EXCLUSIVE: Trump Has No Problem Seeing Comey, Brennan Behind Bars For Russiagate Hoax

EXCLUSIVE: Trump Has No Problem Seeing Comey, Brennan Behind Bars For Russiagate Hoax

Inside the billion-dollar pipeline funding the deep state



In a column earlier this month, I argued the deep state is no longer deniable, thanks to Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. I outlined the structural design of the deep state as revealed by two recent declassifications: Gabbard’s ODNI report and the Durham annex released by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa).

These documents expose a transnational apparatus of intelligence agencies, media platforms, think tanks, and NGOs operating as a parallel government.

The deep state is funded by elite donors, shielded by bureaucracies, and perpetuated by operatives who drift between public office and private influence without accountability.

But institutions are only part of the story. This web of influence is made possible by people — and by money. This follow-up to the first piece traces the key operatives and financial networks fueling the deep state’s most consequential manipulations, including the Trump-Russia collusion hoax.

Architects and operatives

At the top of the intelligence pyramid sits John Brennan, President Obama’s CIA director and one of the principal architects of the manipulated 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment.

James Clapper, who served as director of national intelligence, signed off on that same ICA and later joined 50 other former officials in concluding the Hunter Biden laptop had “all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation” ahead of the 2020 election. The timing, once again, served a political objective.

James Comey, then FBI director, presided over Crossfire Hurricane. According to the Durham annex, he also allowed the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server to collapse after it became entangled with “sensitive intelligence” revealing her plan to tie President Donald Trump to Russia.

That plan, as documented in the annex, originated with Hillary Clinton herself and was personally pushed by President Obama. Her campaign, through law firm Perkins Coie, hired Fusion GPS, which commissioned the now-debunked Steele dossier — a document used to justify surveillance warrants on Trump associates.

Several individuals orbiting the Clinton operation have remained influential. Jake Sullivan, who served as President Biden’s national security adviser, was a foreign policy aide to Clinton during her 2016 campaign. He was named in 2021 as a figure involved in circulating the collusion narrative, and his presence in successive Democratic administrations suggests institutional continuity.

Andrew McCabe, then the FBI’s deputy director, approved the use of FISA warrants derived from unverified sources. His connection to the internal “insurance policy” discussion — described in a 2016 text by FBI official Peter Strzok to colleague Lisa Page — underscores the Bureau’s political posture during that election cycle.

The list of political enablers is long but revealing:

Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), who, as a former representative from California, chaired the House Intelligence Committee at the time and publicly promoted the collusion narrative while having access to intelligence that contradicted it.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif) and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), both members of the “Gang of Eight” with oversight of intelligence operations, advanced the same narrative despite receiving classified briefings.

Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, exchanged encrypted text messages with a Russian lobbyist in efforts to speak with Christopher Steele.

These were not passive recipients of flawed intelligence. They were participants in its amplification.

The funding networks behind the machine

The deep state’s operations are not possible without financing — much of it indirect, routed through a nexus of private foundations, quasi-governmental entities, and federal agencies.

George Soros’ Open Society Foundations appear throughout the Durham annex. In one instance, Open Society Foundations documents were intercepted by foreign intelligence and used to track coordination between NGOs and the Clinton campaign’s anti-Trump strategy.

This system was not designed for transparency but for control.

Soros has also been a principal funder of the Center for American Progress Action Fund, which ran a project during the Trump administration called the Moscow Project, dedicated to promoting the Russia collusion narrative.

The Tides Foundation and Arabella Advisors both specialize in “dark money” donor-advised funds that obscure the source and destination of political funding. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was the biggest donor to the Arabella Advisors by far, which routed $127 million through Arabella’s network in 2020 alone and nearly $500 million in total.

The MacArthur Foundation and Rockefeller Foundation also financed many of the think tanks named in the Durham annex, including the Council on Foreign Relations.

Federal funding pipelines

Parallel to the private networks are government-funded influence operations, often justified under the guise of “democracy promotion” or counter-disinformation initiatives.

USAID directed $270 million to Soros-affiliated organizations for overseas “democracy” programs, a significant portion of which has reverberated back into domestic influence campaigns.

The State Department funds the National Endowment for Democracy, a quasi-governmental organization with a $315 million annual budget and ties to narrative engineering projects.

