ObamaRussiaGate: RICO Case Memorandum
An Op-Ed Based on Newly Integrated Evidence from Declassified Intelligence Reports, DOJ OIG Findings, and Public Domain Investigations.
OpEd on The Unfolding Conspiracy
I. Introduction:
The Betrayal of Trust and the Call for Justice
For years, the American public has been presented with a narrative centered on foreign interference in its democratic processes. However, recent disclosures, including newly declassified information from the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) and subsequent criminal referrals, are now shedding light on a far more concerning reality: the true interference in the nation's democratic process was allegedly orchestrated from within its own intelligence institutions. This is not merely a matter of individual misconduct or isolated errors, but rather a perceived systemic abuse of power by those entrusted with safeguarding national security. The accumulating evidence points to a sophisticated, coordinated enterprise that allegedly engaged in a sustained pattern of racketeering activity, demanding a robust and comprehensive legal response.
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and the USA PATRIOT Act, originally enacted to combat terrorism and protect national security, were, after 2016, allegedly repurposed. They became the legal foundation for what is described as a sprawling, coordinated domestic surveillance and disinformation campaign specifically targeting political opponents. This fundamental shift in the application of these powerful tools elevates the perceived threat from individual malfeasance to a systemic attack on democratic institutions. Such a reorientation of state power for partisan ends implies a deliberate and organized effort to weaponize governmental apparatus against its own citizens, which represents a profound concern far exceeding the scope of typical governmental overreach. This framing highlights the alleged intent and coordination inherent in the actions, aligning precisely with the definition of an "enterprise" under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act.
This report will make the compelling case that the RICO Act is the appropriate and necessary legal tool to address this alleged deep-seated corruption and manipulation. RICO was specifically designed to dismantle organized criminal groups, including those operating under the guise of legitimate fronts, by targeting their collective unlawful actions and leadership, rather than merely prosecuting individual predicate acts. The alleged actions constitute a "coordinated enterprise" that, under the RICO statute, acted through a "pattern of fraud, obstruction, or retaliation" and may therefore be subject to prosecution. Its unique power to pursue an entire criminal enterprise makes RICO the ideal instrument to seek accountability and restore the integrity of the republic.
II. Defining the Enterprise:
A Coordinated Effort to Subvert Democracy
Under RICO, an "enterprise" is defined broadly, encompassing any individual, partnership, corporation, association, or other legal entity, or any group of individuals associated in fact, even if not a legal entity. The alleged actions reveal a clear "association-in-fact" enterprise: a group of individuals and entities united by a common, unlawful objective, working together through a continuous course of conduct. The provided "Enterprise Structure Listing" meticulously details the alleged components and key figures of this coordinated effort. The structure of this alleged enterprise, spanning government agencies, private contractors, and media outlets, suggests a highly sophisticated, multi-pronged attack designed to leverage different levers of power and influence to achieve a political objective.
The cross-pollination of individuals and activities, such as a Department of Justice official and his spouse working for a private opposition research firm, demonstrates a deliberate strategy to "launder" information and influence across different domains, creating plausible deniability and obscuring the true origins of information. This complexity strengthens the RICO case by demonstrating the "continuity" and "relationship" elements required for a pattern of racketeering, showing how different parts of the alleged enterprise fed into and supported each other.
The alleged enterprise comprised several distinct yet interconnected components:
Intelligence Manipulation & Narrative Control
This alleged component involved high-ranking officials from key intelligence and national security agencies.
James Clapper, then Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), is alleged to have withheld the December 2016 Presidential Daily Brief (PDB) and pushed selective conclusions in the Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA).
John Brennan, Director of the CIA, is accused of promoting the inclusion of the unverified Steele Dossier and leading ICA coordination.
James Comey, Director of the FBI, allegedly approved the ICA framing and pursued FISA warrants using discredited evidence.
Susan Rice, National Security Advisor, and Avril Haines, Deputy National Security Advisor, are linked to chairing post-election meetings and suppression strategies related to the ICA outcome. Crucially, dissenting views from select analysts within the NSA and FBI were reportedly sidelined, indicating an intentional suppression of contradictory information to control the narrative.
