In what can only be described as a bombshell exposé, investigative journalist Michael Shellenberger has pulled back the curtain on what looks like a covert regime change operation—not in some foreign country, but right here in the United States. According to Shellenberger’s Substack, the CIA and USAID weren’t just meddling overseas; they were knee-deep in the 2019 impeachment proceedings against President Trump.
The whole saga starts with Eric Ciaramella, the so-called “whistleblower” whose complaint ignited the impeachment circus. Ciaramella, a CIA analyst conveniently embedded during the Obama era, wasn’t even on the July 25 phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Zelensky—the call that was supposedly so scandalous. Instead, he filed his complaint based on hearsay, with his primary “source” being none other than Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the poster child for passive-aggressive insubordination.
But here’s where it gets interesting: Ciaramella’s claims were heavily propped up by reports from the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP)—an organization that bills itself as an independent investigative outlet. Except, as Shellenberger’s deep dive reveals, OCCRP is funded and overseen by USAID, an agency that’s no stranger to “democracy promotion” operations that conveniently align with U.S. intelligence interests abroad.
The House of Representatives impeached President Donald Trump on December 18, 2019, after a White House whistleblower went public with evidence that Trump abused his powers by withholding military aid to Ukraine in order to dig up dirt on his rival, Joe Biden.
In the complaint,… pic.twitter.com/rZ6gTazw5v
— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) February 5, 2025
In fact, a 2024 German documentary by broadcaster NDR exposed that USAID doesn’t just fund OCCRP—they approve their annual work plans and even have a say in hiring “key personnel.” That’s not journalism. That’s a government PR machine dressed up as investigative reporting. And guess what? OCCRP’s initial funding also came from the State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs. Nothing says “independent journalism” like having your budget signed off by Foggy Bottom.
According to Shellenberger, OCCRP’s reporting was cited four times in the whistleblower complaint and became a key part of the Democrats’ impeachment narrative. The organization even bragged about being responsible for “five or six countries” changing governments. This isn’t investigative journalism—it’s regime change wrapped in a press pass.
And here’s the kicker: while the CIA and USAID are legally barred from interfering in domestic politics, that didn’t stop them from engaging in what looks suspiciously like a domestic regime change operation. We’ve seen these tactics play out in foreign countries for decades—now it seems they’ve been repurposed for use at home.
This isn’t just a scandal. It’s treason. And as Shellenberger warns, this may be just the tip of the iceberg.
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