The deep state is no longer deniable — thanks to Tulsi Gabbard



The term “deep state” has long been dismissed as the province of cranks and conspiracists. But the recent declassification of two critical documents — the Durham annex, released by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), and a report publicized by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard — has rendered further denial untenable.

These documents lay bare the structure and function of a bureaucratic, semi-autonomous network of agencies, contractors, nonprofits, and media entities that together constitute a parallel government operating alongside — and at times in opposition to — the duly elected one.

The ‘deep state’ is a self-reinforcing institutional machine — a decentralized, global bureaucracy whose members share ideological alignment.

The disclosures do not merely recount past abuses; they offer a schematic of how modern influence operations are conceived, coordinated, and deployed across domestic and international domains.

What they reveal is not a rogue element operating in secret, but a systematized apparatus capable of shaping elections, suppressing dissent, and laundering narratives through a transnational network of intelligence, academia, media, and philanthropic institutions.

Narrative engineering from the top

According to Gabbard’s report, a pivotal moment occurred on December 9, 2016, when the Obama White House convened its national security leadership in the Situation Room. Attendees included CIA Director John Brennan, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, National Security Agency Director Michael Rogers, FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, Attorney General Loretta Lynch, Secretary of State John Kerry, and others.

During this meeting, the consensus view up to that point — that Russia had not manipulated the election outcome — was subordinated to new instructions.

The record states plainly: The intelligence community was directed to prepare an assessment “per the President’s request” that would frame Russia as the aggressor and then-presidential candidate Donald Trump as its preferred candidate. Notably absent was any claim that new intelligence had emerged. The motivation was political, not evidentiary.

This maneuver became the foundation for the now-discredited 2017 intelligence community assessment on Russian election interference. From that point on, U.S. intelligence agencies became not neutral evaluators of fact but active participants in constructing a public narrative designed to delegitimize the incoming administration.

Institutional and media coordination

The ODNI report and the Durham annex jointly describe a feedback loop in which intelligence is laundered through think tanks and nongovernmental organizations, then cited by media outlets as “independent verification.” At the center of this loop are agencies like the CIA, FBI, and ODNI; law firms such as Perkins Coie; and NGOs such as the Open Society Foundations.

According to the Durham annex, think tanks including the Atlantic Council, the Carnegie Endowment, and the Center for a New American Security were allegedly informed of Clinton’s 2016 plan to link Trump to Russia. These institutions, operating under the veneer of academic independence, helped diffuse the narrative into public discourse.

Media coordination was not incidental. On the very day of the aforementioned White House meeting, the Washington Postpublished a front-page article headlined “Obama Orders Review of Russian Hacking During Presidential Campaign” — a story that mirrored the internal shift in official narrative. The article marked the beginning of a coordinated media campaign that would amplify the Trump-Russia collusion narrative throughout the transition period.

Surveillance and suppression

Surveillance, once limited to foreign intelligence operations, was turned inward through the abuse of FISA warrants. The Steele dossier — funded by the Clinton campaign via Perkins Coie and Fusion GPS — served as the basis for wiretaps on Trump affiliates, despite being unverified and partially discredited. The FBI even altered emails to facilitate the warrants.

RELATED: Durham annex proves Russiagate was a coordinated smear

Photo by ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images

This capacity for internal subversion reappeared in 2020, when 51 former intelligence officials signed a letter labeling the Hunter Biden laptop story as “Russian disinformation.” According to polling, 79% of Americans believed truthful coverage of the laptop could have altered the election. The suppression of that story — now confirmed as authentic — was election interference, pure and simple.

A machine, not a ‘conspiracy theory’

The deep state is a self-reinforcing institutional machine — a decentralized, global bureaucracy whose members share ideological alignment and strategic goals.

Each node — law firms, think tanks, newsrooms, federal agencies — operates with plausible deniability. But taken together, they form a matrix of influence capable of undermining electoral legitimacy and redirecting national policy without democratic input.

The ODNI report and the Durham annex mark the first crack in the firewall shielding this machine. They expose more than a political scandal buried in the past. They lay bare a living system of elite coordination — one that demands exposure, confrontation, and ultimately dismantling.

With WaPo Exit, Pinocchio-Wielding Propagandist Glenn Kessler Leaves Behind More Fiction Than Fact

[rebelmouse-proxy-image https://thefederalist.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-28-at-12.56.32 PM-scaled-e1753725488843-1200x675.png crop_info="%7B%22image%22%3A%20%22https%3A//thefederalist.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-28-at-12.56.32%5Cu202fPM-scaled-e1753725488843-1200x675.png%22%7D" expand=1]Time and time again, Kessler has offended Americans and the First Amendment principle of a free press with his activism.