The Department of Homeland Security underwrote entities involved in online censorship programs targeting American citizens.

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

Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The Pentagon, from 2020 to 2024, awarded over $2.4 trillion to private contractors — many with domestic intelligence capabilities. It also directed $1.4 billion to select think tanks since 2019.

According to public records compiled by DataRepublican, these tax-funded flows often support the very actors shaping U.S. political discourse and global perception campaigns.

Not just domestic — but global

What these disclosures confirm is that the deep state is not a theory. It is a documented structure — funded by elite donors, shielded by bureaucracies, and perpetuated by operatives who drift between public office and private influence without accountability.

This system was not designed for transparency but for control. It launders narratives, neutralizes opposition, and overrides democratic will by leveraging the very institutions meant to protect it.

With the Durham annex and the ODNI report, we now see the network's architecture and its actors — names, agencies, funding trails — all laid bare. What remains is the task of dismantling it before its next iteration takes shape.

Want more from Glenn Beck? Get Glenn's FREE email newsletter with his latest insights, top stories, show prep, and more delivered to your inbox.

‘Undercover’ Spy At Center Of WSJ Sob Story Is Actually A Public CIA Russia Hoaxer

The hit piece blasting Intelligence Chief Tulsi Gabbard for outing omnipresent CIA agent Julia Gurganus is filled with falsities.

Establishment Reeling After Trump’s 7-Month War Against Deep State

The Trump administration has focused on dismantling the 'Deep State'

American trucking at a crossroads: Deadly crash involving illegal alien exposes true cost of Biden’s border invasion



An underreported safety and national security crisis within America's trucking industry is now gaining national attention after an illegal alien semi-truck driver has been accused of killing several people in Florida earlier this month.

Harjinder Singh, a 28-year-old Indian national, was arrested after he jackknifed his truck while allegedly making an illegal U-turn on August 12, crushing a minivan and killing everyone in the vehicle.

Singh obtained his commercial driver's license in California despite facing pending immigration proceedings after he crossed illegally into the U.S. in 2018. The first Trump administration had fast-tracked Singh for deportation, but he was later released when he told immigration officials he was afraid to be deported back to India.

The recent tragic incident received national attention and highlighted how former President Joe Biden's open-border immigration policies contributed to significant and overlooked issues within America's trucking industry, including road safety concerns, declining wages, and broader national security risks that could take years to address.

Shannon Everett with American Truckers United has raised concerns about the effects of lowered driver qualifications for foreign nationals, which were justified by claims of an industry staffing crisis.

'I feel that this could be the biggest national security threat to the homeland that nobody is covering.’

Everett told Blaze News that many new drivers are foreign-born, having obtained their CDLs after seeking asylum and receiving employment authorization documents.

According to the Department of Transportation's Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, nonresident foreign nationals can qualify for non-domiciled CDLs. Exceptions include Canadian and Mexican nationals, who must instead obtain a license from their home country, as the FMCSA has determined that the licensing standards in those countries meet its requirements.

Cole Stevens, the chief strategy officer for Stevens Trucking Co., similarly warned about the "massive increase in non-domiciled CDLs nationwide and CDL fraud," stating that the current trucking industry ecosystem is "gutting the American trucking companies one by one."

"We have definitely seen mass casualty events happening more frequently than ever before," he told Blaze News. "Unvetted, untrained, and sometimes incapable of communicating/reading English road signs is a recipe for disaster."

RELATED: Party's over: Foreign truck drivers get reality check in Alabama, thanks to Trump

Photo by Matt Mills McKnight/Getty Images

The ultimate cost

The lack of proper vetting in favor of "rampant labor dumping" has reportedly led to an increase in fatal accidents.

American Truckers United shared a chart tracking the trend of large-truck-involved fatal crashes from 2008 to 2022.

The group noted that in 2016, the Obama administration's FMCSA issued a memorandum removing the requirement to place drivers out of service for lack of English proficiency, which subsequently appeared to lead to an increase in accidents. From 2008 to 2015, the annual number of truck-involved fatal crashes peaked at 4,089. In contrast, from 2016 to 2023, the lowest annual number of truck-involved fatal crashes was 4,562, reaching a maximum of 5,873 in 2022.

‘We keep putting profit ahead of life, and I'm now a widow because of that.’

