October 19, 2022
Igor Danchenko’s not guilty verdict was a setback for Special Counsel John Durham, tasked by former Attorney General Bill Barr with investigating the origins of the Trump- Russia collusion investigation, but not surprising.
Throughout the trial, Durham was transparent regarding the FBI’s incompetence and malfeasance involving their investigation into the Trump campaign. He even referred to the FBI as “the elephant in the room.” In his closing remarks, Durham admitted that the FBI “mishandled the [Trump Russia collusion] investigation” and implied that they possibly were “working in coordination” with the Clinton campaign.
In light of the FBI’s corrupt handling of the investigation into the Trump campaign, convicting Danchenko of deceiving them was a tall order. Understandably, the more the jury learned about the corruption in the FBI, the less likely they were to find Danchenko guilty.
The mainstream media has dismissed accusations of political bias at the FBI as right-wing propaganda. But the facts, exposed by Durham and Department of Justice inspector general Michael Horowitz belie the denials.
A Look back at FBI interference in past elections leaves no doubt that leftist partisans have corrupted the premier law enforcement agency in the US
Let’s start with the text messages uncovered by DOJ IG Horowitz between Peter Strzok, the FBI agent in charge of the Trump-Russia collusion investigation (“Crossfire Hurricane”), and his colleague and mistress, top FBI lawyer Lisa Page. In August 2016, Page texted Strzok: “[Trump’s] not ever going to become president, right? Right?!” Strzok’s response: “No, No he won’t. We’ll stop it.”
They were not successful, but it was not without trying.
As revealed by Horowitz and Durham, the false Russian collusion allegations were a product of the Clinton campaign in concert with the FBI.
The FBI was so intent on stopping Trump that they even resorted to spying on numerous members of his campaign to dig for dirt, using confidential human informants and electronic surveillance.
Incredibly, the FBI used farcical opposition research commissioned by the DNC and the Clinton campaign, compiled by British foreign national Christopher Steele, as evidence to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to gain permission to spy on the communications of former Trump aide Carter Page – not once, but four times over a year and a half.
FBI agent, Kevin Clinesmith, was even found guilty of intentionally altering an email presented as evidence in one of the warrants to spy on Page. Despite his conviction, Clinesmith did not spend a day in jail or even lose his license to practice law.
In 2019 Horowitz revealed that almost all of the so-called intelligence that Steele used to comprise his dossier came from one source- Danchenko. It gets worse. Durham’s investigation found that Danchenko’s source was a Democratic operative with ties to the Clinton campaign – Charles Dolan. So, the FBI used “evidence” fabricated by a Clinton surrogate to convince a secret US court to allow them to spy on Trump- Clinton’s political opponent.
The FBI continued to use the dossier to renew its request for surveillance warrants even after they had hard evidence it was not credible. Three months after receiving the dossier, the FBI finally interviewed Danchenko. Danchenko admitted the information he provided Steele was unreliable “bar talk over beers”.
The FBI not only continued to submit the dossier as evidence twice more, they never informed the court that the source did not stand by the explosive assertions. Instead, they told the court that Danchenko was “cooperative and “truthful”.
Details exposed at Danchenko’s trial revealed how desperate the FBI was to nail Trump. FBI Supervisory Analyst Brian Auten admitted to the court that in October 2016, the FBI offered Steele one million dollars if he could verify the dossier. Steele could not.
The one million dollar bounty on Trump’s head offered to Steele is an acknowledgment that the FBI knew the dossier was unverified yet they submitted it to the FISA court as evidence four times to gain a backdoor into the Trump campaign and then his presidency.
The surveillance of Page continued through most of Trump’s first year as president. Was the spying warranted? The FBI never charged Page with a crime, nor was any evidence found confirming that he was a Russian agent. Reality- Page worked for the CIA as an “operational contact” in Moscow. The FBI should have known this on day one if their investigation was legitimate and unbiased.
As if attempting to destroy Trump’s candidacy was not bad enough, the DOJ/FBI continued to sabotage Trump during his presidency with endless leaks to the media. Of course, all of the leaks went one way- to cast Trump in a negative light.
One of the first leaks occurred before Trump’s inauguration. Despite knowing that the FBI offered Steele one million dollars to verify his claims and could not, then-FBI Director James Comey briefed then-President-elect Trump on the contents of the dossier. As evidence that he was motivated with ill intent, Comey never told Trump the FBI knew the allegations were, at best dubious.
Seemingly, the briefing gave the false claims in the dossier the imprimatur of the FBI. No surprise, Comey’s meeting with Trump was leaked to the media, giving the green light for the dossier’s publication, fueling the collusion narrative- undoubtedly, Comey’s intention.
