When Power Turns Dark. The Russia Collusion Hoax
- EG Weiss
- Aug 16, 2025
- 6 min read
We’ve become a nation addicted to outrage but allergic to clarity. As the dust begins to settle on the once-sensational “Russia Collusion” narrative, newly declassified documents and early testimony are finally revealing what many suspected years ago: that key individuals within our government including agencies entrusted to protect us , orchestrated a campaign not just of investigation, but of political warfare against a sitting president.
And as the headlines roll out, so do the reactions. “Treason!” they shout. “Traitors!” they tweet. I get it. I really do. But let’s slow this down, not because I’m interested in defending anyone, but because I’m far more interested in something we’ve lost along the way: the truth.
You that know me know that I am going to the WORDS first.
Let’s start where we ought to start… with a definition.
Treason, according to Article III, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution, is narrowly defined as "levying war against [the United States], or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort." That’s it. It’s specific. It’s clear. And it was written that way on purpose. The Founders knew the weight of that word. They lived in a world where kings labeled dissenters as traitors and heads rolled for it… literally. So, they made sure we wouldn’t do the same.
What happened with the Russia Collusion Hoax was not treason in the constitutional sense. It was something else. It was manipulation. It was an abuse of power. It was deception weaponized through government agencies. It may have even been criminal. But let’s stop trying to cram it into a box it doesn’t fit into just because it feels good to say.
Like the country star Tyler Braden sings so well, “Don’t mistake my kindness for weakness” (pretty accurate as my kindness is running out). Don’t mistake my defense of proper definition as a dismissal of the seriousness of what happened. I believe this deserves a full investigation. There must be consequences. We must hold individuals accountable; not because of who they went after, but because of how they did it.
Let’s be honest: if this is now our standard, if we are going to start pursuing politicians who use government influence to lie, smear, and destroy their opponents, then it better not stop here. We must have consistency. See, if “creative marketing” on one side of the aisle becomes “treason” on the other, then we’re not pursuing justice; we’re just continuing a political blood sport.
So here’s my take: If you lie to federal investigators, if you misuse your office, if you leak classified information for personal or political gain, you should never be allowed to serve in public office again. If you perjure yourself, you should be prosecuted. If the sentence includes jail time, then let it be real time, in a real facility, for the actual crime committed and not a slap on the wrist in a Martha Stewart suite.
And before anyone asks, yes, that goes for all of them. Blue ties, red ties, or no ties at all. I don’t care what party you're in. The system either has integrity or it doesn’t. We cannot afford selective accountability.
As the partisan noise continues, it’s important to separate the fury from the findings. With the release of Special Counsel John Durham’s final report in May 2023, we were finally given a window into what happened; not the TV news version, but the documented, declassified truth.
Durham’s 306-page report concluded, in no uncertain terms, that the FBI should never have launched the full investigation into Donald Trump’s campaign in 2016. In fact, the report found that the Bureau "failed to uphold their mission of strict fidelity to the law.”
One of the most damning revelations was that the FBI opened the Crossfire Hurricane investigation based on uncorroborated intelligence and did so without adequate justification. In Durham’s words:
“Our investigation revealed that senior FBI personnel displayed a serious lack of analytical rigor towards the information they received, especially information originating from politically affiliated persons and entities.”
That’s lawyer-speak for: They were reckless. They knew it. And they kept going anyway.
Former Attorney General William Barr, who appointed Durham to the role of Special Counsel, made headlines when he called the original Russia probe an “abomination.” Following the release of Durham’s findings, Barr doubled down:
“This report confirms what I have long said; there was never any basis for the Trump-Russia collusion narrative, and the FBI’s actions represent a grave injustice that undermined faith in our institutions.”
Now let’s talk about John Brennan, former CIA Director, who, according to declassified notes from then-CIA Director briefing documents, briefed President Obama and others on a plan by the Clinton campaign to tie Trump to Russia as a political strategy. One document reads:
“We’re getting additional insight into Russian activities from [REDACTED]. CITE [REDACTED] alleged approved, by Hillary Clinton, a proposal from one of her foreign policy advisors to vilify Donald Trump by stirring up a scandal claiming interference by Russian security services.”
This wasn’t conspiracy theory; this was Brennan’s own CIA writing in real time. Brennan, for his part, later testified that he “briefed the President” on this matter and that it was “intelligence reporting that the CIA deemed of sufficient seriousness to bring forward.”
Let’s break that down: The CIA had evidence that a political campaign was manufacturing a foreign collusion narrative and that this was briefed directly to the President of the United States. If true, this would make the Russia Collusion hoax not just dirty politics, but a coordinated misuse of the intelligence community against an opponent in a national election.
Among the major findings in the Durham report:
The Steele Dossier, which formed a key basis for the FISA warrants against Trump campaign advisor Carter Page, was largely discredited and based on rumors, foreign hearsay, and even fabricated content yet still used to spy on U.S. citizens.
FBI agents altered evidence in FISA applications, including one lawyer, Kevin Clinesmith, who doctored an email to falsely state that Carter Page was not a source for the CIA when in fact he was.
There was no verified intelligence justifying the full opening of Crossfire Hurricane. Durham emphasizes that even a preliminary inquiry would have been more appropriate, yet top officials jumped straight to a full investigation.
The Clinton campaign’s role in promoting the collusion narrative was known early but largely ignored. Durham’s report accuses the FBI of a “dual standard” swiftly investigating Trump but slow-walking or dismissing Clinton-related leads.
In short: What we were told was fact was politically crafted fiction.
And the people who did it knew they were operating on flimsy ground. The damage wasn’t just political; it was institutional. Trust in the FBI, DOJ, CIA, and media took yet another hit. And as Durham notes, these agencies now face a crisis of confidence, one largely self-inflicted.
Now let’s zoom out.
This moment in American political history mirrors another… Watergate. That scandal rocked the nation, not just because of what was done, but because of the lies that followed. And while Nixon paid a political price, what did we learn? Apparently not much. Because what began as a breach of ethics has now become the playbook. We have, over time, become so desensitized to deceit, slander, and weaponized narratives that we barely blink when it happens again. We’re more focused on who did it than what was done.
This isn’t just about Trump. It’s not just about Obama, or Clinton, or anyone else. It’s about a culture of manipulation that’s metastasized inside the walls of our institutions, and I mean the media, intelligence, justice… all of them. And instead of cutting it out, we’ve normalized it.
And yet, despite it all, under a new and fresh administration, we’re getting things done. There is real work happening in this country (finally) by leaders, responders, business owners, and everyday citizens who refuse to get bogged down in this endless trench warfare of talking points. We’re solving problems. We’re training future generations. We’re pushing forward.
So let’s keep doing that.
Let the investigations unfold properly, lawfully, and with clear-eyed definitions. Let’s demand consistency, accountability, and truth, but let’s not derail the good work being done in the meantime. We have a nation to build not just a score to settle.
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