A heartbreaking incident exemplified this alarming trend in June 2024, when a semi-truck driver lost control of his vehicle on Colorado's Highway 285, resulting in the death of Scott Miller, 64, a husband, father, and grandfather.

The driver's semi-truck, which was transporting steel pipes, collided with the car in front of it, causing the truck to jackknife. The straps securing the truck's cargo failed, and the pipes fell onto Miller's vehicle, instantly crushing and killing him.

The driver of the truck was Ignacio Cruz Mendoza, a Mexican national who was illegally in the U.S. and did not hold a valid CDL at the time of the crash. Cruz Mendoza had been removed or voluntarily left the U.S. 16 times prior to the tragedy. After he spent just eight months of his year-long sentence in prison for the fatal accident, Immigration and Customs Enforcement removed Crus Mendoza from the country.

RELATED: The deadly trucker crisis — and why mass migration is to blame

Photo by RJ Sangosti/Denver Post via Getty Images

The victim, Scott Miller, a commercial truck driver himself, and his wife, Deann Miller, previously operated their own trucking company hauling water.

Deann Miller rejected claims of a staffing shortage in the trucking industry, arguing that many qualified American drivers are willing to work, but some companies are cutting corners by hiring non-domiciled drivers to save costs.

"Truckers make good money, and they didn't want to pay that," she told Blaze News. "These companies are putting profit over lives."

"We're allowing [foreign nationals] to come in with whatever license they claim they had from their country," Miller continued. "Our truck drivers are held to a much higher standard, and they go through special schooling."

Miller explained that driving large trucks is "a skilled profession," especially in mountainous areas where drivers must know how to downshift correctly, as brakes alone cannot stop an 80,000-pound truck traveling downhill.

‘This is not even an issue for the trucking industry. This is a national security issue.’

Miller told Blaze News that there is another underreported aspect to the story: slave labor.

"These companies and corporations are bringing people over from China, Africa, Russia, Mexico, all over the place, and they're promising them good wages and a place to live. What's actually happening is these drivers are literally living out of their trucks because the trucking companies are only paying them minimum wage," she said.

Miller refuses to let her husband's death be in vain. She is advocating for mountain endorsements for truck drivers and a return to manned roadside weigh stations and inspection stops.

"We should have stops at the bottom of every mountain road and make sure every truck is assessed before it's alone on these mountain bypasses," she added. "But that's money — tax dollars. But what's more important: money or life? We keep putting profit ahead of life, and I'm now a widow because of that."

"My husband lost his life," Miller said. "And I lost my life the day my husband died. ... He was my best friend. We did everything together. I don't have my best friend any more."

RELATED: Highway to hell: Mass influx of foreign-born truckers cause carnage on American roads

Rebecca Noble/Bloomberg via Getty Images

National security risks

The increase in loosely vetted foreign nationals entering the trucking workforce after crossing the border has also sparked concerns about national security.

Raman Dhillon, CEO of the North American Punjabi Trucking Association, has called the alleged driver shortage a myth that has been used to justify relaxed driver requirements.

Dhillon stated that he warned the Biden administration that there would be "a crisis coming" due to the surge in foreign nationals crossing the border and entering the trucking industry with little industry experience.

"This is not even an issue for the trucking industry. This is a national security issue," he declared.

The Transportation Security Administration issued a report in 2017, warning about the increased number of global "ramming attacks" by terrorists.

‘Non-domiciled CDL issuance represents a growing trend for which no one has yet fully accounted.’

"Commercial vehicles — distinguished by their large size, weight, and carrying capacity — present an especially attractive mechanism for vehicle ramming attacks because of the ease with which they can penetrate security barriers and the large-scale damage they can inflict on people and infrastructure," the report read.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard stated in April that the National Counterterrorism Center identified 600 people with terrorism ties who entered the U.S. illegally, claimed asylum, and were paroled by the Biden administration.

American Truckers United argued, "The American people DESERVE to know: Were some of these 600 individuals issued Non-Domicile CDLs, giving them access to operate massive commercial trucks on our roads? This is a NATIONAL SECURITY CRISIS! Demand transparency NOW!"

Stevens called this possibility the "ultimate Trojan horse that nobody is talking about."

"I feel that this could be the biggest national security threat to the homeland that nobody is covering," Stevens told Blaze News. "Every non-domiciled license I have seen has been under the age of 42, most in their 20s."

