FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
Over the past few years, Republicans have gradually lost faith in the nonpartisan integrity of the FBI. This week has brought more reason to doubt the FBI's ability to police itself.
Take, for example, the plea deal given to Charles McGonigal, the rogue senior agent whose last assignment before retiring in 2018 was serving as the bureau's powerful counterintelligence chief in New York.
In a Manhattan federal court on Tuesday, McGonigal pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring to violate international sanctions against a notorious Russian oligarch, Oleg Deripaska, and to money laundering. Although these are serious charges and McGonigal faces up to five years in prison, no one expects his sentence, which will be handed down later this year, to be so severe since he struck a plea deal with Department of Justice, admitting guilt.
However, the image of the Bureau has been severely damaged. Part of McGonigal's job as a counterintelligence chief with the FBI was investigating Kremlin-linked Russian oligarchs, including Oleg Deripaska. The fact that McGonigal was also involved, at least to some extent, with the FBI's infamous 2016 investigation into the Trump campaign's ties to Russia, known as Operation Crossfire Hurricane, has many Republicans sniffing around a mouse.
It appears that President Joe Biden's Justice Department is giving McGonigal a pass to avoid uncomfortable revelations about the FBI's dirty dealings that could come up in any trial. The full story is even worse.
The Russian side of the McGonigal scandal is the milder one. Although the media never paid it the attention it deserved. The defendant is facing more federal charges stemming from McGonigal's acceptance of $225,000 from a former Albanian intelligence officer in 2017, when the defendant was still an FBI official. This is essentially a Balkan corruption scandal that has not been addressed by McGonigal's guilty plea this week.
The Balkan angle here is uncomfortable and raises troubling questions. As the New York Times blandly explained this week, the accused 'befriended Albania's prime minister, Edi Rama, and used his position to advance foreign business for his associates, according to the indictment filed in Washington. In this case, McGonigal opened an FBI investigation into a lobbyist for the main political rival of the Albanian prime minister.
The truth, as the Examiner has reported on numerous occasions, is far more disturbing than that. In exchange for hard cash, McGonigal had become a heavyweight for Rama and his socialist government, threatening their political rivals and extorting Albanian oligarchs in exchange for protection from US sanctions. This was a secret, mafia-like extortion ring run by a senior FBI official that made tens of millions of dollars, according to multiple sources. Such underworld tactics are not at all unexpected, since during the ten-year rule of Rama and his socialists, tiny Albania has become Europe's epicenter for the global illegal narcotics trade, with the tacit support of the State Department. Biden.
Although what is called the 'McGonigal affair' in Albania is widely discussed, this shocking story has left little impression on the Western media. This may have to do with the fact that Rama and his allies are able to suppress European media stories reporting on corruption and their ties to international organized crime.
Officially, the Balkan part of the "McGonigal" scandal remains an open case from the US prosecutor's office in Washington and a plea agreement has not yet been reached. However, McGonigal's attorney stated during a recent court hearing that he expects the charges related to Albania to also be settled without a trial.
Sigurisht që duket se zgjidhja është gjetur. “Askush nuk dëshiron të shkojë në atë pikë. Është më e lehtë për të gjithë që të groposin rrëmujën e McGonigal,” ma tha këtë javë një veteran i inteligjencës të Europës Lindore në Uashington. Edhe pse skandali McGonigal nuk është një çështje partiake në pamje të parë, meqenëse mashtruesi i FBI e nisi korrupsionin e tij ndërkombëtar gjatë mandatit të ish-presidentit Donald Trump dhe e vazhdoi atë në administratën aktuale, mund të vëmë bast se Shtëpia e Bardhë e Biden nuk ka asnjë interes të diskutojë se përse është kaq e etur për të mbështetur Ramën dhe qeverinë e tij të korruptuar, edhe në politikën e brendshme shqiptare.
The only hope for the truth to come out is for Congress to take an interest in McGonigal's dirty Balkan deals. Although some House Republicans have raised questions about the affair, there are so many current congressional investigations into Biden-related scandals that McGonigal's case gets lost in the maze of corruption investigations. This is unfortunate, because the full panorama of McGonigal's Albanian shenanigans is a shocking story that would shock Washington far beyond the FBI.
Lini një Përgjigje