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The FBI Misjudged the Villain of Russiagate for Years  

The arrest and indictment of a former senior FBI counterintelligence agent has reopened an embarrassing subject for the FBI and the Department of Justice.

AP/John Minchillo
The former special agent in charge of the FBI's counterintelligence division in New York, Charles McGonigal, leaves court January 23, 2023, at New York. AP/John Minchillo
ELI LAKE
ELI LAKE

The arrest and indictment of a former senior FBI counterintelligence agent, Charles McGonigal, has reopened an embarrassing subject for the FBI and the Department of Justice: Oleg Deripaska.

Mr. Deripaska is a billionaire ally of Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin. He made his fortune after the dissolution of the Soviet Union by taking over his country’s aluminum industry. He is a central character in the Democratic Party’s narrative about Russian collusion.

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ELI LAKE
ELI LAKE

Mr. Lake is a contributing editor to Commentary Magazine and the host of the Re-Education Podcast. He was a syndicated columnist for Bloomberg between 2014 and 2022 and a former reporter at the New York Sun, the Daily Beast and the Washington Times.

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