Stevens noted that the average age of American truck drivers is roughly 51 years old.

"I haven't seen a single one over that age for the foreign drivers/licenses that have been issued since COVID. Something is off, right?" he questioned.

Last year, two illegal aliens, Jordanian nationals, were arrested after they allegedly attempted to breach Marine Corps Base Quantico. The men reportedly posed as Amazon delivery drivers and, failing to provide proper credentials, tried to drive their box truck onto the base anyway before they were stopped by guards who deployed vehicle denial barriers.

The incident sparked concerns about a potential terrorist plot, though those claims were never substantiated.

How we got here

Although Canada and Mexico are the only two countries with CDL reciprocity agreements with the U.S., the FMCSA can issue temporary waivers, valid up to 90 days, or exemptions, valid up to two years, that allow foreign drivers from other countries to operate within the U.S.

A July report from Overdrive attempted to answer whether there has been a recent increase in non-domiciled CDL issuance across the United States. The outlet noted that determining the number of issued licenses was difficult because there is no universal tracking system, and several states that issue these CDLs do not track their own data either.

"Overdrive found just seven states that don't issue CDLs to noncitizens with work authorization; 11 states do issue non-domiciled CDLs but can't readily produce data about them; and 32 states ultimately did provide numbers. Among the states that didn't provide data, six said they would have to pay a contractor to produce the data, and two offered no response at all," the report read.

Despite missing data, Overdrive estimated that there are more than 60,000 active non-domiciled CDLs currently in the country. The report stated that "non-domiciled CDL issuance has increased quickly among the majority of states that provided data," noting that Louisiana issued only 20 in 2021 and jumped to 172 in 2024.

"Non-domiciled CDL issuance represents a growing trend for which no one has yet fully accounted," Overdrive concluded.

Everett told Blaze News that non-domiciled CDLs are primarily issued in California, New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Montana, Texas, and Florida.

"They are not vetting these drivers," he warned, adding that in some instances, CDLs have been issued to individuals who have provided inaccurate birthdate information or failed to submit their full names.

RELATED: A trucker's open letter to DOGE's Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk

Photographer: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The Biden-Harris Administration Trucking Action Plan further exacerbated issues within the industry by "reduc[ing] barriers to drivers getting CDLs" and providing states with funds and guidance to "expedite licensing."

As part of the administration's attempt to address the alleged staffing shortage in the trucking industry, it threw millions of dollars in taxpayer-funded grants at training schools.

However, an increase in pop-up CDL mills appeared to follow the federal government's financial support.

In May, reports emerged that a trucking academy with branches in Washington and Oregon had been accused of bribing an independent state tester with cash-filled envelopes to pass its students. The school advertised teaching driving classes in Spanish, Russian, Ukrainian, and Turkish.

And this is not an isolated instance; there are several recent cases involving similar alleged CDL fraud schemes.

Authorities in Florida arrested eight individuals, including two Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles employees, for their alleged participation in a scheme that involved selling thousands of fraudulent licenses, including CDLs, to illegal aliens.

The Department of Justice announced the arrest of a former Massachusetts State Police trooper in August, who was sentenced to prison for three months for his role in a CDL fraud plot. The trooper and three MSP employees allegedly "conspired to give preferential treatment to at least 17 CDL applicants by agreeing to give passing scores on their CDL tests regardless of whether or not they actually passed."

A July report from Freight Waves stated that despite a $926 million grant in 2024 to FMCSA to increase carrier safety, only 6% of interstate carriers actually underwent a compliance review.

"What does that actually mean? It means you can start a trucking company, put equipment on the road, hire drivers with questionable training — and the government might never even glance in your direction," the news outlet wrote. "It also means brokers, shippers, and even insurance companies are making decisions based on an illusion of compliance. A lot of these carriers aren't flying under the radar — they were never even on it to begin with."

Call to action

Everett predicted that highway safety will continue to deteriorate unless "sizeable action" is taken to correct the course.

American Truckers United has requested that President Donald Trump's DOT immediately revoke and ban non-domiciled CDLs for noncitizens. The group also called for restrictions on foreign CDLs, requiring that those drivers operate only within designated commercial trade zones by banning domestic hauling beyond those areas.

‘Allowing unvetted individuals into the trucking workforce poses unacceptable risks to national security, public safety, and the flow of commerce.’

