Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne is stepping down from his company after breaking his silence over getting wrapped up with the Deep State during the FBI’s Russia investigation.
In a bombshell account posted on SaraCarter.com a few weeks ago, Byrne went into detail about his relationship with Maria Butina – a Russian who was convicted of conspiring to act as a foreign agent in the U.S. without registering and is now serving time in prison. For more background, you can read what Byrne had to say about this in full by clicking here.
On Friday, following his resignation, Byrne spoke out once again, amplifying the whole situation, which seems to just be getting crazier and crazier the more we find out about it.
If you’re not already, I suggest you sit down before you read any further, because things are getting really wild.
According to Byrne, not only was the Russia investigation all “political espionage” but infamous former FBI director James Comey and ex-counterintelligence official Peter Strzok were behind the whole operation and actually instructed Byrne to have a relationship with Butina!
Byrne gave this tell-all account in an appearance on Fox News, which you can watch for yourself here:
Byrne's this-changes-everything first-hand account of what really went on with the Deep State during the FBI Russia investigation got the attention of Republican Rep. Thomas Massie, who is now calling for Comey and Stzrok to be put behind bars and for the release of Maria Butina!
Here's what he said in a tweet about this:
Do you agree with Rep. Massey's call for the jail swap to take place?
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The National Review has more to say on Patrick Byrne's allegations:
Former Overstock founder and CEO Patrick Byrne claimed Thursday that the FBI directed him to pursue a romantic relationship with accused Russian spy Maria Butina.
“Eventually, yes they did,” Byrne said when asked by CNN anchor Chris Cuomo whether the FBI “told you you needed to have romantic relationship with somebody.”
However, when Byrne informed the FBI of Butina’s mission to promote Russian interests in the U.S., “they kept on dismissing it.”
“It was so strange that I was thinking, it’s almost like they’re letting this can-o-scandal develop and someday they’re going to shake it up and crack it and spray it all over the Republican Party,” Byrne said.
He said the FBI ordered him to break up with Butina but then in summer, 2016 requested him to “rekindle” the relationship as investigators probed Russian election meddling.
“They came back to me and said, ‘Boy, what a mistake we made. Russia, you’re right … highest national priority,'” he said.
“They said, ‘We want to be clear – this never happens in the United States,'” Byrne said. “‘We are the good guys. We don’t work like the bad guys, but we need to ask you to rekindle a romantic relationship with Maria Butina.'”
Butina is currently serving 18 months in prison for acting “under direction of” a Kremlin-backed Russian official identified as former Russian politician and banker Alexander Torshin to curry favor with American political groups such as the National Rifle Association and promote Russia’s interests in the U.S.
The National Sentinel commented on Rep. Massey's response to the developments:
Kentucky Republican lawmaker Thomas Massie on Friday suggested the U.S. release convicted Russian spy and Maria Butina while putting former FBI Director James Comey and fired bureau counterintelligence official Peter Stzrok behind bars instead.
Massie took to Twitter to make the recommendation following recent developments involving Butina, a gun-rights activist who infiltrated the NRA and is currently serving an 18-month prison sentence for conspiring to act as an unregistered foreign agent.
The tweet also comes amid statements made by former Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne, who claims he was instructed by Strzok to have a relationship with Butina on behalf of a government espionage operation.
Byrne said Friday that both Comey and Strzok were aware of, and directed, the operation.
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