted ex-FBI Agent Charles McGonigal
Last Thursday, former FBI special agent Charles McGonigal was sentenced to 50 months in prison for violating U.S. sanctions by accepting secret payments from Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, a close associate of Vladimir Putin. A 22-year FBI veteran specializing in counterintelligence, Federal prosecutors said McGonigal exploited his position to develop relationships that he could use for lucrative post-retirement security consulting. He had been arrested and charged last January with money laundering, making false statements to the FBI and violating U.S. sanctions on Russia. He was separately indicted for allegedly accepting more than $225,000 from a former Albanian intelligence employee.
When I noted on LinkedIn that “earlier fears he betrayed the country as a Russian espionage asset apparently are unfounded,” the reactions were scathing, including this from retired FBI special agent Myron Fuller:
My skin deep observation is that this is not over yet. Why did he get relatively small sentence? He has another one coming. How did he operate in NYC without help? Was he politically connected? Who conducted polygraphs and how often? I poly-ed every year due to my responsibilities. I presume that FBI has concerned all of this and more. But they do leave us begging.
And this from exiled Russian journalist Kseniya Kirillova:
This is bullshit, James, and only proves the unprecedented level of corruption and impunity at the highest levels of the FBI.
Ms. Kirillova and I have known each other for several years and have collaborated on a number of journalistic projects. She knew McGonigal and accuses him of treason, lawlessness, corruption and impunity, adding:
The sentence of Charles McGonigal is the greatest disgrace in US history since I am sure, it doesn’t reflect even a tenth of his crimes. I’ve spoken with security professionals in many countries, and they all have no doubt that McGonigal worked for Russia for many years. My sources also confirm this information. American congressmen believe the same.
And:
I was the first person to report in 2018 that McGonigal was breaking the law. For a year and a half, McGonigal turned to me almost daily for professional help on cases he was working on, and even then he constantly lied, sabotaged important investigations, and broke the law.
Beyond these statements, Ms. Kirillova is short on specific crimes McGonigal might have committed beyond those contained in federal prosecutors’ formal indictments, e.g., espionage.
In any case, my guess is that, as retired FBI special agent Myron Fuller points out, McGonigal’s fairly light sentence will raise more eyebrows and we haven’t heard the last of this rogue G-man.
The opinions and characterizations in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily represent official positions of the U.S. government.