Everett told Blaze News, "All of the countries identified as having dumped drivers into the American labor market are well known for third-world conditions and living standards for their workers. This has had the intended effect."

He explained that labor dumping has driven down wages and living standards for American workers.

"It's important to note that no enforcement mechanisms exist to ensure these new drivers are being paid prevailing wages or income taxes. Likewise because of staffing problems at FMCSA, little to no enforcement exists for these operators when it comes to safety regulations," Everett added.

Stevens believes some issues could be resolved by implementing new license standards and federal-level auditing, particularly for interstate commerce.

"I'm a big proponent of states' rights over any federalization, but movement of goods [and] people between states seems like a federal issue to me," Stevens said. "And right now that licensing structure amongst states is in shambles. And I believe it has been exploited way beyond comprehension."

"I would love to see President Trump call for a full audit of all CDLs issued over the last five years, because I have a feeling that this problem trickles into all forms of licenses," he stated.

RELATED: Were Biden’s strict fuel economy standards illegal? Sean Duffy says yes.

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy. Photographer: Yuki Iwamura/Bloomberg via Getty Images

DOT Secretary Sean Duffy, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and President Trump have moved to address the issues impacting the trucking industry.

In June, Duffy announced that the DOT would launch a nationwide audit on non-domiciled CDLs to specifically review for potentially "unqualified individuals obtaining licenses and posing a hazard on our roads."

The review aims to identify and prevent any potential patterns of abuse within state issuance procedures.

Duffy stated, "The open-borders policies of the last administration allowed millions to flood our country — leading to serious allegations that the trucking licensing system is being exploited."

A DOT spokesperson told Blaze News, "Under Secretary Duffy's leadership, the U.S. Department of Transportation is restoring strict security standards to protect the traveling public and safeguard our supply chains. Allowing unvetted individuals into the trucking workforce poses unacceptable risks to national security, public safety, and the flow of commerce. That is why we are working to close any loopholes, enhance background checks, and ensure only qualified, lawful drivers are entrusted with operating America's commercial vehicles."

Earlier this year, the Trump administration also moved to reverse Obama's 2016 memo, re-enforcing penalties for lack of English proficiency. The White House called it "a non-negotiable safety requirement for professional drivers."

Rubio announced on Thursday that the State Department would immediately pause all issuance of worker visas for commercial truck drivers. The announcement appeared to be a reaction to the recent fatal crash in Florida involving an illegal alien.

A senior Department of Homeland Security official told Blaze News, “The Biden administration abused its parole authority to create an industrial-scale catch-and-release scheme, letting in unvetted illegal aliens including known suspected terrorists, gang members, and criminals, and the Trump administration is correcting that. DHS terminated parole for nearly 500,000 illegal aliens. Many states are using the SAVE database to help identify illegal aliens before granting them benefits like a driver’s license. We conduct thorough screening and vetting for any individual encountered at our borders to identify threats to public safety and national security.”

“While DHS does not directly coordinate with state transportation agencies in vetting CDL applicants, we will use every tool and resource available to protect the homeland, prevent terrorism, and keep our roads safe. The safety of Americans comes first,” the official said.

The TSA did not respond to a request for comment.

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

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.

Gabbard CLEANS HOUSE after warning Brennan, Clapper 'have a lot of their own people' squirreled away



Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has positioned herself as a leader in exposing how American intelligence officials have long evaded accountability for misleading the nation — not just about Russiagate, but also into war.

Gabbard indicated in an August interview with New York Post columnist Miranda Devine that a reckoning is under way; however, there remain challenges — including some posed by antagonistic holdovers from previous administrations.

"When you talk about how do we change this, we have to recognize that both of them — [ex-CIA Director] John Brennan and [ex-DNI] James Clapper, as leaders in the intelligence community — they have their own disciples," said Gabbard. "They have a lot of their own people that they brought in with them or that they mentored in a mirroring of their own image, and many of those people still exist within the intelligence community now."

Gabbard made abundantly clear to the "bad actors" on Wednesday that she means business.

Hours after announcing that she had revoked the security clearances of 37 current and former officials over their involvement in the Russiagate scandal, Gabbard revealed that she plans to radically shake up her agency.

"Over the last 20 years, ODNI has become bloated and inefficient, and the intelligence community is rife with abuse of power, unauthorized leaks of classified intelligence, and politicized weaponization of intelligence," Gabbard said in a statement.

