Collusion's Long Tail

We're not done with Russiagate

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard recently released declassified documents she says prove “treasonous” actions by the Obama administration and the Hillary Clinton campaign. A classified appendix to 2019’s Durham report contains a memo which raises many questions about the currently embedded Russiagate story that Donald Trump was installed as a puppet of the Kremlin.

Democrat critics dismissed the allegations as “bizarre” and “weak,” calling them a distraction from renewed interest in Jeffrey Epstein—suggesting the President is using them to cover his own wrongdoing. The mainstream media called the accusations a “nothing-burger.” But as Mollie Hemingway told Fox, the Trump–Russia collusion narrative could never have survived if journalists had done their jobs. Instead, they gave out Pulitzers for mindless reporting.

However, independent journalists see plenty worth discussing in the new release. Matt Taibbi notes that while intelligence reports concluded Russia posed no threat to U.S. election integrity, the Obama White House broadcast the opposite. With no new intelligence, claims that Vladimir Putin had kompromat on Donald Trump—and was blackmailing him into doing Russia’s bidding—were leaked to compliant media outlets. Aaron Maté argues the documents contradict the idea that Russia hacked Hillary Clinton’s emails or even that Trump was the Kremlin’s preferred candidate in the 2016 race. Maté says Moscow’s real goal was simply to sow chaos—a tactic they’ve used for decades. Michael Shellenberger says he now has testimony from a whistleblower who claims then–CIA Director John Brennan was determined to smear Trump. And all roads, it seems, lead back to Hillary Clinton, who allegedly devised the plan to denigrate Trump while covering up her own email server scandal and her foundation’s financial dealings.

Meanwhile, sensational headlines about the FBI claim that “burn bags” of sensitive documents related to the investigation were hidden in a secret room by an agent who later informed current leadership. President Trump also revealed he was “debanked” by JP Morgan Chase under the Obama administration’s Operation Chokepoint, a program ostensibly created to target fraud and money laundering. Attorney General Pam Bondi has directed federal prosecutors to convene a grand jury in light of the new evidence. No doubt, a lot of people are lawyering up.

It’s kind of hard to believe. But deceitful desires will do that. Lies give way to more lies, consciences are seared and peoples’ reputations become unfortunate collateral damage. It would seem so many were invested in keeping their grip on power, they dismissed anything that might threaten it. Perhaps they even believed their own lies. When warned by veteran agents that reports of Russia’s meddling were not reliable, Director Brennan said, “Yes, but doesn’t it ring true?”

Is it really that big of a deal?

I say yes. Sure, we can say “the lawfare against Trump didn’t stick”—the 2024 election proves Americans aren’t blind to what’s going on. But so much of today’s deep distrust began with Russiagate. From COVID to Epstein, from the Twitter Files to FBI surveillance of school board meetings, from the targeting of pro-lifers and Catholics to any number of recent scandals—we could use a new Church-style committee to air out all these closets. At the very least, the intelligence agencies have a mountain to climb if they want to prove they’re actually on the side of ordinary Americans.