Published on December 16, 2023, 3:01 am

In today’s real news, prominent FBI official, Charles McGonigal was sentenced to prison. He was convicted on counts of conspiracy and bribery involving a Russian oligarch closely linked to Vladimir Putin. As this event unfolds, a glaring omission has been made by several major news outlets covering the sentencing.

Over the years, news media stoked the flames of Donald Trump’s perceived puppetry under Putin. This accusation quickly blew out of proportion into what was dubbed as the Russian Collusion Story. Anything remotely referencing Russia sparked immediate reaction from reporters and pundits.

One key element that fueled this years-long media frenzy was the infamous Steele Dossier. Initially receiving heavy media involvement, it slowly fell to the wayside as time progressed and eventually deemed an inconsequential piece of source material upon presentation of The Mueller Report.

It’s within this context that we examine Charles McGonigal’s story bearing striking resemblance with trends from past narratives. Seen as a pivotal player in establishing the collusion narrative, McGonigal was the first FBI agent to receive reports indicating George Papadopoulos receiving oppo-research on Hillary Clinton along with information from the Steele Dossier which launched mainstream coverage of Russian collusion allegations.

After retiring in 2018, McGonigal found himself entangled in his own assignations with Russians and implicated for acquiring significant payments exceeding $225,000 from Russian businessman Oleg Deripaska.

In January, criminal charges were levied against him followed up by a plea bargain during fall introducing possible sentence reduction contingent on guilt admittance over some charges while getting others dropped.

Today’s sentence sends McGonigal to incarceration for four years at Grey Bar Inn but something curiously amiss is how this sentencing is being communicated or perhaps more accurately put, how it isn’t being mentioned for its connection with previous reports regarding Donald Trump and Russian allegations.

Noted platforms including Reuters and Washington Post among others omitted any reference linking McGonigal’s involvement to Trump’s potential collusion investigations. Similarly, CBS and ABC News overlooked this crucial piece of history within their reporting.

Between 2016 and 2018, McGonigal held a significant role as the special agent leading the FBI’s counterintelligence division in New York monitoring Russian oligarchs including Deripaska.

The media overlooking McGonigal’s involvement is reminiscent of recent dismissals around the Steele Dossier’s existence. Based on a document that was funded by Hillary Clinton’s legal team and sourced from Russian informants, they alleged Donald Trump solicited criminal intelligence against Hillary Clinton from Russian interests.

Jumping forward to today, it seems news outlets are abdicating their responsibility when precisely such behavior implicates an individual who played a key role in painting the original narrative.

As we step back with our Christian worldview to examine these developments, it becomes apparent that understanding trusted news requires vigilance not just with what is reported but also what is conspicuously left out. It reaffirms the importance of variety in news consumption to gain a comprehensive understanding of events shaping our world without falling prey to selective narratives or unwarranted biases.