FBI Agent Who Investigated Debunked Trump-Russia Collusion to Plead Guilty in Russian Oligarch Case
Court records on Monday showed that former FBI agent Charles McGonigal, who headed counterintelligence at the FBI’s New York office during the probe into former President Donald Trump’s alleged ties to Russia, is now expected to plead guilty to illegal business dealings with a Russian oligarch.
Although the accusations may be shocking to some, those who have been critical of the FBI and its investigation do not consider this apparent twist a surprise.
Collin Rugg, co-owner of the conservative website Trending Politics, posted a tweet dryly noting that, “The corruption in the FBI is the real pandemic.”
Corruption in the FBI is the real pandemic.
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) August 8, 2023
According to WNBC-TV, McGonigal was first arrested in January at JFK airport in New York after arriving from the Middle East.
He initially pleaded innocent; however, the U.K. Daily Mail reported that he appears to be reassessing his decision.
He is now scheduled for a court session on Aug. 15 to reportedly change his plea.
According to ABC News, a judge’s order stated, “The Court has been informed that Defendant Charles McGonigal may wish to enter a change of plea.”
Before his retirement from the FBI in 2018, McGonigal played a key role in the controversial investigation of Trump’s supposed ties to Russia.
As reported by WNBC, he now faces accusations of numerous illegal entanglements with Oleg Deripaska, a Russian billionaire, his associate Sergey Shestakov, and another unnamed party.
In 2019, when the U.S. was tightening sanctions on Russian figureheads and those people who funded them, McGonigal allegedly took steps to get Deripaska removed from the sanctions list, the Daily Mail reported.
According to WNBC, prosecutors also accuse him of maliciously investigating a business rival of Deripaska’s, in exchange for payments that Deripaska and his associates then made in secret.
Deripaska and his partners allegedly used shell companies and other money laundering tools to hide their financial trails.
NEW: FBI agent Charles McGonigal who investigated Donald Trump for colluding with Russia, is set to plead guilty for colluding with Russia.
Read that again.
McGonigal, who was a key figure in the Trump-Russia hoax investigation, will be pleading guilty after being accused of… pic.twitter.com/z8b7arBOHu
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) August 8, 2023
He also stands accused of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars from foreign officials to do their bidding during his time at the FBI.
CNN reported that the McGonigal, who spent 22 years with the FBI, is accused of accepting $225,000 from a former Albanian intelligence employee and attempting to hide evidence of the transaction.
McGonigal’s lawyer Seth DuCharme noted last week that he saw a “decent chance the case is going to be resolved,” but some changes may have taken place since then.
The legal team has not responded to the updates of this week.
The U.S. Attorney’s office in New York has also declined to comment on any recent developments.
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