The Illustrated Spygate Scandal - Part V
The first political coup in American history
See Part I to start at the beginning. The story so far (Part I through Part IV):
What began in July 2014 as a routine congressional request for Hillary Clinton's State Department emails related to the murders of four Americans in Benghazi quickly metastasized. Within hours of the request, Clinton IT aide Paul Combetta was frantically posting on Reddit seeking help to delete "VIP" email addresses, while Clinton associates coordinated what Platte River Networks executives openly called "the Hillary coverup operation" in their own emails.
Despite Intelligence Community warnings that China had successfully hacked Clinton's server containing thousands of classified documents, the FBI investigation led by Andrew McCabe became “complicated”, with McCabe receiving a suspicious promotion and his wife's political campaign collecting $700,000 from Clinton associate Terry McAuliffe just as McCabe issued "stand down" orders on Clinton investigations.
As Clinton associates deleted thousands of subpoenaed emails, FBI agents Peter Strzok and Lisa Page exchanging text messages revealing their determination to protect Clinton because she "could be the next president" while simultaneously plotting to use "OCONUS LURES" (foreign intelligence assets) against Donald Trump, whom they dismissed as "an idiot" whose nomination would be "good for Hillary."
March 9, 2016
NSA Director Mike Rogers sat in his secure office at Fort Meade, staring at surveillance reports that made his blood run cold. The FISA 702 system—designed to spy on foreign terrorists—was being systematically abused to conduct illegal surveillance on American citizens. The scale was breathtaking: thousands of unauthorized queries, most targeting political opponents of the current administration.
"How long has this been going on?" Rogers asked his deputy, his voice tight with controlled fury.
"Best we can tell, sir, since at least 2012. Maybe longer."
Rogers felt the weight of his oath to defend the Constitution pressing down on him like a physical force. The intelligence community had been weaponized against the American people, and he was one of the few officials with both the authority and the integrity to stop it.
March 19, 2016
The phishing email that compromised John Podesta's account was almost laughably simple—a fake Gmail security alert that any cybersecurity professional would have recognized immediately. But Podesta clicked the link, entered his password, and inadvertently opened a window into the dark machinery of Democratic Party politics.
"I think I may have been hacked," Podesta told his IT support, his voice carrying the nervous edge of someone who kept too many secrets in digital form.
Somewhere in cyberspace, hackers were already downloading years of emails that would later expose the corrupt coordination between the Clinton campaign, the DNC, and supposedly neutral media organizations. The digital evidence of systemic corruption was now in hostile hands.
March 28, 2016
Paul Manafort's hiring as Trump campaign manager was the kind of personnel decision that made intelligence professionals salivate. Fusion GPS founders Glenn Simpson and Mary Jacoby had written extensively about Manafort's Russian connections back in 2008, creating a perfect pretext for surveillance that the Obama administration would soon exploit.
"This gives us everything we need," a DOJ official told his colleague as they reviewed Manafort's extensive foreign ties. "FISA warrant, surveillance authority, the whole nine yards."
What they were really celebrating was the opportunity to spy on a presidential campaign using the vast machinery of the intelligence community. Manafort wasn't just a campaign manager—he was a surveillance gateway into Trump's inner circle.
April 12, 2016
Two events occurred on the same day that would define the next phase of the scandal. First, the law firm Perkins Coie, using money laundered through the Clinton campaign and DNC, hired Fusion GPS to manufacture incriminating intelligence on Trump. Second, NSA Director Rogers began his probe into the illegal FISA abuse that would eventually expose the entire surveillance operation.
Marc Elias, the Perkins Coie attorney handling the Fusion GPS contract, spoke carefully into his secure phone: "We need actionable intelligence. Something that justifies a counterintelligence investigation."
What he was really ordering was the fabrication of evidence that would allow the Obama administration to spy on the opposition presidential campaign. The weaponization of intelligence had moved from passive surveillance to active political warfare.
April 18, 2016
The DNC's claim that it had been hacked by Russian actors came with convenient timing—just as the Obama administration needed justification for expanded surveillance operations. But their response to the alleged Russian attack revealed the political nature of their concerns: instead of immediately calling the FBI, they hired a private cybersecurity firm with deep ties to the intelligence community.
"We need to control this narrative," DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz told her staff. "The FBI gets involved, and suddenly everyone's asking questions we don't want to answer."
The decision to hire CrowdStrike instead of cooperating with federal law enforcement wasn't about cybersecurity—it was about maintaining control over evidence that might expose their own corruption.
April 18, 2016 (Later That Day)
NSA Director Rogers's decision to shut down all outside contractor access to raw FISA information sent shockwaves through the intelligence community. “Contractors” — political operatives — who had been conducting unauthorized surveillance suddenly found themselves locked out of the system they had been illegally exploiting.
