The Illustrated Spygate Scandal - Part III
The first political coup in American history
See Part I for the backstory. The tale so far:
The investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server began as a routine request by the House Select Committee on Benghazi related to the murders of four U.S. citizens - including the ambassador to Libya — by Islamic terrorists.
Clinton’s staff privately scrambled to destroy emails, backups and any other records. Why? Because the Secretary of State had unlawfully operated a private email server - likely to conceal the Clinton Foundation’s pay-to-play activities.
To compound matters, officials revealed Clinton’s private email server had been hacked by foreign adversaries. This turned the case into a national security crisis just as conflicts of interest arose for FBI investigators like Andrew McCabe.
Most recently, highly classified information national security information (marked TS/SCI/SAP) has just been discovered on the Clinton email server.
July 15, 2015
The FBI's criminal investigation into Clinton's email server officially opened with Andrew McCabe in charge. Despite the warnings, despite the obvious conflicts of interest, despite his wife's campaign being funded by Clinton allies, McCabe was leading the most politically sensitive investigation in Bureau history.
"We follow the evidence wherever it leads," McCabe told his team in the FBI's Washington field office. "Politics doesn't enter into it."
But politics had already entered into it, wrapped around the investigation like fog around a lighthouse. The agents knew it, McCabe knew it, and somewhere in the Justice Department, political appointees were already calculating how to manage the fallout.
Survival was top of mind.
July 20, 2015
Sally Yates's letter to the DOJ Inspector General was a masterpiece of bureaucratic maneuvering. With elegant legal language, she was essentially declaring that the National Security Division was above oversight, beyond accountability, untouchable by internal investigators.
"The NSD operates under special authorities," she wrote, "that require independence from traditional oversight mechanisms."
Translation: you can't touch us.
The Inspector General read the letter with growing amazement. In his decades of government service, he had never seen such a brazen attempt to place an entire division beyond the reach of accountability.
But Yates had just handed him something more valuable than oversight authority: evidence of consciousness of guilt.
July 24, 2015
Two things happened that day that would define the scandal's trajectory. First, State Department officials made a formal security referral about classified information possessed by Clinton and her associates. Second, after complaints from the Clinton campaign, the New York Times quietly edited their story about the email probe, removing all references to "criminal" investigation.
The Times editor who made the change later claimed it was about "accuracy." But FBI agents who read both versions knew better. The change wasn't about accuracy—it was about politics.
"They're trying to control the narrative," one agent told his partner as they compared the before-and-after versions. "Make this look like a civil matter instead of a criminal one."
The media, supposedly independent, was becoming part of the cover-up.
July 30, 2015
Andrew McCabe's sudden promotion to the number three position at FBI headquarters raised eyebrows throughout the Bureau. Agents who had worked with him for years struggled to understand how someone with his experience had leapfrogged over more senior officials.
"It's not about merit," one veteran agent confided to another over beers. "It's about who you know and what investigations you're willing to bury."
McCabe packed his office with the satisfaction of a man whose gamble had paid off. Moving to headquarters put him at the center of the Clinton investigation, exactly where he needed to be to ensure the right outcome.
But promotions based on corruption have a way of attracting attention from people whose job it is to notice such things.
August 15, 2015
Using his official FBI email account to promote his wife's political campaign was either breathtakingly arrogant or incredibly stupid. Possibly both. Andrew McCabe sent the message to his entire contact list, complete with donation links and campaign talking points.
"Jill McCabe is fighting for Virginia families," the email read, signed with McCabe's official FBI signature block.
The email would later become evidence in multiple ethics investigations. Federal employees aren't allowed to use government resources for political campaigns, and McCabe had just violated that rule in the most public way possible.
But McCabe wasn't thinking about ethics violations. He was thinking about the title “Director McCabe”, head of the FBI under President Hillary Clinton. Because Hillary was going to win the 2016 election. No doubt.
September 25, 2015
Stefan Halper's third contract with the Department of Defense was worth $245,000, a significant sum for what appeared to be routine academic consulting. But Halper wasn't a routine consultant. He was a longtime intelligence asset with connections that stretched back decades into the darkest corners of the national security establishment.
The contract was processed quietly, without the usual bureaucratic scrutiny. Someone wanted Halper available for special projects, the kind that didn't appear in official documentation.
Months later, Halper would surface in the Trump-Russia investigation, using techniques learned from decades of intelligence work. But for now, he was just another contractor on the Pentagon payroll, invisible and ready.
September 29, 2015
Evelyn Farkas's resignation from the Department of Defense came quietly, without fanfare or media attention. Senior officials leave government service all the time, usually for more lucrative private sector opportunities.
But Farkas wasn't leaving for money. She was positioning herself for what was coming next: the transition from Clinton investigation to Trump persecution. Someone had to coordinate the handoff, and Farkas had the connections and the motivation to make it happen.
Her resignation letter was professional and bland, giving no hint of the role she would later play in the unfolding scandal.
October 1, 2015
The money started flowing to Jill McCabe's campaign like water through a broken dam. $700,000 from Terry McAuliffe's political entities, all perfectly legal, all carefully documented, and all utterly corrupting.
McCabe's wife called him with excitement. "You won't believe the support we're getting! Terry's people are really behind this campaign."
McCabe felt a cold knot form in his stomach. He knew exactly what this money represented: payment for services rendered, or about to be rendered. His wife's campaign wasn't being funded out of civic duty—it was being purchased.
But the FBI's ethics office had already warned him about conflicts of interest, and he had chosen to ignore those warnings. Now it was too late to develop a conscience.
October 3, 2015
The FBI seizure of the Platte River Networks servers felt like a military operation. Agents arrived with warrants, trucks, and the kind of professional competence that comes from decades of investigating complex crimes.
But they were seizing evidence that should have been gathered months earlier. The delay had given everyone involved time to destroy documents, coordinate stories, and prepare for what was coming.
"Should have done this in March," one agent muttered as they loaded servers into government vehicles.
His partner nodded grimly. "Someone upstairs wanted to give them time to clean house."
The evidence was finally being collected, but the damage had already been done.
October 5, 2015
Peter Strzok's letter to Datto, Inc. was written with the precision of someone who understood that every word would eventually be scrutinized by congressional investigators. The FBI was demanding the backup server, and they wanted it immediately.
"Failure to comply," Strzok wrote, "will result in additional legal action."
But Strzok already knew what was on those servers. He had been part of the investigation from the beginning, and he had his own ideas about how it should end. The backup server would provide evidence, but only the evidence that supported the predetermined conclusion.
Justice, in Strzok's world, was whatever served his personal ambition.
October 6, 2015
The backup server arrived at FBI headquarters like a time capsule from a more innocent era, when people believed that deleting emails actually made them disappear. FBI forensic specialists handled it with the reverence usually reserved for archaeological artifacts.
"This is it," the lead technician told Agent Strzok. "Everything they tried to hide, it's all here."
Strzok nodded but felt no satisfaction. He already knew how this investigation would end, regardless of what evidence they found. The server contained enough classified material to send Hillary Clinton to federal prison for the rest of her life.
But Hillary Clinton wasn't going to federal prison. Not if Strzok had anything to say about it.
A dramatization of real events. Based upon The Timeline of Treason. Part I below.