Charles McGonigal

Charles McGonigal (born June 23, 1968) is a former American Federal Bureau of Investigation special agent in charge of counterintelligence in the FBI's New York City field office.

In 1990, McGonigal was awarded a B.B.A. from Kent State University, later earning an M.A. in government from Johns Hopkins University in 2014.

McGonigal joined the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1996, working in New York, Washington, Baltimore and Cleveland.

At the start of his career, McGonigal worked on the investigation into the 1996 TWA Flight 800 crash headed by the boss of the New York office, James Kallstrom; Kallstrom was close to both then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani and flamboyant real estate developer and tabloid newspaper staple Donald Trump.

In 2002, McGonigal was appointed a supervisory special agent in the Counter-Espionage Section at FBI Headquarters.

In 2006, he became field supervisor of a counter-espionage squad at the Washington Field Office.

He was one of the original case agents assigned to the Russian sleeper agents Illegals Program

McGonigal led the 2010 investigation into the United States diplomatic cables leak of over 200,000 State Department documents, and the investigation into Chelsea Manning's collaboration with WikiLeaks.

According to Yale professor Timothy Snyder, a close observer of Russia and Ukraine, “Russia was backing Trump in much the way that it had once backed Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych.” Deripaska had played a key role in financing and coordinating the political operation to install Putin surrogate Viktor Yanukovych as president of Ukraine in the 2010 election, in a campaign directed by Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort.

In 2016 and 2017, as a supervisor in the New York Office, he led investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections and efforts to aid Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, including by Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska.

In December 2023 McGonigal was sentenced to 50 months in prison for conspiring with Deripaska to violate U.S. sanctions on Russia.

In February 2024, McGonigal was sentenced to an additional 28 months in prison for concealing the payments he received from a former Albanian intelligence employee.

By early 2016, McGonigal was running the bureau's Cyber-Counterintelligence Coordination Section in Washington, where agents analyzed Russian and Chinese hacking and other foreign intelligence activities.

In that senior position, Mr. McGonigal became aware of the initial criminal referral that led to the investigation known as Crossfire Hurricane into claims that the Trump campaign colluded with Moscow to steal the 2016 election.

On October 4, 2016, McGonigal was appointed "Special Agent in Charge of the Counterintelligence Division for the New York Field Office" by James B. Comey.

McGonigal was an expert on Russian intelligence activities targeting the United States, as well as U.S. efforts to recruit Russian spies.

As head of counterintelligence efforts in New York, McGonigal was involved in some of the bureau's most sensitive work.

McGonigal was involved in the FBI's Crossfire Hurricane investigation into claims that the Trump campaign colluded with Moscow to steal the 2016 election.

McGonigal supervised and participated in investigations of Russian oligarchs, including Oleg Deripaska, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who figured repeatedly in U.S. investigations involving Russia and the 2016 presidential campaign of Donald Trump.

On August 2, 2016, Manafort and Rick Gates had met with Deripaska associate Konstantin Kilimnik (a Russian Intelligence agent according to the US Government) at the Grand Havana Room at 666 Fifth Avenue.

At the meeting, Manafort passed internal Trump Campaign polling data to Kilimnik.

This internal Trump Campaign polling data would have aided the Russian Internet Research Agency, run by Russian oligarch and Putin ally Yevgeny Prigozhin in its online election interference efforts.

On August 15, 2023, McGonigal would plead guilty to federal charges of conspiring with Deripaska to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and money laundering.

In a February 7, 2023 letter to the Department of Justice requesting information after McGonigal’s arrest, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse wrote,

"“The situation is even more troubling given that McGonigal was arrested for, among other things, allegedly working with Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, whom McGonigal was assigned to investigate while working for the FBI.3 Deripaska, a known associate of Trump 2016 campaign chairman Paul Manafort, was sanctioned for interfering with the 2016 presidential election to help Donald Trump.4 ”"

During McGonigal's time in a supervisory position in New York, the office experienced many leaks.

On October 26, 2016, two days before FBI director James Comey announced he was reopening the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails, Rudy Giuliani told Fox News:

"“I do think that all of these revelations about Hillary Clinton are beginning to have an impact. I think [Donald Trump’s] got a surprise or two that you’re going to hear about in the next few days. I mean, I’m talking about some pretty big surprises… We’ve got a couple of things up our sleeve that should turn this thing around.”"

On October 31, 2016, the New York Times published an article titled “Investigating Donald Trump, F.B.I. Sees No Clear Link to Russia”, which appeared to prematurely clear Trump of Russia ties days before the 2016 election, and days before the FBI would publically announce it was reopening it's investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails.

While the article noted that “F.B.I. officials declined to comment”, it went on to cite unnamed “Intelligence officials” who “spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a continuing national security investigation.” “The article… received a great deal of hindsight-aided scrutiny for the role it may have played in easing voters’ concerns about ties between Donald Trump and Russia” right before the 2016 election.

“[T]he article’s tone and headline — “Investigating Donald Trump, F.B.I. Sees No Clear Link to Russia” — gave an air of finality to an investigation that was just beginning.”

On November 4, 2016, Giuliani was asked about his October 26, 2016 comments on Fox News:

STEVE DOOCY: Two – a couple days before this all broke, you’re on with Martha McCallum, and you looked at Martha and go, well look out, something’s coming down, and certainly it did.

What did you know?

And a lot of other networks are pointing that out.

On October 30, 2017, Manafort was indicted by a federal grand jury as part of Mueller's investigation into the Trump campaign and arrested by the FBI.

The indictment charged Manafort with engaging in a conspiracy against the United States, engaging in a conspiracy to launder money, acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign principal, and making false statements.

Prosecutors claimed Manafort laundered more than $18 million he had received from Russia as compensation for lobbying and consulting services for Yanukovych.

The FBI was aware that Manafort owed Deripaska millions of dollars ; and that Manafort had provided the Russian oligarch with election information as a way of paying off the debt.

“We just got to be friends,” said Kallstrom of Trump in a 2020 interview.