Russiagate hysteria led the BI to spy on a panel featuring The Grayzone’s Max Blumenthal and Anya Parampil. As Blumenthal warned during the discussion, the bogus Trump-Russia collusion narrative was exploited to target a wide range of anti-establishment figures. “Russiagate, one of the principal reasons that I oppose it – and why I called it out from the beginning – is that while it seems to be directed at Trump, it’s going to go beyond Trump and it will be used to suppress the left as classic McCarthyism always did.”
When The Grayzone’s founder, Max Blumenthal, made that statement on June 2, 2018, he had no way of knowing, but he was making it to the FBI.
A newly-uncovered FBI file published by journalist Chip Gibbons shows a pair of FBI special agents was on hand to monitor the panel discussion Blumenthal was participating in that day at the 2018 Left Forum at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. The main target of their investigation appeared to be Randy Credico, a comedian and radio host also appearing on the panel, who was accused of being Roger Stone’s “backchannel” to Wikileaks – a charge Credico strenuously denied when subpoenaed by both the House Intelligence Committee and Robert Mueller.
According to Gibbons, “the revelation that FBI agents surveilled the panel of journalists and activists stem from documents the FBI turned over… under the Freedom of Information Act.” As the journalist noted, “the two-page document is an “FD-302,”” a type of report which FBI agents use to document interviews with their subjects. The document, which can be viewed in its entirety here, specifies that the “investigation” was carried out “in person.”