Politically stained leaders of the FBI, CIA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), in concert with politicians bereft of principle and a flaccid press, grabbed onto an obvious Russian intelligence propaganda operation hook, line and sinker and ran with it like they were Vladimir Putin’s errand boys.
Andrew McCabe, the fired deputy director of the FBI, infamously asserted during his recent book promotion tour that President Trump was an agent of the Russian government. Mueller, with his large team of Democratic Party-affiliated attorneys supported by FBI agents and analysts, disagreed.
If anyone looks like an unwitting agent of Russia now, it’s McCabe and his fired boss, former FBI director James Comey.
Comey and McCabe came into possession of a “dossier” that was paid for by the Hillary Clinton campaign and produced by a former British intelligence operative who reached into the ugliness of the Russian intelligence apparatus and asked for dirt on Donald Trump. Never known to pass up such a juicy opportunity to stir up trouble, the Russians happily obliged.
This, in the intelligence world, is known as an “active measures” effort. It is the use of propaganda to sow discord into the politics and culture of an adversary. Truth is not a prerequisite for these operations. Lies are the yeast in the dough.
The dossier was blinking “Russian active measures” in bright neon lights. But an FBI director and deputy director chose to ignore the obvious and instead use this Russian farce to open an investigation into a presidential candidate and his campaign. It was a staggering abuse of the FBI’s legitimate authorities.