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In reply to the discussion: I smell a big fat KGB rat in all this. [View all]Kid Berwyn
(15,040 posts)6. True, but Putin does.
You know who no longer exists in the media, though? Charles McGonigal.
Former KGB colonel receives conspiratorial wink from then-President Donald Trump.
Did the FBIs Charles McGonigal Help Throw the 2016 Election to Trump?
The shocking indictments against the former head of counterintelligence for the FBI in New York raise many dark questions.
By Craig Unger
The National Review, February 1, 2023
In the course of writing two books on Donald Trumps ties to Russia, the same question occurred to me again and again: How is it possible that I knew all sorts of stuff about Donald Trump, and the FBI didnt seem to have a clue? Or if they did, why werent they doing anything with it?
Specifically, I knew that:
* Starting in 1980, an alleged spotter agent for the KGB began cultivating Trump as a new asset for Soviet intelligence.
* The Russian mafia laundered millions of dollars through Donald Trumps real estate by purchasing condos in all-cash transactions through anonymous corporations that did not disclose real ownership.
* Trump Tower was a home away from home for Vyacheslav Ivankov, one of the most brutal leaders of the Russian mafia, and at least 13 people with known or alleged links to the mafia held the deeds to, lived in, or ran alleged criminal operations out of Trump Tower in New York or other Trump properties.
* Trump was some $4 billion in debt when the Russians came to bail him out via the Bayrock Group, a real estate firm that was largely staffed, owned, and financed by Soviet émigrés who had ties to Russian intelligence and/or organized crime.
Much of my material came from FBI documents. A lot came from open-source databases. It made no sense. There was an astounding amount of data on the public record. The FBI had launched enormous investigations of the Russian mafia in the 1980s. They had staked out a New York electronics store that was a haven for KGB officers. They knew thats where the Trump Organization bought hundreds of TV sets. They had their eyes on Ivankov and other Russian mobsters who were denizens of Trumps casinos and bought and sold his condos through shell companies. They had to know that Trump laundered money for and provided a base of operations for the Russian mafia, which was, after all, a de facto state actor tied to Russian intelligence. They had to know that the Russians repeatedly bailed Trump out when he was bankrupt. They had to know that Russia owned him.
Snip
As FBI director, Freeh had warned that Russian organized crime posed a grave threat to the United States that far transcended mere criminality. It is not clear how much he was paid by Prevezon after he switched sides, but Freeh later bought a $9.38 million mansion in Palm Beach, Florida, just a 10-minute drive from Trumps Mar-a-Lago.
Then there was the late James Kallstrom, who ran the FBIs New York office in the mid-90s and oversaw successful investigations into both the Italian Mafia and later the Russian mob. Kallstrom had developed close friendships with two key players in the Trump-Russia saga. He worked closely with thenU.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Rudy Giuliani in the investigation of the Cosa Nostra network that led to the famed Mafia Commission Trial of 19851986. Going even further back, Kallstrom had also been friends with Donald Trump since around 1973, when Kallstrom was putting together a Trump-funded parade in New York to honor Vietnam veterans.
Continues
https://newrepublic.com/article/170328/charles-mcgonigal-throw-2016-election
Surprised these connections arent fit for discussion in the news media, let alone bother more people on a political level.
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"The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist"
Progressive Lawyer
May 2023
#2
If the Devil changed his name from Lucifer to Bob, does that mean the devil no longer exists?
Progressive Lawyer
May 2023
#13
It's very simplistic. Just try calling it for what it is not what you think it is.
JanMichael
May 2023
#14
Highlighting just because the KGB does not exist in name does not mean it ceases to exist in spirit.
Progressive Lawyer
May 2023
#16
Would you have preferred : Russian Intelligence Services and their myriad of Sections Heads of
msfiddlestix
May 2023
#88
Thank you for the history review. This is info that Jack Smith is well aware of.
ancianita
May 2023
#25
KBG??...you try to dilute..BTW, it WAS the KGB.. same shit, different pile..
asiliveandbreathe
May 2023
#15
Like "Elvis isn't dead. He just went home." (Men in Black), the KGB simply changed their name.
paleotn
May 2023
#34
Apparently some commentators on this forum don't understand innuendo. KGB eq FSB
erronis
May 2023
#8
Nope. The FSB (former KGB) is internal (kinda like FBI) and GRU is international military intel.
ancianita
May 2023
#28
Please link the timeline. While they now exist simultaneously, the KGB were prior to the GRU.
ancianita
May 2023
#49
I love the deflection going on here. "The gun that killed 12 people wasn't really an assault weapon"
NBachers
May 2023
#29
The NRA is basically insolvent. It has maxed out its line of credit which it had been using .....
mjvpi
May 2023
#41
I've seriously been wondering how much right wing propaganda has originated from Russia.
Initech
May 2023
#47
Since Murdoch has been busy in Aus, Eng, USA, elsewhere - wouldn't we look at his family
erronis
May 2023
#56
Funny -- that we have no "honest and true" press is ALSO Russian propaganda warfare.
Hortensis
May 2023
#80