Quick Hits

FBI agent Charles McGonigal has pleaded guilty to conspiring to use his position to aid Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska.

As anticipated, former FBI official Charles McGonigal pled guilty on Tuesday to one count of conspiracy in federal court in New York arising out of his efforts to aid Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska in evading U.S. sanctions.

How much do you want to bet he's sentenced to "live with his own conscience"?

The Information filed Tuesday (and which can be viewed in its entirety below) alleged one count of conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which authorizes the president to regulate international commerce, including investigating and imposing controls on transactions and freezing foreign assets under U.S. jurisdiction when a national emergency is declared as to any external "unusual and extraordinary threat to the United States."

The Information alleges that in furtherance of the conspiracy, McGonigal:

a. From in or about August 2021 through in or about November 2021, McGONIGAL and others, acting at the behest of Oleg Deripaska, whom the United States Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control designated as a Specially Designated National on or about April 6, 2018, sought to gather derogatory information about a rival of Deripaska, in violation of IEEPA.

b. From in or about August 2021 through in or about November 2021, McGONIGAL and others received and routed payments from Deripaska through two corporations, neither of which was registered in the name of McGONIGAL or Deripaska, in an effort to conceal that the payments originated from Deripaska.

Oh he was digging up dirt on Deripaska's enemies?

That's interesting, because Oleg Deripaska has previously hired "dossier" fabricator Christopher Steele to do "research" for him on an "unspecified legal project." Probably the exact same stuff Charles McGonigal was paid off to do.

Another sweetheart deal:

McGonigal was originally charged with five counts, including conspiracy to defraud the United States, money laundering (and conspiracy to commit same), and violating the IEEPA (and conspiracy to commit same). Pursuant to Tuesday's plea, the remaining four charges will be dismissed.

Is this "irony"? Or was this the entire point?

McGonigal, 55, was formerly the FBI special agent in charge of the bureau's counterintelligence division from 2016 to 2018, which ironically meant that he was involved in investigating former President Donald Trump for Russian collusion, then essentially engaged in it himself.

...

Additionally, McGonigal was allegedly working to help get Deripaska removed from the sanctions list, prosecutors said.

The American was in talks, along with co-conspirators, to get a $650,000 to $3 million fee to search for hidden assets of $500 which belong to Deripaska's business rival.

I don't know if I wrote about this last week or not. But in case you missed it -- and in case I missed it -- a federal judge accused the Biden Administration of "strong arming" social media companies to censor people the government didn't like. She even likened the Biden Administration to the mafia.

In further The Mere Illusion of Access news, guess who's picture Burisma featured on its website?

That's right -- Joe Biden's.

Remember, this is about the illusion of access. It's definitely not about a corrupt company engaged in money-laundering showing off which major American players are in its pocket, so back off, prosecutors!

Hunter Biden wrote to Burisma to take the picture down. He didn't want it to be so obvious.

Hunter Biden and his business associates told Ukrainian energy firm Burisma to remove a picture of then-Vice President Joe Biden and Burisma board member Devon Archer from its website, emails from the Hunter Biden laptop archive show.

In May 2014, then-VP Biden's counsel Demetra Lambros told Eric Schwerin, a business associate at Hunter Biden's investment firm Rosemont Seneca Partners, to have Burisma remove an image of Joe Biden and Archer from its website, according to emails from Biden's laptop archive.

"Hey, guys," Schwerin said in a May 13, 2014 email to Hunter Biden and Archer. "There is apparently a photo of Devon and the VP on Burisma's website (I can't see it -- the website isn't working very well right now) but Demetra (VP Counsel) called and asked that we tell Burisma they need to take it down (legally they aren't comfortable with the VP's picture being up on the site as what seems like an endorsement)."

It seems like an open endorsement, they mean. They wanted to keep the endorsement from The Big Guy covert.

Budweiser has a new marketing scheme and I'm pretty sure they can say goodbye to their recent woes after this brilliant bit of marketing: They're Butching Up their beer cans and praising (get this) The Troops.

Twitchy quotes from CBS earlier this month:

For Anheuser-Busch Inbev, the aftereffects of a marketing promotion involving Bud Light and transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney is lingering like a bad hangover.

The brewing giant on Thursday reported that its U.S. revenue in April-to-June quarter fell 10.5% from a year ago, attributing the decline "primarily due to the volume decline of Bud Light." It has lost its place as America's best-selling beer after more than two decades, slipping into second place in June behind Mexican lager Modelo Especial, which is also owned by the Belgium-based ABInBev.

A-B must be big fans of Transgender Influencer Jake Tapper, because they've used Tapper's ploy of getting out a jam by going to VetCon One.

Their new slogan will be, "Budweiser: Cram more man into your can."

OK that's not their slogan but it should be. Because their idea of "camo" is ruby red. That would not serve as camouflage anywhere except at a Wizard of Oz theme night at the rollerdisco.

Leftwing pundit Krystal Ball blasts Biden for being asleep for the Maui wildfire disaster relief efforts.

In fairness, he's asleep for every aspect of "his" Administration.

Geraldo looks like he smells like moldy sneakers and male enhancement cream. And also, like he just got done silk-screening Free Mustache Ride novelty t-shirts for his own private collection.

He claims he has "no beef" with Tucker Carlson -- except for the fact that Tucker Carlson is, he claims, "unforgivable" and "malevolent."

But other than that, no beef.

I feel the same way about David French and Jonah Goldberg.

posted by Ace at 07:15 PM

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