Russiagate and the Grand Jury: What We Know and What We Don’t

It’s clear AG Pam Bondi isn’t playing around as the information drip continues.

All things Russiagate are heating up since Attorney General Pam Bondi revealed on Aug. 4 that she had given the green light to a grand jury investigation. The criminal probe will look into what is being portrayed as a conspiracy born in late 2016 targeting then-President-elect Donald Trump.

It had already been reported that Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard passed a criminal referral to the Department of Justice (DOJ), spurring Bondi to order the formation of a “strike force” to handle the matter. However, Paul Sperry of RealClear Investigations posted to the X social media platform on July 30 that:

“The DOJ-FBI Strike Force investigating the Russiagate conspiracy of corruption is dusting off ‘a dozen’ criminal referrals sent several yrs ago by the House Intelligence Committee to investigate Obama officials who potentially perjured themselves during closed-door hearings.”

Sperry further reported that the “strike force,” which consists of investigators and prosecutors who mostly specialize in serious fraud cases of various types, is considering “conspiracy to commit perjury” charges against former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and former CIA Director John Brennan.

Grand Jury Speculation

Meanwhile, there is talk that the Russiagate grand jury could be empaneled in Florida. Investigative journalist and Just the News founder John Solomon said, “We now know that a grand jury will be empaneled, most likely, my sources are telling me. It could be in Florida, where the raid of President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home happened.”

That highly visible raid was conducted in connection with then-Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents. After Trump won the 2024 election, Smith dropped the case and resigned. He is now the subject of a DOJ investigation.

Are there connections between the Smith investigation and Russiagate? That’s an intriguing question that raises the possibility of a much wider conspiracy against the 45th and now 47th president than many have even suspected. Or is the probe into the former special counsel unrelated – in which case, what and who will the grand jury be looking at?

One would assume, if this grand jury is for former Obama administration officials and their role in the Russiagate scandal, their hope would be for the jury to be empaneled in Washington, DC. They would undoubtedly be dealing with a more sympathetic panel than in Florida.

Russiagate Justice and Public Trust

It is often said that any decent prosecutor could get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich. Finding accurate and up-to-date statistics on such indictments is no simple task. Still, the journal of the American Bar Association, cleverly titled ABAJOURNAL, notes that of the 162,000 federal cases prosecuted in 2010, grand juries declined to indict on just 11 occasions.

Those who believe President Trump has been the victim of a now almost 10-year-long conspiracy to destroy him personally, sabotage his position as chief executive, and end him as a political force can probably count on seeing at least a measure of justice. Who is eventually indicted – and for what – is going to be the subject of much reporting and, no doubt, some juicy but shady rumors for weeks and possibly months to come.

When all is finally said and done, and the Russiagate affair has been laid bare – whatever that should reveal – Americans will probably reassess their confidence in the institutions of government, for the better or for worse.