Obama White House, Deep Staters Prove To Be The Real Threats To Democracy

Skeletons are exploding from the closet of team Obama in the wake of declassified and damning documents from the Russia collusion hoax.

Trump doubles down on 'bulls**t' Epstein files: 'I don't want their support anymore!'



While the MAGA base continues to demand answers about the administration's botched handling of the Epstein files, President Donald Trump is not backing down.

In his latest Truth Social post, Trump likened the Epstein scandal to the "fully discredited" Russia hoax and the "Laptop from Hell," referring to Hunter Biden's laptop. The common thread according to Trump is that all of these scandals were manufactured by Democrats to threaten his presidency.

'The American people feel highly disappointed. They feel like they've been betrayed.'

"These Scams and Hoaxes are all the Democrats are good at - It's all they have - They are no good at governing, no good at policy, and no good at picking winning candidates," Trump said Wednesday.

Trump criticized the legacy media and even some of his supporters who think there's more to the Epstein story, calling them "weaklings" and saying he no longer wants their support.

RELATED: The White House will need to do plenty more to get past Epstein

Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

"Their new SCAM is what we will forever call the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax, and my PAST supporters have bought into this 'bulls**t,' hook, line, and sinker," Trump said. "They haven't learned their lesson, and probably never will, even after being conned by the Lunatic Left for 8 long years."

"I have had more success in 6 months than perhaps any President in our Country's history, and all these people want to talk about, with strong prodding by the Fake News and the success starved Dems, is the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax," Trump added. "Let these weaklings continue forward and do the Democrats [sic] work, don't even think about talking of our incredible and unprecedented success, because I don't want their support anymore!"

RELATED: FBI, DOJ Epstein memo sparks right-wing outrage: 'Nobody is believing this'

Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images

Although Trump is urging Republicans to turn the page on Epstein, several lawmakers told Blaze News that they would be in favor of additional transparency.

"We've gotta address this thing. America is ticked off about it," Republican Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee told Blaze News. "But I think President Trump gets it."

"The American people feel highly disappointed. They feel like they've been betrayed," Republican Rep. Eric Burlison of Missouri told Blaze News. "This issue isn't going to go away."

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

ODNI Task Force To Interview Whistleblowers, Probe Election Vulnerabilities In Expansive Weaponization Inquiry

A task force launched by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to probe the weaponization of America’s intel apparatus is expanding its efforts to include interviewing agency whistleblowers and investigating election infrastructure vulnerabilities, The Federalist has learned. According to an ODNI official, the Director’s Initiatives Group (DIG) is seeking to interview whistleblowers within […]

Is the FBI salvageable? Here's what bureau insiders have to say



Americans sent a clear message to the swamp after President Donald Trump swept all seven swing states and secured the popular vote in November. Since then, the MAGA base was promised an administration staffed with change agents eager to uproot the political establishment in Washington, D.C.

The winning streak continued after Kash Patel was successfully confirmed to head the Federal Bureau of Investigation alongside Deputy Director Dan Bongino, both of whom have been allies to the president. Patel and Bongino also shared a common mission going into the FBI: The status quo isn't working.

'If you embarrass that community, you will be ostracized.'

Now five months into Patel's tenure, several former agents and FBI whistleblowers described how their optimism has faded into disappointment.

"Kash Patel and Dan Bongino both used to consistently call for dismantling the FBI, or at minimum, for a massive restructuring of it," one FBI whistleblower told Blaze News. "The latest revelations only bolster the position that the FBI has become a secret police organization. Yet, there has been no mention of the criminal charges against FBI employees involved in this gross miscarriage of truth and justice. There has been no mention whatsoever of any form of punishment for those involved."

RELATED: 1,004 days of betrayal for suspended FBI Special Agent Garret O’Boyle

Photo by Calla Kessler for the Washington Post via Getty Images

"Like most of the FBI's known corruption, cover-ups, and illegal activities in recent years, these revelations began with yet another whistleblower," he added. "Only then did the FBI 'leadership' discover how deep the corruption surrounding this election interference was. Still, no whistleblower has been vindicated, reinstated, promoted, or provided back pay and damages under the 'new' FBI."

Other whistleblowers like Marcus Allen share this sentiment, saying the bureau is beyond help.

"Attempts to salvage the FBI are a fool's errand," Allen told Blaze News. "Its reputation is damaged beyond repair. It has lost the public trust and proven itself to be an enemy of the American people and rightfully elected American governance."