"What the hell happened?" an FBI official demanded when a colleague at Perkins Coie called to say he no longer had access to the FISA-702 database.
"Rogers happened," came the reply. "He's shutting down the whole operation."
The Obama-era surveillance apparatus that had been spying on American citizens for years was suddenly grinding to a halt, but the damage had already been done. Thousands of Americans had been illegally surveilled, and the evidence was sitting in government databases.
April 19, 2016
Mary Jacoby's visit to the White House was officially described as a social call, but social calls don't usually involve the wife of an opposition research firm founder meeting with the President of the United States. Jacoby's husband Glenn Simpson ran Fusion GPS, and their Russian dossier project was about to receive the kind of high-level political support that money couldn't buy.
"The President is very interested in your husband's work," a White House aide told Jacoby as they walked through the West Wing corridors.
The meeting was brief, but its implications were staggering: the President of the United States was being briefed on an opposition research project designed to justify a new avenue for surveillance of his political opponents.
Since Rogers was shutting down the FISA-702 avenue, Barack Obama needed a new way to spy on his political opponents. And he needed one now.
April 25, 2016
The first payment from Obama's campaign organization to Perkins Coie appeared routine in the maze of political expenditures, but it represented something unprecedented: a former president funding the surveillance operation against his successor. The payments would eventually total $972,000, a massive sum that funded the creation of the Russian dossier.
"This needs to look legitimate," Obama's campaign finance director told the lawyers handling the payments. "Make sure it's buried in legal expenses."
What they were burying was evidence of the most serious political scandal in American history: the weaponization of the intelligence community by one administration against its successor. The payments created a financial trail that would later expose the entire operation.
April 26, 2016
George Papadopoulos sat in a London coffee shop, feeling increasingly uncomfortable as his Russian contact offered "dirt" on Hillary Clinton. The entire encounter felt staged, like a bad spy movie where everyone was overacting their parts.
"We have thousands of emails," the contact said, his accent thick enough to cut with a knife.
Papadopoulos, a low-level Trump staffer with no real influence, wondered why he was being targeted for such sensitive information. What he didn't realize was that he wasn't receiving intelligence—he was being set up as justification for a surveillance operation that was already underway.
The "OCONUS LURES" that Peter Strzok had texted about were now active, creating the very evidence that would be used to justify spying on the Trump campaign.
April 26, 2016 (Same Day)
Michael Isikoff's Yahoo News article linking Paul Manafort to Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska wasn't journalism—it was intelligence laundering. The story was based on information provided by Fusion GPS, creating a media narrative that would later be used to justify FISA surveillance warrants.
"This gives us everything we need for a FISA application," a DOJ official told his FBI counterpart as they reviewed the Isikoff article. "Media reports documenting foreign connections."
What they were really celebrating was the circular intelligence process they had perfected: plant information with journalists, then use the resulting articles as "independent corroboration" for surveillance warrants. The media had become a witting participant in political espionage.
April 30, 2016
The DNC's decision to hire CrowdStrike instead of turning their servers over to the FBI was the kind of choice that revealed their true priorities. If they had actually been the victims of a foreign attack, they would have demanded the full resources of federal law enforcement. Instead, they hired a private firm that could control the narrative.
"We need to maintain control of this investigation," DNC officials told CrowdStrike executives. "The FBI gets involved, and suddenly we're answering questions about our own communications."
CrowdStrike's analysis would later become the foundation for claims of Russian interference, but the FBI would never actually examine the servers themselves. The entire Russian hacking narrative was built on second-hand reports from a private company with clear political motivations.
May 2, 2016
James Comey's decision to draft Hillary Clinton's exoneration statement before interviewing her or any key witnesses revealed the predetermined nature of the investigation. The FBI Director was writing the ending before he had finished reading the middle chapters.
"How can we justify this?" an FBI attorney asked as he reviewed Comey's draft statement.
"We don't justify it," Comey replied. "We just implement it."
The statement contained legal conclusions that contradicted the evidence, redefined criminal statutes, and essentially created a new standard of justice for politically connected defendants. The rule of law wasn't being bent—it was being systematically dismantled by the very people sworn to uphold it.
The surveillance state had been fully weaponized against the American political system. What had begun as an investigation into Hillary Clinton's email server had evolved into a comprehensive intelligence operation designed to ensure her election and destroy her opposition.
The intelligence community, the Justice Department, the FBI, and even foreign intelligence assets were now coordinated in a single mission: ensure Hillary Clinton became the next President of the United States.
A dramatization of real events. Based upon The Timeline of Treason. Part I below.
I read all five pieces and have an even clearer understanding of the entire scandal.. This is quite something… thank you
No one has been held accountable yet! It’s been nearly 10 years and it’s time for them to go to jail