RELATED: Tulsi Gabbard hammers James Clapper, revealing Russia hoax wasn't his first major deception

Photographer: Aaron Schwartz/CNP/Bloomberg via Getty Images

"ODNI and the IC must make serious changes to fulfill its responsibility to the American people and the U.S. Constitution by focusing on our core mission: find the truth and provide objective, unbiased, timely intelligence to the president and policymakers," the DNI continued.

To this end, Gabbard indicated that she is working on "ODNI 2.0": "the start of a new era focused on serving our country, fulfilling our core national security mission with excellence, always grounded in the U.S. Constitution, and ensuring the safety, security, and freedom of the American people."

One of the key differences between ODNI 1.0 and ODNI 2.0 is that the new version will be a great deal lighter.

'Ending the weaponization of intelligence and holding bad actors accountable are essential to begin to earn the American people's trust.'

Gabbard plans to can over 40% of the workforce at her agency by the end of fiscal year 2025 — layoffs her office indicated will save taxpayers over $700 million annually and improve the ODNI's efficacy "as the central hub for intelligence integration, strategic guidance, and oversight over the Intelligence Community."

Since assuming the role of director of national intelligence, Gabbard has already reduced the ODNI by nearly 30%, canning over 500 staffers.

Blaze Media contributor and investigative reporter Steve Baker noted that the personnel at these intelligence agencies have "been overwhelmingly bad guys."

"We're talking about a massively large percentage of the intelligence services," Baker said. "The lying employees are there to subvert the America First and Trump agenda and are actively doing so."

Baker suggested that one of the reasons this has taken so long is that before cutting deeper, Gabbard, like other Trump agency heads, first had to deal with obstructionist holdovers in more senior positions.

While these layoffs may help maximize efficiency at the ODNI, Baker acknowledged that "there's a lot of casualties of war in this," particularly when it comes to newer employees on probationary status.

In addition to trimming the fat, the DNI is effectively closing a number of subagencies that have become "redundant."

A fact sheet from the ODNI indicates that the ODNI's Foreign Malign Influence Center now faces the same fate as its congressionally mandated partner organization at the State Department, the Global Engagement Center — the rebrand of which Secretary of State Marco Rubio closed in April.

The ODNI noted that the FMIC earned extinction when it was "used by the previous administration to justify the suppression of free speech and to censor political opposition."

RELATED: Tulsi Gabbard scores huge win for Americans' data privacy against foreign governments

Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

The National Counterproliferation and Biosecurity Center and the Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center have similarly been targeted in the restructuring and deemed redundant.

According to the ODNI, "descoping" or "refocusing" these three subagencies alone will save taxpayers $46 million a year.

After a determination that that the "unique intelligence-related capability at [the National Intelligence University] is narrow in scope and does not require a stand-alone university," the school's intelligence-related programs are being transferred to the National Defense University for an estimated savings of $40 million annually.

Gabbard is also closing the ODNI's Reston, Virginia, campus and moving the National Intelligence Council to the main ODNI campus in nearby McClean.

The ODNI noted further that Gabbard already removed the partisan holdovers on the External Research Council for leaking classified information to reporters.

When asked to comment on whether suspected "disciples" or bad actors were among those now facing termination, a spokesperson for the ODNI told Blaze News that 'offices were refocused for a number of reasons including because they 'may have been used to weaponize intelligence against Americans' and were used 'by the deep state to push a partisan agenda.'"

"Ending the weaponization of intelligence and holding bad actors accountable are essential to begin to earn the American people's trust, which as long been eroded," Gabbard explained.

Blaze News has reached out to the ODNI for additional comment.

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

Tulsi Gabbard revokes security clearances of dozens of officials over Russiagate



The fallout from revelations about the Russiagate scandal has led to security clearances being canceled for 37 current and former officials.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard posted a statement on social media on Tuesday about the decision ordered by President Donald Trump.

'They undermine our national security, the safety and security of the American people and the foundational principles of our democratic republic.'

Gabbard accused the officials of abusing "the public trust by politicizing and manipulating intelligence, leaking classified intelligence without authorization, and/or committing intentional egregious violations of tradecraft standards."

Gabbard posted a list of the officials, some of whom had been previously identified as participating in the generation of the infamous 2017 intelligence community assessment about the Russia collusion allegations.

