It is anticipated that a former senior FBI officer who in 2016 looked into former President Trump’s alleged links to Moscow would admit to engaging in some sort of Russian collusion of his own.
Newsweek revealed that disgraced FBI agent Charles McGonigal, who oversaw counterintelligence for the agency’s New York field office, was instrumental in launching special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into false allegations that Trump’s campaign conspired with Russia to prevail in the presidential election of 2016.
When the claims that a Trump aide had been bragging about potential Russian information on defeated presidential contender Hillary Clinton were first made public, McGonigal was acting as the head of the cybercrimes division of the FBI’s DC headquarters.
According to reports, this intelligence prompted the FBI to start “Crossfire Hurricane.”
One of the FBI’s very own is believed to be working for Oleg Deripaska, a Russian oligarch as well as aluminum magnate who is thought to have ties to Russian President Putin and had been ultimately sanctioned by the United States Treasury Dept. in 2018 over allegedly meddling in the US presidential election of 2016, while the FBI was investigating the Trump campaign for possible suspicious Slavic ties.
McGonigal, who was detained in January but later released on a $500,000 bail, has been charged with repeatedly carrying out Deripaska’s instructions and attempting to get him removed from the U.S. sanctions list.
The daughter of Deripaska’s Russian spy was to have an internship with the NYC Police Department “in the areas of counterterrorism, intelligence gathering, including ‘international liasoning,’” according to the accusation against McGonigal.
Additionally, McGonigal is charged with investigating one of Deripaska’s oligarch competitors in exchange for covert payments.
Four charges are brought against the disgruntled FBI agent: conspiring to breach the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, violation of the act, conspiring to commit money laundering, as well as money laundering.
The former FBI agent is also accused of hiding $225,000 that he reportedly got from a former Albanian intelligence operative while he was still employed by the agency.
McGonigal is accused of concealing his links to foreign authorities despite being legally compelled to disclose them.
Although the FBI said there is currently no evidence to indicate McGonigal did, the New York Times stated that discoveries about his suspected behavior aroused questions about what agency secrets he could have revealed to foreign entities.
In a succinct order submitted this week, Manhattan federal judge Jennifer Rearden stated, “The court has recently been informed that the defendant Charles McGonigal might want to submit a change of plea.”
McGonigal’s plea hearing was scheduled for August 15 by the district court. At this hearing, McGonigal could admit to money laundering and defying U.S. sanctions.