Judicial Process Subversion
This branch of the alleged enterprise focused on manipulating legal and judicial processes.
Andrew McCabe, then Deputy Director of the FBI, is alleged to have directed the expansion of the "Crossfire Hurricane" investigation post-election.
Bruce Ohr, a Department of Justice (DOJ) official, acted as an intermediary for Christopher Steele even after formal contacts were cut, maintaining a conduit for questionable information.
Rod Rosenstein, then Deputy Attorney General, allegedly signed a Carter Page FISA renewal despite known issues with the underlying evidence.
Kevin Clinesmith, an FBI lawyer, is accused of altering an email to mislead the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC).
Dana Boente, another DOJ official, reportedly approved FISA filings despite internal discrepancies.
Private Contractor & Political Operative Collaboration
This crucial element involved external entities allegedly producing and laundering politically motivated opposition research into intelligence products.
Fusion GPS is identified as the opposition research firm that produced and laundered the Steele Dossier.
Christopher Steele was the foreign source paid to produce the dossier, noted for his political connections.
Perkins Coie, a law firm, allegedly funded this research via the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee (DNC).
Nellie Ohr, a Fusion GPS contractor, is significant due to her connection as the wife of DOJ official Bruce Ohr, highlighting an alleged nexus between private political operations and government officials.
Media Amplification & Public Fraud
This component focused on controlling the public narrative.
Selected contacts at CNN, The Washington Post, and The New York Times allegedly received classified leaks.
James Wolfe, a Senate Intelligence Committee staffer, is identified as having leaked a FISA application to the press. Furthermore,
DOJ and FBI Spokespersons allegedly coordinated press briefings to validate false narratives, thereby shaping public perception.
The overarching purpose binding these disparate actors and functions into a singular enterprise was explicitly defined: to "prevent peaceful transfer of power, undermine credibility of 2016 election outcome, and justify prosecutions or delegitimization of incoming officials". This common objective was to "preserve institutional power and influence through unlawful and coordinated acts". This shared, illicit goal is fundamental to establishing the "enterprise" element of a RICO prosecution.
The stated objective of preventing a peaceful transfer of power and undermining the election outcome reveals a motive that transcends mere political partisanship, bordering on an alleged attack against the constitutional order. This elevates the alleged misconduct from simple abuse of power to a profound threat to the republic itself, suggesting a willingness to use the apparatus of the state to overturn the will of the voters.
The following table provides a clear overview of the alleged enterprise structure and the key figures involved:
III. The Pattern of Racketeering Activity:
Predicate Acts of Deception and Obstruction
To establish a RICO violation, prosecutors must demonstrate a "pattern of racketeering activity," which requires at least two predicate acts of racketeering activity within a ten-year period, demonstrating "continuity" (ongoing or threat of ongoing activity) and "relationship" (acts related to the enterprise's affairs). The evidence, particularly the newly released classified information and Inspector General reports, reveals numerous such acts, forming an undeniable pattern of deception, obstruction, and abuse of power.
The chronological progression of events, from the withheld PDB in December 2016 to the Director of Intelligence General (DIG) releases in 2025, suggests a sustained, long-term pattern of activity rather than isolated incidents. The 2025 declassifications and memos are presented as the newly released classified information and the basis for the criminal referral, indicating that the full scope and evidentiary basis of the alleged enterprise's activities are only now becoming fully apparent. This long duration strengthens the "continuity" element of a RICO pattern, pointing to a deeply entrenched and persistent operation.
The alleged predicate acts include:
Intelligence Laundering & Disinformation
Suppression of Exculpatory PDB Findings: The December 2016 Presidential Daily Brief (PDB) concluded that "Russia had no impact on vote tallies or the outcome." This crucial finding was "intentionally suppressed" and subsequently replaced with an "inflated, politically-motivated assessment" in the January 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA). This constitutes a deliberate act of deception and manipulation of intelligence at the highest levels.
