The then-Department of Justice official who approved $2 million in legal settlement payments to two former FBI employees involved in the Russian collusion hoax reportedly now works for a Democrat-affiliated group that opposes President Donald Trump and his policies.
Brian Netter, legal director at Democracy Forward, has been "identified … as the individual that approved the settlement agreements," The Federalist reported Friday when it quoted what a DOJ official told the Center to Advance Security in America, which had filed a Freedom of Information Act request in 2024.
Netter was deputy assistant attorney general for the Federal Programs Branch at the time of the settlement agreements with former FBI counterintelligence agent Peter Strzok and former FBI attorney Lisa Page over DOJ's release of text messages the pair exchanged, Politico reported at the time the deals were announced.
The Biden administration in July 2024 agreed to settle with Strzok for $1.2 million and with Page for $800,000.
Marc Elias chairs the board of Democracy Forward, Netter's current employer. Elias was behind the hire of Fusion GPS, the opposition research firm that Democrats used to author the since-discredited Steele dossier about Trump's alleged ties to Russia amid the 2016 campaign.
On its website, Democracy Forward says it "created an innovative legal team" in the wake of the 2016 election that "took the Trump administration to court more than 100 times, successfully challenging bad actors and their unlawful policies, shutting down corrupt committees created for special interests, and exposing unfair, unreasonable policies that stripped vulnerable communities of crucial protections."
Current and recent Democracy Forward board members include John Podesta, former campaign manager for former President Bill Clinton; Ronald Klain, former President Joe Biden's former chief of staff; and former Vice President Kamala Harris' sister, Maya.
Strzok and Page sued DOJ over the release of messages detailing their role in promoting the Hillary Clinton campaign's Russia collusion hoax. They claimed the release of the messages, which were written using government resources, violated their privacy.
Tulsi Gabbard, Trump's director of national intelligence, on July 18 announced she was presenting "overwhelming evidence" to the Department of Justice showing that then-President Barack Obama and his national security team conspired against Trump after the 2016 election against Hillary Clinton.
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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