Trump Era FBI Leader Charles McGonigal Arrested for Foreign Collusion

Charles F. McGonigal was a counterintelligence agent in charge of the FBI's New York Field Office during the Trump administration. Today he stands accused of accepting over $225,000 from a foreign intelligence officer, laundering the money, and lying about it. This is a breaking story with details constantly emerging. What we know so far is that McGonigal faces a nine count indictment (see PDF link above map) charging him with violating three federal statutes against concealment of material facts (18 U.S.C. 1001(a)(1)), making false statements (18 U.S.C. 1001(a)(2)), and falsification of documents (18 U.S.C. 1519). McGonigal was arrested over the weekend and is currently incarcerated at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn (MDC Brooklyn). The video below and media accounts of this case accuse McGonigal of violating Russian sanctions but the indictment does not actually charge him with a crime for that. It seems the bulk of the government's case lies not in his acceptance of the money but rather his failure to disclose it by misstating his assets on forms he was required to fill out as either part of his job or to keep his security clearance after retiring in 2018. It was in 2017 that McGonigal is alleged to have begun colluding with a group of Albanian men including a former intelligence officer residing in New Jersey and an advisor to the Albanian Prime Minister. McGonigal is alleged to have done them several favors while traveling across Europe during that time, but he mysteriously appears to only be charged with lying about the money and failing to disclose his dealings with foreign nationals. The FBI's press release accuses McGonigal of "engaging in other conduct in his official capacity as an FBI Special Agent in Charge that he believed would benefit the businessperson financially" so we are surprised not to see any charges related to accepting bribes or engaging in official misconduct. It is really odd to see someone accused of so much charged with merely concealing or lying about what he is accused of. It makes one wonder why he didn't just fill out the forms accurately if he didn't have to worry about facing charges for admitting to accepting the money or reciprocating with favors. According to media reports, McGonigal was responsible for investigating allegations of Russian collusion in the 2016 election. He is also accused of conspiring with Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska in various way (https://ift.tt/HrNamC1). Deripaska was sanctioned in 2018 and has been repeatedly accused of violating those sanctions since. This has led the left-wing media to paint this case as the result of Russian collusion, but the indictment does not support such claims. The indictment merely accuses McGonigal of lying about money given to him by an Albanian and his ties to other Albanians. Just because Albanians speak with Slavic accents does not make them Russian. The closest thing this case has to do with Russian collusion is the defendant also being investigated for Russian collusion. According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Charles F. McGonigal is a 54 year old white male with the registration number 91495-054. He will likely seek pretrial release in the near future. His release will likely be granted unless the government can show by clear and convincing evidence that he is a flight risk or danger to the community. If denied release he will likely remain at MDC Brooklyn where Jeffrey Epstein allegedly killed himself. We will be watching this case and will likely update this article in the future. For now check out the video below and the links above the map for more information. #charlesmcgonigal #fbi #liars #donaldtrump #mdcbrooklyn

source https://copblaster.com/blast/49948/trump-era-fbi-leader-charles-mcgonigal-arrested-for-foreign-collusion