Inclusion of Unverified Steele Dossier: Despite "warnings and dissent from career analysts," the unverified Steele Dossier was deliberately included in the January 2017 ICA. This inclusion was "part of the plan" to undermine the incoming administration. This is a prime example of "intelligence laundering," where politically motivated opposition research was allegedly presented as legitimate intelligence to influence official assessments.
Broader Laundering of Opposition Research: This pattern extended beyond the ICA, with "opposition research. . . laundered into intelligence reports," blurring the critical lines between partisan political smear tactics and objective national security assessments. The alleged "laundering" of opposition research into intelligence reports and its subsequent use in FISA applications represents a profound corruption of the intelligence gathering and judicial processes, weaponizing state power for partisan ends. This is not merely a procedural error but a deliberate subversion of the integrity of intelligence analysis and the FISA court's reliance on accurate information. By allegedly transforming partisan information into official intelligence, the enterprise sought to legitimize a false narrative and weaponize the state's powerful surveillance apparatus against political opponents, thereby fundamentally blurring the critical line between political campaigning and national security.
Judicial Fraud & Obstruction
Fraudulent FISA Warrant Extensions: "FISA warrants were fraudulently extended," most notably the Carter Page FISA warrant, which relied heavily on the unverified Steele Dossier even after its credibility had been discredited. This represents a deliberate deception of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), a court designed to protect national security while safeguarding civil liberties.
Withholding Exculpatory Evidence: It is alleged that "exculpatory evidence was intentionally withheld "from the FISC, preventing the court from making fully informed and accurate assessments of the warrant applications. This directly obstructed justice.
Alteration of Official Documents: FBI attorney Kevin Clinesmith is specifically accused of altering an email "to support the case" for a FISA warrant, a direct act of fraud and obstruction of justice that has already led to a conviction.
Misuse of Surveillance Powers: The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and the USA PATRIOT Act, originally intended for counter-terrorism, were allegedly repurposed for "a sprawling, coordinated domestic surveillance and disinformation campaign targeting political opponents". This included improper access to raw NSA data, ignored minimization procedures, and abused database searches under Section 702, as exposed by audit reports.
Public Deception & Media Manipulation
Coordinated Leaks to Compliant Media: "Leaks to compliant media outlets kept the public confused and divided," and "media leaks coordinated through Senate staffers and IC surrogates" were part of the alleged strategy to control the public narrative. This suggests a deliberate effort to disseminate information selectively and without authorization.
Validation of False Narratives: DOJ/FBI spokespersons allegedly "Coordinated press briefings to validate false narratives" , further demonstrating a pattern of public deception aimed at maintaining the fabricated narrative.
The following table chronologically details the alleged predicate act, illustrating the sustained nature of the alleged pattern of racketeering activity:
IV. The Imperative of Accountability:
Why RICO is the Answer
The alleged actions detailed herein are not isolated incidents of individual malfeasance; they represent a systemic, organized effort, as evidenced by the multi-faceted enterprise and continuous pattern of racketeering activity. Despite the gravity of these allegations, and the findings of various Inspector General and congressional reports , a profound lack of true accountability has persisted. This suggests that traditional, individual prosecutions are insufficient to address the deep-seated nature of this alleged misconduct.
The repeated emphasis on a lack of accountability despite consistent and undeniable patterns of abuse indicates a systemic failure of internal oversight and a profound need for external, powerful legal intervention. This perceived impunity or structural protection for those at the top strengthens the argument that a special, powerful tool like RICO is necessary, as it bypasses the limitations of prosecuting individual acts and targets the organizational structure itself, which appears to have resisted conventional accountability.
RICO is uniquely suited to address this alleged enterprise for several reasons:
Targeting the "Big Bosses": Traditional prosecutions often fail to target the "big bosses" or the underlying "business of crime" that allows such patterns to persist. RICO, conversely, empowers prosecutors to pursue the entire "team" and its leadership, even if they did not directly commit every single predicate act. This is crucial for dismantling the alleged enterprise from the top down.
Dismantling the Enterprise Structure: RICO allows for the seizure of ill-gotten gains and, crucially, it targets the "enterprise" itself. This aims to dismantle the organizational structure that enabled these alleged abuses, thereby preventing future occurrences.