Allen previously worked in the FBI's Charlotte field office before he was abruptly put on unpaid leave for challenging the official narrative surrounding the January 6 protests. After being branded a conspiracy theorist, Allen was eventually given his security clearance back by former President Joe Biden's administration and was awarded back pay as part of a settlement with the FBI. Allen later resigned from the bureau.

"They know when they have been abandoned," Steve Baker, investigative reporter for Blaze News, said. "When they speak out, that goes against the culture of the FBI. It goes against the intelligence community at large. If you embarrass that community, you will be ostracized."

Clint Brown, who worked closely alongside Patel during his Senate confirmation process, pushed back on critics, noting that Kash has been heading the bureau for only five short months.

“Kash is an extremely methodical person and very strategic,” Brown told Blaze News. “He is going to work through everything methodically and in the right way. Not everything is a narrative. Not everything has a quick fix. We’re living in the real world.”

"The former leadership may have tarnished it’s own reputation, but they’re the institution that exists to catch the bad guys, and they still have to do that while fixing the place," Brown added.

RELATED: Kash Patel's surprising appointment of a top J6 inquisitor to head DC FBI office

Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images

While continuing to "catch the bad guys," Patel has also lead the popular crusade against former Director Christopher Wray, which many current and former agents have championed.

Patel announced Tuesday that the bureau uncovered evidence of Wray lying to Congress about China's involvement in influencing the 2020 election. These findings also detail how the agency "recalled" a report that contradicted Wray's testimony under oath to Congress denying China's involvement.

"There are a dozen other people that we could put in the perp walk parade," Baker told Blaze News. "But the guy that needs to lead the parade is Christopher Wray."

This evidence is just the latest piece of a larger puzzle implicating the former FBI leadership for working to influence the 2020 election. Whether it's coordinating with social media monopolies like Facebook to promote one party over the other or censoring the bombshell Hunter Biden laptop story, all signs suggest the FBI was involved.

"To date, this is unequivocally the worst example of FBI election interference," Steve Friend, another FBI whistleblower, told Blaze News. "The Steele dossier and censorship of the Hunter Biden laptop were abhorrent attempts to smear Donald Trump's reputation and deter voters from his camp. However, this latest revelation that the FBI covered for a foreign adversary to stuff ballots for Joe Biden strains all bounds of credulity and requires an honest conversation about whether the FBI should be dissolved."

"Disgraced FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate knew this," Phil Kennedy, a whistleblower and former FBI agent, said in a post on X. "He was the executive who allegedly said, 'FBI employees who question the bureau's handling of January 6-related cases can seek employment elsewhere.' He helped hide the crime and then imprisoned Americans demanding answers."

Patel has also led a broader effort to decentralize D.C.'s influence in the bureau and empower local field offices to continue doing the day-to-day work that impacts communities.

“As far as reforms in the FBI, there’s been a restructuring in the organization, and it’s still ongoing," Brown told Blaze News. "Agents have been moved out to the field, and this is all part of reorganizing the FBI over the long term and doing it methodically.”

RELATED: Exclusive: Oversight Project refers former FBI Director Wray to DOJ for criminal charges

Photo credit should read MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images

While some former agents believe that the new leadership is a step in the right direction, other whistleblowers say the bureau remains unchanged, forever being driven by the status quo.

"The FBI has demonstrated an unwillingness and inability to understand the complexities of corruption within the FBI writ large and the simplicities of emergent national security and public safety threats," one whistleblower and former DHS employee told Blaze News.

"The new FBI deputy director has told Americans this is 'our FBI,'" Kyle Seraphin, another FBI whistleblower, told Blaze News. "It turns out, 'our FBI' is the same FBI it was last year: deceptive, duplicitous, and functioning on operational morality. The FBI serves the FBI, polishes the reputation of the FBI, and exists to prop up the legend of the FBI. Americans can see the results — promises without production, press releases instead of probable cause to arrest, and backroom document deals instead of disinfecting sunshine. The status quo is 'cutesy time,' and it is unquestionably continuing."

Although critics insist the culture remains unchanged, Brown says Patel was the right choice to push for a change. In order to successfully restore integrity to the bureau, Brown argues that Patel needs both time and trust from the rank-and-file agents.

"Kash is the guy that exposed the 'Russia, Russia, Russia' hoax," Brown told Blaze News. "He did it methodically, and the president knows that."

"The other thing is he picked the guy who’s going to relate to the brick agents," Brown added. "Trump’s philosophy, whether it’s FBI or DOD, he said the same thing about Pete Hegseth, is that he wants people who are doing the job to feel like they have a leader who understands them. So Kash has to earn trust within the FBI, while having to expose, methodically, while also having to catch bad guys, in order to reform the FBI. Without their trust, they’re not going to follow your leadership to fix things.”

