After Donald Trump won the 2016 election, the Trump-Russia collusion hoax should have died—just another dirty campaign trick that didn’t work. Instead, it escalated. Lee Smith explains how Russiagate turned from campaign smear to a nearly successful coup to overthrow the President of the United States.
Transcript: Russiagate: The Real Scandal, Part 2 Presented by Lee Smith
After Donald Trump won the 2016 election, “Russiagate,” or the Trump-Russia Collusion Hoax, should have disappeared into the dustbin of history, just another “dirty” campaign trick that failed.
That’s what should have happened, but it didn’t.
Far from being dead, the baseless conspiracy theory that Trump was a Russian agent, was revving up. If it failed to derail Donald Trump’s candidacy, it could still derail his presidency.
So believed outgoing President Barack Obama, CIA director John Brennan, and FBI director James Comey, among others.
There was no time to waste. This was November and Trump would take office at the end of January.
The plotters' first move was to make a flashy display of expelling Russian diplomats and shutting down Russian “intelligence gathering facilities” in Maryland and New York. This conveyed the impression that the Obama Administration had proof, as The New York Times put it, that the Russians had “enabled the publication of the emails it harvested [from the Clinton campaign] to benefit…Trump’s campaign.”
The Administration had no such proof. It was all for show.
Around the same time, Obama ordered CIA chief John Brennan to produce an intelligence community assessment, or ICA, about Russia’s role in the election. It had to be done before the end of his term— that is, before Trump’s inauguration.
But there was a problem. The intelligence officers assigned to the task couldn’t find any evidence of significant Russian interference. Brennan rejected their report and ordered them to write a new one. The revised version conveniently presented unconfirmed rumor as fact.
This revised ICA was released to the news media. They swallowed it whole — hook, line, and sinker.
The problem wasn’t just biased reporting. And it wasn’t just that the media had missed the real story — how US intelligence agencies and the Obama White House were undermining the new administration.
No, ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, The New York Times and The Washington Post were essential players in the anti-Trump plot.
Day after day, they published “leaked” intelligence slanted to advance the Russiagate narrative and destabilize the nascent Trump Administration.
To cite just one example, The Post targeted Trump’s incoming national security adviser Michael Flynn. In a January 2017 article, the paper asserted that Flynn had spoken with the Russian ambassador. The story was sourced to a classified intelligence intercept — which someone had illegally leaked to the media. This should have been the big story, not Flynn’s call. The presidential transition team is supposed to speak with foreign officials.
But because Obama and his aides had created a frenzy around anything related to Russia, the media turned the Flynn story into a national crisis and the retired three-star general was forced from the White House.
The drumbeat of Russia stories continued nonstop, all built around two plotlines — that Russia got Trump elected, and that Trump was beholden to Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin.
Democrats demanded a special counsel investigation into “Russian interference” in the election. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who like Michael Flynn had been accused of “improper” communications with a Russian diplomat, should have shut down any talk of such an investigation. Instead, he yielded to pressure.
On May 17, 2017, Robert Mueller, the former director of the FBI, was appointed special counsel. Mueller hired a staff of nearly sixty people, including FBI agents, forensic accountants and other personnel. This was in addition to fifteen lawyers. The investigation ran for two years and cost over thirty million dollars.
After Donald Trump won the 2016 election, Russiagate, or the Trump-Russia collusion
hoax, should have disappeared into the dustbin of history. Just another dirty campaign trick
that failed. That's what should have happened, but it didn't. Far from being dead, the baseless
conspiracy theory that Trump was a Russian agent was revving up. If it failed to derail
Donald Trump's candidacy, it could still derail his presidency. So believed outgoing President
Barack Obama, CIA Director John Brennan, and FBI Director James Comey, among others.
There was no time to waste. This was November and Trump would take office at the end of January.
The plotter's first move was to make a flashy display of expelling Russian diplomats and
shutting down Russian intelligence gathering facilities in Maryland and New York. This
conveyed the impression that the Obama administration had proof, as the New York Times
put it, that the Russians had enabled the publication of the emails it harvested from
the Clinton campaign to benefit Trump's campaign. The administration had no such proof. It was all
for show. Around the same time, Obama ordered CIA Chief John Brennan to produce an Intelligence
Community Assessment, or ICA, about Russia's role in the election. It had to be done before
the end of his term, that is, before Trump's inauguration. But there was a problem. The
intelligence officers assigned to the task couldn't find any evidence of significant Russian
interference. Brennan rejected their report and ordered them to write a new one. The revised
version conveniently presented unconfirmed rumor as fact. This revised ICA was released to the
media. They swallowed it whole, hook, line, and sinker. The problem wasn't just biased reporting.
And it wasn't just that the media had missed the real story, how U.S. intelligence agencies
and the Obama White House were undermining the new administration. No. ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN,
The New York Times, and The Washington Post were essential players in the anti-Trump plot.
Day after day, they published leaked intelligence, slanted to advance the Russiagate narrative,
and destabilized the mason Trump administration. To cite just one example, The Post targeted Trump's
incoming National Security Advisor, Michael Flynn. In a January 2017 article, the paper asserted that
Flynn had spoken with the Russian ambassador. The story was sourced to a classified intelligence
intercept, which someone had illegally leaked to the media. This should have been the big story,
not Flynn's call. The presidential transition team is supposed to speak with foreign officials.
But because Obama and his aides had created a frenzy around anything related to Russia,
the media turned the Flynn story into a national crisis, and the retired three-star general was
forced from the White House. The drumbeat of Russia's stories continued nonstop, all built
around two plot lines, that Russia got Trump elected, and that Trump was beholden to Russia's
president, Vladimir Putin. Democrats demanded a special counsel investigation into Russian
interference in the election. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who, like Michael Flynn, had been
accused of improper communications with a Russian diplomat, should have shut down any talk of such
investigation. Instead, he yielded to pressure. On May 17, 2017, Robert Mueller, the former director
of the FBI, was appointed special counsel. Mueller hired a staff of nearly 60 people,
including FBI agents, forensic accountants, and other personnel. This was in addition to 15 lawyers.
The investigation ran for two years and cost over $30 million. Over 500 witnesses were interviewed,
including 50 people connected to the Trump campaign. Many of the witnesses had to spend
thousands, in some cases millions, of dollars to defend themselves. Michael Flynn had to sell his
house to pay his legal bills. 2,800 subpoenas were issued, nearly 500 search and seizure warrants were
executed, 230 orders for communication records were obtained, and 13 requests for evidence were
made to foreign governments. Leaks from Mueller's office dominated cable news 24-7. Network news
shows barely covered anything else. Pundits pronounced the walls were closing in. All would
soon be revealed, they claimed. Trump was doomed. In the end, it all amounted to nothing. Mueller
concluded that there had been no criminal conspiracy between Trump and Putin. Aside from
a few hundred thousand dollars worth of Facebook ads, the Kremlin hadn't done much of anything.
Contrary to the media narrative, the CIA's own intelligence suggested that the Russians preferred
Clinton to Trump. She was a known commodity. They didn't know what to expect from the Republican and
assumed, like everyone else did, that Clinton would win. Russiagate was conjured out of thin air.
The Clinton campaign and Obama's inner circle promoted it, and the media relentlessly amplified
that narrative. Russiagate was, in essence, a non-violent coup attempt, a brazen plan to overthrow
a duly elected president. The scary thing is, it almost succeeded. I'm Lee Smith, author of
The Plot Against the President for Prager University. Thank you for watching this video.
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