Addressing Systemic Failure: The consistent pattern of abuse, despite internal warnings and dissent, points to a systemic failure of internal oversight and a need for powerful external legal intervention. RICO provides that intervention. The connection between the alleged abuse of the Patriot Act and FISA and the explicit call for their repeal or overhaul implies that the alleged RICO enterprise exploited existing legal frameworks. This indicates that the alleged misconduct was not just about individuals breaking laws, but about the weaponization of legitimate state powers. This suggests that RICO prosecution, while holding individuals accountable, must be coupled with legislative reform to prevent future similar abuses, as the alleged enterprise found and exploited vulnerabilities in the system.
The broader implications of accountability are significant:
Restoring Public Trust: Accountability is paramount for restoring public trust in vital institutions such as intelligence agencies, the Department of Justice, and the judiciary, which have allegedly been compromised. The erosion of confidence due to perceived impunity is a grave threat to democratic governance.
Deterring Future Abuses: A successful RICO prosecution would send an unequivocal message that no one, regardless of their position or perceived authority, is above the law. This would serve as a powerful deterrent against future abuses of power and the weaponization of government agencies for political ends.
Upholding the Rule of Law: Ultimately, this is about upholding the fundamental principle of the rule of law. When such alleged organized misconduct goes unpunished, it undermines the very foundation of a just society.
The "newly released classified information" from the DNI, including the July 2025 DIG memos , coupled with continuous whistleblower reports , signifies that the full scope of the alleged misconduct is now available. This provides the necessary evidentiary basis and moral imperative for a comprehensive RICO investigation and prosecution.
V. Conclusion:
Reclaiming the Republic
The evidence, now increasingly declassified and corroborated by courageous whistleblowers and diligent investigators, paints a chilling picture: a sophisticated, multi-actor enterprise allegedly engaged in a clear and sustained pattern of racketeering activity aimed at subverting the democratic process. This is not merely a political dispute; it is an alleged assault on the foundations of American governance.
The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act stands as the most appropriate and potent legal instrument to confront and dismantle such an organized effort. It allows for holding accountable not just those who executed individual acts, but crucially, the architects and leaders who allegedly directed this complex conspiracy from behind the scenes. The repeated emphasis on "restoring the integrity of our republic" and preventing "tools of surveillance becom[ing] permanent instruments of political control" elevates the RICO prosecution from a mere legal case to a defense of foundational democratic principles and a warning against potential authoritarian creep. This suggests that if this alleged enterprise is not dismantled via RICO, the precedent set could lead to the permanent weaponization of intelligence and surveillance against political dissent, fundamentally altering the nature of American governance from a republic to a more controlled state.
The imperative for a RICO prosecution extends far beyond simply punishing wrongdoing. It is about restoring the integrity of American institutions, safeguarding the peaceful transfer of power, and reaffirming the fundamental principle that no one, regardless of their position or perceived authority, is above the law. The ongoing revelations, particularly the newly released classified information from the DNI and the subsequent criminal referral, provide the undeniable impetus for action.
The time for obfuscation and inaction is over. The truth was never meant to stay buried, and thanks to patriotic insiders and courageous investigators, it no longer is. A thorough and unsparing investigation and prosecution under RICO is now not just a possibility, but a moral and legal necessity to ensure that truth prevails, justice is served, and the tools of surveillance never become permanent instruments of political control.
Footnotes & Source Citations
DOJ Inspector General Report on FISA Abuse (Dec 2019), Michael Horowitz
DIG-Declassified-Evidence-Obama-Subvert-President-Trump-2016-Victory-Election (July 2025)
Senate Judiciary Committee – Review of FISA Processes & Crossfire Hurricane (2018–2020).
Statement of DNI James Clapper to House Intel Committee (2017)
NYT Report on Carter Page FISA and Crossfire Hurricane (2018)
DOJ FISA Court Filing Admission of Misleading Information (Jan 2020)
Public statements and interviews from whistleblowers and IC personnel, compiled 2020–2025
DIG-Russia-Hoax-Memo-and-Timeline (July 2025):
