The GriftMatrix Investigation
Intelligence Operations
The line between intelligence work and blackmail has always been thin. These are the operations, the assets, and the tradecraft that kept powerful men protected.
17 pieces since June 23rd, 2025
Congress Is Writing a Law That Makes It Harder for Any President to Stop Sharing Spy Secrets With Israel
Two must-pass bills quietly pull your vote and your view out of how entangled America gets. A lot of people are worried about these bills - so I dug in. Congress is writing a law that says a future president has to file paperwork before he’s allowed to stop sharing American spy secrets with Israel.…
#10A The Playbook: From Asset to Authoritarian
Days after the 2016 election, a Kremlin-connected propagandist bragged that "our idea" all along was to put Trump in the White House. Here's the operation Russia actually ran - the troll farm and the hacking - what Trump did for Putin once he got there, and the cover-up. This is the final act.
#9 The Deal: Trump Tower Moscow and the ‘Nothing to Do With Russia’ Denial
Trump signed the letter of intent, and during the campaign his lawyer asked the Kremlin for help getting Trump Tower Moscow built. Felix Sater emailed: Our boy can become president of the USA and we can engineer it.
#3 The Invitation: How the Soviet Union Rolled Out the Red Carpet for Donald Trump
In July 1987, Donald Trump flew to Moscow at the invitation of Soviet Ambassador Yuri Dubinin, on a trip arranged through Intourist, the Soviet travel agency the KGB ran. Less than two months later, he spent $95,000 on full-page ads saying allies like Japan and Saudi Arabia should pay for America's protection. Czech intelligence files show foreign agencies were tracking his political ambitions.
#1 The Mark: The KGB Had a Checklist for Picking Targets and Trump Checked Every Box
The KGB wrote down what kind of person it was looking for: "pride, arrogance, egoism, ambition or vanity." Czech intelligence started watching Trump the year he married Ivana, and wiretapped her father. His mentor was Roy Cohn, a lawyer for the mob. I'd argue the profile fit him line by line.
I Can Prove Trump’s Russia Problem Goes Back to 1977 and I Will
Starting in 1977, Czech intelligence kept a file on Donald Trump's family. In 1984, a Russian mob figure paid $6 million for five condos in his tower, and Trump went to the closing. Deutsche Bank kept lending to him when most big banks wouldn't. This is the sourced, receipts-in-hand story of how Russia bought an American president.
The CIA Director’s Grandson Summoned the Pope’s Envoy - and Many at the Vatican Heard a Threat
The Pentagon invoked a medieval hostage crisis to silence the pope So, the Pentagon summoned the Vatican’s ambassador to a meeting in January and it went about as well as you’d expect. Elbridge Colby - he’s the Under Secretary of War for Policy, which, yes, they actually call it the Department of War now - …
How Israel Grew Its Own Wars
Did you know that Israel is basically responsible for the creation of Hamas? The Hamas they used as an excuse to destroy Gaza and commit genocide? Or that they’ve set their sights on their new enemy and the next Gaza? No? Let me catch you up… Israel funded the group that became Hamas. Hamas tried…
Officials Say Russia Was Feeding Iran Where Our Ships and Planes Are
Putin wasn't just cheering Iran on from the sidelines. U.S. officials say Russia was passing Iran the locations of American ships and planes. Six Americans are dead.
The Kremlin’s Favorite Punchline
British intelligence intercepted Russian officials mocking Trump's naivety about Putin. The Five Eyes alliance keeps showing the U.S. president he's being played - with receipts. He's not listening.
Hegseth Wants to Use a Korean War Law to Make AI Less Safe
Pete Hegseth wants to weaponize a 1950 Korean War law to strip Anthropic's only two AI safety rules - no autonomous weapons, no mass surveillance. Two guardrails. That was apparently too much.
Bill Gates Just Admitted to Two Affairs. That’s Not Even the Story.
Gates told Foundation staff about two Russian affairs. Years after he stopped meeting Epstein, Epstein tried to use one against him. The affairs are gossip. The system is the scandal.
Did Russia Know? The Venezuela Raid That Doesn’t Add Up
Russia reportedly started evacuating diplomats' families about two weeks before the U.S. "captured" Maduro - Russia denies it. Is that intelligence, or advance notice? Something about this whole thing isn't sitting right.
The Kompromat Question
A former Treasury Secretary asked Jeffrey Epstein if Russia had "stuff on Trump." The question is why he thought Epstein would know
The CIA Helped a Venezuelan General Ship Cocaine to America. Now We’re Shocked by Venezuela’s Drug Trade.
Okay - stop me if youve heard this one before. When you dig a little deeper into our history with Venezuela and drug smuggling - you learn that the US had ...
Big Balls in the SSA Vault
Welp. I finally got around to reading the Social Security whistleblower report and, well, if you were worried about DOGE stealing our Social Security numbers - you were right. Chuck Borges, the Chief...
Make Iran Great Again? Who Made Them Bad? We Did.
Anyone else facepalming over Trump’s MIGA (Make Iran Great Again) tweet? Have you ever wondered why the US is so worried about Iran getting a nuclear weapon? I did - so I looked it up. As it turns ou...