"Being entrusted with a security clearance is a privilege, not a right. Those in the Intelligence Community who betray their oath to the Constitution and put their own interests ahead of the interests of the American people have broken the sacred trust they promised to uphold," she wrote on social media.

"In doing so, they undermine our national security, the safety and security of the American people and the foundational principles of our democratic republic," Gabbard added.

In July the president accused former President Barack Obama of treason based on the release of documents revealing how the Russia collusion narrative was created. Obama released a rare statement through a spokesperson denying the accusation and belittling the investigation.

"Out of respect for the office of the presidency, our office does not normally dignify the constant nonsense and misinformation flowing out of this White House with a response. But these claims are outrageous enough to merit one. These bizarre allegations are ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction," read the statement from Patrick Rodenbush.

RELATED: Trump makes shocking statement as he commends Gabbard for bombshell evidence release

"Nothing in the document issued last week undercuts the widely accepted conclusion that Russia worked to influence the 2016 presidential election but did not successfully manipulate any votes," Rodenbush added. "These findings were affirmed in a 2020 report by the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee, led by then-Chairman Marco Rubio."

Gabbard has since then released other documents, including one in which former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper apparently wrote that the intelligence community had to compromise on "normal modalities" in order to push out the Russia collusion accusations.

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

Tulsi Gabbard scores huge win for Americans' data privacy against foreign governments



Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has announced that American Apple users will now enjoy more data privacy after she struck a new deal overseas.

Citizens in the U.K. have been concerned for months ever since their government demanded the ability to tap into their bank records as well as their personal photos and messages through their iPhones, according to the Telegraph.

In February, an order from the U.K.'s home secretary, the equivalent of Homeland Security, required Apple to remove its "advanced data protection" and "end-to-end encryption" for users in their country, causing Director Gabbard to step in and protect user privacy.

'The UK and the EU have gotten in the habit of bullying American companies when they don't have a leg to stand on.'

After months of reported pressure from President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and Gabbard, the U.K. and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper have decided to drop the demand for the "back door" into the Apple phones, protecting not only American citizens, but those in the U.K. as well.

"Over the past few months, I've been working closely with our partners in the UK, alongside [Trump] and [Vance], to ensure Americans' private data remains private and our Constitutional rights and civil liberties are protected," Gabbard announced on X.

She continued, "As a result, the UK has agreed to drop its mandate for Apple to provide a 'back door' that would have enabled access to the protected encrypted data of American citizens and encroached on our civil liberties."

RELATED: Tulsi Gabbard drops declassified top secret document implicating James Clapper in Russiagate

— (@)

A U.K. government spokesman told the Telegraph that the agreement with the United States includes "critical safeguards to prevent the U.K. and U.S. from targeting the data of each other's citizens."

The long-standing joint security initiative between the two nations will continue to build, the spokesperson added, noting that the U.K. will continue to "pursue terrorists and serious criminals operating" in its countries.

The government official did note that the U.K. countries plan to "take all actions necessary" at the domestic level in order to "keep U.K. citizens safe."

There is still another fish to fry, according to tech writer Josh Centers, who says the European Union needs a stern warning from U.S. tech companies to fall in line.

"I'm glad the federal government is finally fighting for the rights of American tech companies and their users abroad," Centers told Blaze News. "The U.K. and the EU have gotten in the habit of bullying American companies when they don't have a leg to stand on."

Because of this, Centers added, American corporations should be willing to take things a step further.

RELATED: 'Absolute proof of guilt!' Trump says newest FBI release should lead to prosecution of Obama officials

Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images

"If the EU doesn't also follow suit, the American tech industry should boycott the entire continent," Centers said.

From the U.K. side, this is a small but important victory, according to Lewis Brackpool, director of investigations at Restore Britain.

"Privacy and free speech are inseparable," Brackpool told Blaze News. Considering what little free speech citizens in the U.K. have currently, Brackpool said it was important to take strides forward.

"When the state can read everything you say, your right to freedom of expression is put in the grave before it even begins," he said.

Citing George Orwell's "1984," Brackpool noted that the character Winston cowers in the corner when facing his greatest fear, a symbol of the government's complete destruction of his integrity. "Now it seems the British state caving to Donald Trump's demands has pushed them into a corner."

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