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Rama in focus? US media: Congress to be interested in McGonigal's dirty Balkan deals

2023-08-17 13:57:00, Aktualitet CNA

Rama in focus? US media: Congress to be interested in McGonigal's dirty

The Washington Examiner media has devoted an article to what is known in our country as the McGonigal case.

The article also mentions his relationship with Rama and says that the only hope for the truth to come out is for Congress to take an interest in McGonigal's dirty Balkan deals. 

Full article:

In recent years, Republicans have gradually lost faith in the nonpartisan integrity of the FBI. This week brings more reason to doubt the FBI's ability to police itself, the Washington Examiner reports.

Enter the plea deal awarded to Charles McGonigal, the rogue top agent whose last assignment before retiring in 2018 was serving as counterintelligence chief of the Bureau's powerful New York office.

In a Manhattan federal court on Tuesday, a disgraced McGonigal pleaded guilty to charges that he conspired to violate international sanctions against a notorious Russian oligarch, Oleg Deripaska, and committed money laundering. Although these are serious charges and McGonigal faces up to five years in prison, no one expects his sentence, which will be handed down later this year, to be so severe since he reached a plea deal with the Department of Justice, pleading guilty.

However, the image of the bureau has been severely damaged here. Part of McGonigal's job as a counterintelligence chief with the FBI was investigating Kremlin-linked Russian oligarchs, including Oleg Deripaska! The fact that McGonigal was also involved, at least to some degree, with the FBI's infamous 2016 investigation into the Trump campaign's ties to Russia, Operation CROSSFIRE HURRICANE, has many Republicans smelling a rat. It appears that President Joe Biden's Justice Department is giving McGonigal a pass to avoid uncomfortable revelations about the FBI's dirty dealings that could come up in any trial. The full story is even worse.

The Russian side of the McGonigal scandal is the tame one. Although the media never gave it enough attention, the accused is facing more federal charges stemming from McGonigal's acceptance of $225,000 from a former Albanian intelligence officer in 2017, when the accused was still an FBI official- of. This is basically a corruption-meets-Balkan-spy-meets-corrupt scandal that was not addressed by McGonigal's guilty plea this week.

The Balkan angle here is uncomfortable and raises troubling questions. As the New York Times blandly put it this week, the accused "befriended Albania's prime minister, Edi Rama, and used his position to drum up foreign business for his associates, according to the indictment brought against him in Washington. In In one case, McGonigal opened an FBI investigation into a lobbyist for the main political rival of the Albanian prime minister."

The truth, as The Examiner has reported on numerous occasions, is far more disturbing than that. In exchange for cash, McGonigal went "heavy" on Rama and his socialist government, threatening their political rivals and shaking down Albanian oligarchs for cash in exchange for protection from US sanctions. This was a secret, mafia-like extortion ring run by a senior FBI official that made tens of millions of dollars, according to multiple sources. Such underworld tactics are not at all unexpected since, during the ten-year rule of Rama and his socialists, tiny Albania has become Europe's epicenter for the global illegal narcotics trade, with the tacit support of the Biden State Department.

Edhe pse ajo që quhet "çështja McGonigal" në Shqipëri diskutohet gjerësisht atje, kjo histori tronditëse ka lënë pak përshtypje në mediat perëndimore. Kjo mund të ketë të bëjë me faktin se Rama dhe aleatët e tij janë në gjendje të shuajnë historitë e mediave evropiane që raportojnë për korrupsionin dhe lidhjet e tyre me krimin e organizuar ndërkombëtar.

Zyrtarisht, pjesa ballkanike e skandalit McGonigal mbetet një çështje e hapur me zyrën e avokatit amerikan në Uashington, DC dhe ende nuk është arritur asnjë marrëveshje për pranimin e fajësisë. Megjithatë, avokati i McGonigal deklaroi gjatë një seance gjyqësore të fundit se ai pret që akuzat në lidhje me Shqipërinë gjithashtu të zgjidhen pa dalë në gjyq, sipas ABC News.

Me siguri duket se zgjidhja ka përfunduar. "Askush nuk dëshiron të shkojë atje. Është më e lehtë për të gjithë të varrosin rrëmujën e McGonigal," më tha këtë javë një inteligjencë veterane e Evropës Lindore në Uashington. Edhe pse skandali McGonigal nuk është një çështje partiake në pamje të parë, meqenëse G-man mashtrues filloi korrupsionin e tij ndërkombëtar gjatë mandatit të ish-presidentit Donald Trump dhe e vazhdoi atë në administratën aktuale, mund të vëmë bast se Shtëpia e Bardhë Biden nuk ka asnjë interes. në diskutimin pse ka qenë kaq e etur për të mbështetur Ramën dhe qeverinë e tij të korruptuar, edhe në politikën e brendshme shqiptare.

The only hope for the truth to come out is for Congress to take an interest in McGonigal's dirty Balkan deals. Although some House Republicans have quietly raised questions about the affair, there are so many current House investigations into Biden-related scandals that the McGonigal case gets lost in the maze of corruption investigations. This is unfortunate, because the full account of McGonigal's Albanian shenanigans is a shocking story that will shock Washington far beyond the FBI./ CNA





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