GOP-led House Judiciary Committee asks FBI for all info related to Charles McGonigal

The Republican-led House Judiciary Committee asked this week for the Federal Bureau of Investigation to supply it with any and all information related to Charles McGonigal, the former FBI official who was arrested several days ago for violating US sanctions and working with a Russian oligarch.

McGonigal previously worked as head of counterintelligence for the FBI’s New York office and was arrested a week and a half ago on allegations of secretly working with sanctioned Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska and several of his high-powered associates. He was also accused of accepting $225,000 from a European intelligence official and trying to get sanctions on Deripaska lifted during his FBI employment.

On Thursday the House Judiciary Committee, led by Republican Jim Jordan (OH-4) requested that the FBI hand over any information about McGonigal and his actions. In a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray, the committee sought information related to their investigation of political bias at the bureau. The letter claims McGonigal’s arrest “raises new questions about the FBI’s counterintelligence efforts during his employment with the FBI.”

The letter gives Wray a deadline of February 16 to provide a full briefing to the committee on McGonigal and his political ties, and what steps the FBI is taking to prevent its employees from committing similar offenses.

McGonigal retired from the FBI in 2018 after 22 years.