George Papadopoulos didn’t mince words when he told Newsmax that James Comey and others “put our country through hell and back,” and his anger echoes what millions of Americans have felt since the Russia spectacle began. Papadopoulos, who was thrust into the center of Crossfire Hurricane and the ensuing legal maelstrom, used his platform to call out the damage done to our intelligence institutions and the rule of law. His bluntness isn’t theater — it’s a reflection of a scandal that hollowed out public trust and left working Americans furious and betrayed.
The truth is simple: Crossfire Hurricane was a mess from the start, built on leaks, political instincts and a willingness to weaponize intelligence for partisan ends. That investigation, which traced back in part to Papadopoulos’s contacts in 2016, exposed how fragile our systems can be when career officials start acting like political operatives instead of impartial servants of the Constitution. Conservatives have warned for years that turning the FBI and DOJ into political tools would come back to haunt the country, and the picture that has emerged proves those warnings right.
Now, as federal prosecutors have moved forward with charges against Comey — accusing him of false statements and obstruction related to his Senate testimony — America is watching a long-overdue reckoning unfold. The indictment handed down this week shows that no one should be above the law, and it validates the outrage of those who saw the Russia probe as a coordinated, destructive campaign against a legitimately elected president. This moment should be sobering for every patriot who values fairness over cover-ups.
But accountability must be more than headlines; it must include cleaning out the Washington culture that tolerated leaks, backroom deals and weaponized investigations. Papadopoulos is right to point to the reputational wreckage suffered by our intelligence agencies and the corrosive effect on democracy when institutions lose their impartiality. If we allow this scandal to become just another partisan news cycle, we’ll have learned nothing and invited the same abuses to return under a different flag.
Conservatives should not celebrate misconduct by Democrats and bureaucrats merely for points; we should demand systemic reforms so that FISA abuses, unauthorized surveillance and convenient leaks never again derail an election or destroy lives. That means legislative oversight, clear limits on surveillance authorities, and personnel changes to restore the FBI and DOJ as guardians of liberty rather than instruments of political vengeance. The American people deserve institutions that protect them, not elites who weaponize power for personal or partisan gain.
The lasting lesson from this saga is simple: vigilance, accountability and fidelity to the Constitution must guide our next steps. Papadopoulos’s blunt verdict — that the country was put through hell and back — should wake every citizen to the stakes of institutional rot. Now is the time for hardworking Americans to demand justice, reforms, and a return to a government that serves the people, not the other way around.