The FBI did not respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Christopher Wray must be prosecuted



The director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation has one job above all: Tell the truth. The FBI’s motto — “Fidelity, Bravery, Integrity” — demands it. But beyond the moral and professional imperative, the director has a legal duty when communicating with Congress. Former Director Christopher Wray failed that duty. On Thursday, the Oversight Project submitted a criminal referral to the Department of Justice and FBI, calling for an investigation — and prosecution if warranted.

The case against Wray centers on two major failures.

Transparency matters, but accountability is what the American people demand.

First, U.S. Customs and Border Protection intercepted 20,000 scannable fake driver’s licenses produced by the Chinese Communist Party. The licenses were part of an election interference scheme aimed at boosting mail-in ballots for Joe Biden in 2020. Current FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino confirmed this in recent disclosures to Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), noting that prior FBI leadership “chose to play politics and withhold key information from the American people.” Wray had to have known. He testified repeatedly that the 2020 election was secure. That was a lie.

Second, Wray misled Congress about the FBI’s so-called “Catholic memo.” He claimed it came from a single Richmond office and had been withdrawn. But new documents show the FBI circulated over a dozen related files to more than 1,000 employees and even drafted a broader version for wider circulation. As Grassley put it, “[Wray] is lying, and he ought to be followed up. Because if people that lie to Congress aren’t held accountable, it encourages more people to lie.”

The Oversight Project’s referral highlights three key moments when Wray gave sworn testimony contradicted by documented evidence. In September 2020, appearing before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, he denied any coordinated voter fraud effort. In March 2021, he flatly repeated his claim that foreign interference posed no threat — despite growing evidence suggesting otherwise. Yet Wray received regular briefings from Nikki Floris, head of the FBI’s 2020 election security and Foreign Influence Task Force. He acknowledged China’s malign influence campaign as early as July 2020. That alone undercuts his claims of ignorance.

The idea that Wray didn’t know about either scandal doesn’t hold water. Either he knew and lied — or he didn’t want to know. In both cases, that’s disqualifying.

And Wray’s record doesn’t earn him the benefit of the doubt.

He dismissed Antifa as an “ideology,” despite clear evidence of coordinated violent activity across multiple cities. He created the Foreign Influence Task Force that censored speech protected by the First Amendment — flagging the Hunter Biden laptop story and labeling credible sources as conspiracy theorists. He unleashed unprecedented FBI resources to pursue low-level January 6 offenders while ignoring real threats from abroad.

Under Wray, the bureau chased Republicans over flimsy allegations and turned a blind eye to millions flowing from Communist China to the Biden family. He rewarded agents who knelt for BLM while punishing whistleblowers who questioned the bureau’s politicization.

RELATED: The FBI was completely correct to keep an eye on Catholics

jnatkin via iStock/Getty Images

He effectively turned Pride Month into Pride Years, flooding the agency with DEI and LGBTQ propaganda instead of focusing on mission-critical tasks like national security and counterintelligence.

The FBI under Wray mocked its legal obligations — not just to Congress, but to the public. The bureau continues to fight in court to block the release of documents that would confirm its abuse of power.

Wray’s legacy is a textbook case of weaponization: Act aggressively when evidence hurts the political right, and bury it when it implicates the left. His repeated failures to disclose vital election-related information — and his lies about targeting Catholic Americans — expose a deeper pattern of deception.

The Oversight Project’s criminal referral gives the Justice Department and the FBI a chance to restore trust. Transparency matters, but accountability is what the American people demand.

And this case is only the beginning. We believe Wray and others at the FBI participated in a broader conspiracy to violate Americans’ civil rights. Investigating that conspiracy should begin with one simple act: prosecuting Christopher Wray.

CNN ‘Stand[s] 100% Behind’ Natasha Bertrand’s Serial Disinformation On Foreign Affairs

In an unsurprising move, CNN — which a jury found is literally fake news — is “stand[ing] 100% behind” the so-called “journalism” of one its biggest propagandists: Natasha Bertrand. On Wednesday afternoon, the left-wing outlet issued a statement in defense of Bertrand amid criticisms the media hoaxer is facing over a recent report she co-authored […]

Assume Everything Russia Hoaxer And Biden Laptop Truther Natasha Bertrand Says Is A Lie

Bertrand is a regime mouthpiece who will shamelessly publish anything to smear her political opponents, irrespective of its validity.