A Question of Treason - ‘The FBI Failed Miserably’

RadPod’s interview with Craig Unger on McGonigal and the myths of monsters

Dateline: Los Angeles, 2 am. I am awake reading the McGonigal indictments, because of course I am. In the silence of my home, I am quietly fuming. I am fuming at what is legal, and I am fuming that this soul cancer of greed that has infected my country seems to have no bottom.

We have endured six years of front-page traitors thumbing their noses at the law because “the FBI failed miserably,” as American Kompromat author Craig Unger said on the latest episode of RadPod.

Although the main takeaway from the Charles McGonigal indictments is that the Russia operation to install Trump was real beyond a shadow of Barr-induced doubt, what has me seeing red is not the money laundering, or the lies, or the cover up, or the ties to the creepy Forrest Gump of Russian oligarchs Oleg Deripaska - it’s the intern anecdote. The intern story in the indictments is causing me to want to punch a virtual wall.

That a former FBI Special Agent in Charge of the New York Field Office serving as the Special Agent in Charge of FBI counterintelligence efforts is alleged to have secured a high-level internship for the daughter of an agent of Russia “in the fields of counterterrorism, intelligence gathering, and international liasioning” at the NYPD seems like, I don’t know, not a great idea. Through McGonigal’s efforts, “Agent-1’s daughter received VIP treatment from the NYPD” and “claimed to have an unusually close relationship to an ‘an FBI agent’ who had given her access to confidential FBI files, unusual for a college student.”

WTF.

So while being on the payroll of the Bratva, McGonigal is also sharing confidential files with a coed spawned by a “Russian intelligence officer.”

These f**king people.

‘A Question of Treason’

“Who enabled Donald Trump to win the election because of reopening the emails?,” asked Jim Stewartson on the Unger episode of RadPod. “James Comey, the actual FBI director, listened to the New York Field Office. In his decision to reopen her emails, the New York Field Office was infiltrated by the f**king Russians. So when are we collectively going to get into our head that 2016 election was stolen.”

That is the takeaway. Ur, um, recall Paul Manafort - who also worked for Deripaska Gump installing a Russian puppet in the Ukraine operation - stumbling through a CBS interview unable to summon words of denial about Trump’s financial ties to Russian oligarchs.

The 2016 election was stolen.

The 2016 election was stolen.

The 2016 election was stolen.

As Jim noted, James Comey said that he was ‘mildly nauseous.’

“Really? James Comey? Do you want to reevaluate your assessment of feeling mildly nauseous at putting the entire country and the entire planet through four years of Donald Trump?” Jim asked. “You gave the election to a Russian puppet. And you said that made you feel mildly nauseous. I want James Comey to come out of whatever retirement he is in and explain to the American people what happened. We need accountability. We need accountability for the last six years of torment and trauma from all these goddamn infiltration operations.”

In the film Active Measures, Craig Unger said he believed that the Trump election was most likely “the biggest intelligence breach in American history.”

On RadPod, Unger said:

“Donald Trump was a Russian asset, and he was cultivated by the KGB going way back to the 80s.. Russia really owns him, and the myth of Trump, as a great businessman is really ridiculous. He had bankruptcy after bankruptcy after bankruptcy when he over-expanded into Atlantic City. And he was bailed out again and again by the Russians. 

“Russian mafia is part of Russian intelligence. They're not at odds with it. They are an instrument of Russian intelligence.”

Regarding the McGonigal indictments, Unger said…

“Well, it really is a huge revelation. And as I was writing these last two books, I kept thinking, ‘Gee, maybe I should be writing about the FBI.’ One of the first things I discovered was William Sessions, who had been director of the FBI. When he retired, he became the lawyer for Semion Mogilevich, who is on the FBI’s most wanted list.

“And you have to imagine for the moment that you're a young FBI special agent, investigating the Russian mafia, and notice that your former boss is going to work for the Russians. What does that do to you? What does that tell you? And if you're going to look for a job after retirement, when you get your pension and a lot of those FBI guys retire after 20 years, they see themselves going in the direction to William Sessions.

“This is one thing that always baffled me, because for both of my books, I relied on FBI files to some extent. And if I can get FBI files, I think the FBI should be able to get them.”

Unger concurred with the RadPod team that the latest indictments reveal the scope of the operation to install Trump.

“I mean, this is an operation. Deripaska is an exceedingly important figure in that he was paying off the FBI. I mean, he was one of the chief targets of the investigation, and he's paying them off. And I think for McGonigal, it’s a question of treason.”

‘McGonigal’s Eyes’

The night before our interview with Unger, I sent Jim and HiFi, my RadPod cohosts, a close up photo of McGonigal’s eyes, and behind those eyes I saw something I recognized. It’s the look I see when people have hit bottom - a lifetime of too much of whatever their isms are catches up with them.

He looked like a man in a helluva lot trouble.

“Just look at the results of the 2016 election,” said Unger. “And look at what the New York Times did. And I think they should be ashamed of their coverage, because they ran that famous headline, citing Comey saying that there was no evidence of collusion. Comey was likely getting his information directly from Charles McGonigal, who was on the payroll of Deripaska.

“One of the real problems here, I think, has been these investigations by the FBI have been all criminal investigations - they should have been counterintelligence investigations.

“Is it okay for the president of the United States to have made a fortune laundering money for the Russian mafia? Shouldn't that be a scandal? Doesn't that compromise you? And it certainly does in terms of national security. And that's what counterintelligence is about, and the FBI failed miserably.”

I tell Unger how I believe the media failed miserably. I share a story about being at the Women’s March on Washington on January 21, 2017. As I walked past the Newseum, I had to endure all the headlines celebrating the Trump election when I knew a fraud had been perpetuated on our country. I didn't know all the details at that time, but I knew it was an operation, and my heart sunk. That is not the journalism that I grew up with, and it is not the journalism that Unger grew up with. 

As Unger described the de-evolution of the Fourth Estate and the creation of Trump’s fake image, he said:

“They ended up helping put together the myth of this monster.”

As we are reeling from all the events of the week and its implications for our country - both past and present - Unger said:

“It's important that we accept the darker parts of our pasts.”

Can we please start today?

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You can watch our full interview with Craig Unger here. Bette Dangerous is a reader-funded magazine. Thank you to all monthly, annual, and founding members. Thank you as well to all those who support my work with coffee tips and who buy my books! My reflection, Confessions of a ‘Fox Blonde’ was just published in Byline Supplement. In a review of my latest ebook, the erotic novella Fox Undercover, I’ve been called “The punk rock Anaïs Nin.” Save the date: the next Bette Dangerous ‘Speakeasy’ Zoom for paid members is Sunday, 2/12 🤍. Who will be our special guest? 🤔😘.