As the Senate Judiciary Committee votes on June 4th to subpoena 53 Obama/Comey-era government officials over “Crossfire Hurricane” and the early days of Trump-Russia investigations, Republican senators should next summon complicit activist groups.
After all, while government officials covertly trampled on the civil liberties of their fellow Americans through improper surveillance and overzealous investigations over political differences, complicit activist groups and their donors openly played supporting roles and remain active.
Among their collective misdeeds: smear campaigns, incitement, violations of the Privacy Act, and other outrageous acts designed to maliciously portray President Trump and associates as Russian agents who stole the 2016 election.
Scores of Americans who merely served their country through presidential politics suffered irreparable harm from this sinister juggernaut. Having been personally swept up as the Trump Campaign’s national security director, the collusion hoax reminded me of an insidious hybrid of hysterical girls convulsing at the 1692 Salem Witch Trials and far-left Bolsheviks toppling the Russian government in 1917 to lay the foundation for the communist Soviet Union.
So who were these activist groups?
Committee to Investigate Russia (CIR): Launched in 2017, CIR bills itself as a “non-partisan, non-profit organization helping Americans recognize and understand the gravity of Russia’s continuing attacks on our democracy.” Board Members include Rob Reiner, a far-left Hollywood celebrity better known as “Meathead” on the 1970s sitcom, “All In The Family.”
Three Obama-era cabinet members are listed too — Secretary of Defense and CIA Director Leon Panetta, Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson, and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. Others include Never Trump columnist Max Boot and former Obama-era Pentagon official Evelyn Farkas. She recently generated embarrassing national headlines after being exposed in unsealed congressional testimony for admitting “I didn’t know anything” when pressed about Trump-Russia collusion, despite indicating otherwise on MSNBC in 2017. Now she’s running for Congress.
To discover whether potential crimes were committed and any links to the 53 officials, senators ought to subpoena Reiner, the three Obama cabinet members, and other key CIR players.
The Moscow Project: According to the website, it’s “an initiative of the Center for American Progress (CAP) Action Fund dedicated to analyzing the facts behind Trump’s collusion with Russia and communicating those findings to the public.”
In 2017, CAP Action Fund tax filings show revenues over $9 million. For 2019, their website lists one anonymous donor at $1 million or above, and nine anonymous donors who gave between $100,000 and $1 million. They proudly name others, like the George Soros-funded Open Society Policy Center; plus a billionaire real estate developer, a billionaire investment banker and an investment bank CEO.
In order to better understand the Moscow Project’s role in Trump-Russia, senators should subpoena CAP’s top leaders, including its founder John Podesta, and Moscow Project Director Max Bergmann, a CAP Senior Fellow and former speechwriter to Secretary of State John Kerry.
The Democracy Integrity Project (TDIP): Of all the major Trump-Russia activist groups, it appears the most effective and least transparent. Run by a former Democrat Senate staffer and former FBI analyst, Dan Jones, tax filings for 2017 show he paid $3.3 million to Bean LLC, the parent company of Fusion GPS. And despite Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s clueless response when questioned about Fusion GPS during his surreal congressional hearings last year, most people with a discernible pulse recognize it as Glenn Simpson’s organization. Right, the one that is known for partnering with the Clinton Campaign via Perkins Coie law firm to fund the infamous Steele Dossier — a mountain of Russian disinformation compiled by ex-British MI-6 agent Christopher Steele. Steele’s allegations which were “salacious and unverified,” in Comey’s own words, launched the Trump-Russia collusion hoax into the stratosphere, needlessly wrecked many lives and almost overturned an election.
Moreover, according to Senator Chuck Grassley, Dan Jones reportedly told the FBI that his related Penn Quarter group raised some $50 million from “7-10 wealthy donors primarily in New York and California”. Senators might want to ask Mr. Jones about them.
Even more recently, Senator Ron Johnson, Chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, appears to be considering subpoenas for two long term Clinton associates who reportedly shopped around a second Trump dossier that was similar to Steele’s infamous work.
So while Republican Senators dig into America’s darkest chapter — a nearly successful coup waged by a political network unmatched in our history, there is still much more to uncover. Whether our democracy and rule of law can survive depend on it.
J.D. Gordon is a former Senior National Security & Foreign Policy Advisor to Donald Trump. Previously, he served as a Pentagon spokesman during the George W. Bush Administration and is a retired Navy Commander.