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Trump Pardon Hides FBI’s Russian Ties
The article “Trump Pardon Buries FBI’s Secret Work for Putin’s Oligarchs” by Jackie Singh (published in Byline Supplement on February 11, 2026) reports that a pardon issued by President Donald Trump has effectively concealed sensitive details regarding US intelligence officials’ covert work for sanctioned Russian oligarchs.
Key points from the report include:
The Pardon: On January 15, 2026, President Trump pardoned Mark T. Rossini, a former FBI counterintelligence agent. Rossini was a co-defendant in a bribery case alongside former Puerto Rico Governor Wanda Vázquez Garced and billionaire banker Julio Herrera Velutini.
The “Pay-to-Play” Connection: The pardon followed a series of substantial political donations. Reports indicate that Herrera Velutini’s daughter donated a total of $3.5 million to Trump-aligned super PACs (specifically $2.5 million in December 2024 and $1 million in July 2025) in the months leading up to the clemency.
Buried Secrets: The article argues the pardon permanently seals records related to Rossini’s refusal to testify about his private work for Russian oligarchs Oleg Deripaska and Dmitry Rybolovlev, both of whom are tied to Vladimir Putin’s inner circle.
Intelligence Connections: Rossini’s business partner was Charles McGonigal, the former FBI counterintelligence chief in New York, who is currently serving a prison sentence for working with Deripaska. The report suggests that Rossini’s defense team successfully used “graymail”—threatening to expose classified national security secrets in court—to force the Department of Justice into a lenient plea deal before the pardon ultimately wiped the slate clean.
Implication: The author contends that this move protects a “sanitized story” where a “whistleblower” was saved from persecution, while in reality, it prevents the public from learning the extent to which US intelligence figures provided services to sanctioned Russian networks.— Michael Novakhov (@mikenov) Feb 14, 2026
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