Marjorie Taylor Greene Wants Democrats and Media Figures Jailed

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican, said on Friday she wants Democrats and media figures jailed over previous investigations into former President Donald Trump.

Charles McGonigal, a former top FBI counterintelligence official who played a pivotal role in launching the Trump-Russia probe, was ordered on Thursday to spend over four years in prison for violating sanctions on Russia by assisting a Russian oligarch after leaving his post in 2019. In August, McGonigal, a 22-year veteran of the bureau's field office in New York, was found guilty of a count of conspiracy for working with Oleg Deripaska, a Russian billionaire with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

As the former chief of counterintelligence, McGonigal played a crucial role in instigating a case into alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. The resulting investigation, conducted by special counsel Robert Mueller, determined that there was no evidence that Trump and his campaign conspired or coordinated with the Kremlin to interfere in the 2016 election. The probe, meanwhile, lasted 22 months and reportedly cost over $30 million.

In response to McGonigal's sentence, Greene took to X, formerly Twitter, on Friday wrote that "Democrats and their propagandists" need to be held accountable, even "jailed" for the Trump-Russia probe.

"FBI official who helped investigate Trump for the fake 'Russia Russia Russia' collusion hoax has been sentenced to four years in prison for...wait for it...COLLUDING WITH RUSSIA. Democrats and their propagandists in the media put America through hell trying to take out President Trump," the congresswoman wrote on X. "These thugs and criminals need to be held accountable —even jailed — for what they did to Trump and our great country. They have done EVERYTHING they can do to get rid of Trump —including rigging an election."

Greene, a vocal Trump ally who has denied the legitimacy of the 2020 election, continued in her X post by calling out Republicans and demanding action.

"Anyone who doesn't see that...take the blinders off. You won't be saved from the gulags because you tried to be the 'reasonable' Republican who cares more about being liked by your liberal friends and CNN than you do about standing up for what is right. Republicans want ACTION and people held accountable," she wrote.

Newsweek has reached out to Greene via email for comment.

The Trump probe began after McGonigal was one of the first FBI figures to be made aware of allegations that George Papadopoulos, a campaign adviser for Trump, boasted that he knew Russians had dirt on Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton in 2016.

Papadopoulos was jailed for 12 days in 2018 after admitting lying to the FBI about his contact with London-based professor Joseph Mifsud, who allegedly claimed to have damaging information on Clinton during the 2016 election campaign.

Although Trump has not directly addressed McGonigal's sentence, the former president recently reshared a post about the news on his Truth Social account on Friday.

In August, after the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the charges against McGonigal, Trump wrote in a Truth Social post, "The FBI guy after me for the Russia, Russia, Russia HOAX, long before my Election as President, was just arrested for taking money from Russia, Russia, Russia. May he Rot In Hell!"

Newsweek has reached out to Trump via email for comment.

Meanwhile, legal affairs editor at Condé Nast, Luke Zaleski, rebutted Greene's call on X and wrote Friday, "Marge is actively trying to cut the head off the Department of Justice and their prosecution of the insurrectionists. She is a traitor and a confederate soldier—not an American public servant—and a growing threat to the rule of law and a free and unified United States of America."