We also can not forget the FBI’s corrupt take-down of Trumps then- National Security Advisor, Mike Flynn, and then-FBI Director Jim Comey’s devious machinations to expand the FBI’s Trump-Russia collusion investigation into the Special Counsel Mueller probe.
Confirming that the three-year Mueller probe was a Trump witchhunt and not after the truth, they never examined the anti-Trump animus-fueled corrupt handling of Crossfire Hurricane.
2020 Interference
During the 2020 election, the FBI interfered again in favor of Joe Biden -then-Democratic nominee for president. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg admitted Facebook suppressed the Hunter Biden laptop story (which broke shortly before the 2020 presidential election) because the FBI warned Facebook to be on “high alert” for “some kind of dump” of “Russian propaganda”.
Zuckerberg claimed he did not remember if the warning specifically mentioned the laptop, but the story “fit the pattern”. Side note- The New York Post reported that both FBI agents, whose briefing with Facebook precipitated the censoring of the laptop story, donated to Democratic candidates in 2020.
FBI Whistleblowers
Senator Chuck Grassley recently wrote to FBI Director Christopher Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland claiming that the FBI and the DOJ have been accused by “highly credible whistleblowers of burying “..verified and verifiable derogatory information on Hunter Biden” during the 2020 presidential campaign.
FBI whistleblowers have also come forward to Senator Ron Johnson. Johnson wrote to IG Horowitz:
“After the FBI obtained the Hunter Biden laptop from the Wilmington, DE computer shop, these whistleblowers stated that local FBI leadership told employees, ‘You will not look at that Hunter Biden laptop’ and that the FBI is ‘not going to change the outcome of the election again’.”
News flash to those working at the FBI- ignoring possible evidence of corruption by a political candidate is potentially changing the outcome of an election.
Even though the FBI possessed Hunter’s laptop since October 2019, they did not begin to examine its contents until after the 2020 presidential election, according to whistleblower claims made public by Senator Ron Johnson.
It is important to note that the multitude of emails, text messages, financial documents, and photos found on the laptop did not just implicate Hunter. Hunter’s business partner, Tony Bobulinski, a retired lieutenant in the US Navy, speaking to Fox News’s Tucker Carlson stated:
“There were hundreds of data points that Joe Biden was acting in-in a capitalistic term, I would say the chairman…the chairman…shows up in meetings..advises…Effectively, that was Joe Biden’s role in the Biden family business ventures and around the world. And not just my venture.”
We also know that the week after the NY Post broke the Hunter Biden laptop story, Bobulinski was interviewed by the FBI. The NY Post’s Miranda Devine reported that Bobulinski provided the FBI “with emails and financial documents detailing the Biden family’s corrupt influence peddling operation in foreign countries during Joe’s vice presidency”. Bobulinski also publicly confirmed that Joe was the “big guy” due to receive 10% of a deal with a Chinese energy company, as referenced in an email on Hunter’s laptop.
As alleged by FBI whistleblowers to Senator Grassley, shortly after Bobulinski’s FBI interview, Timothy Thibault, a top FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge assigned to the Hunter Biden investigation, ordered the investigation into Hunter’s alleged criminal financial and related activity be closed. Bobulinski claims that the FBI never again contacted him.
Whistleblowers have also implicated FBI supervisory officer Brian Auten. Senator Grassley wrote to the DOJ and the FBI that whistleblowers claim Auten was behind a dubious FBI August 2020 report used as part of a “scheme to…undermine derogatory information connected to Hunter Biden by falsely suggesting it was disinformation”. Grassley added that Auten’s report caused the FBI “to cease” investigating Hunter Biden.
Did FBI interference in the 2020 election cost Donald Trump a second term? A post-election poll indicates it did. A survey by the Media Research Center found that 17% of Biden voters would have reconsidered their vote had they known about the laptop story. If one out of six swing state Biden voters changed their vote, Trump would be president today.
The unprecedented raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home over documents indicates that the FBI still has Trump in its crosshairs ahead of the 2024 presidential election. Unchecked, the partisan corruption will continue.
Fortunately, polls indicate Republicans will take back the House after the November election. Republican Congressman Kevin McCarthy, the likely future Speaker of the House, acknowledges the Department of Justice “has reached an intolerable state of weaponized politicization” and has vowed that once in power, Republicans will conduct immediate investigations into the DOJ/FBI.
GOP control of the House also means Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan will likely become Chairman of the Judiciary Committee next year. Armed with subpoena power, Jordan has vowed to call in DOJ and FBI officials and uncover the partisan rot within those agencies.
Preventing the weaponization of law enforcement from affecting another presidential outcome is one more reason to vote Republican in November.
