Jonathan Buma, an FBI agent who accused Trump and other prominent Republicans of being Russian pawns, was arrested while trying to flee the country on March 17, 2025. According to court documents filed later in the week, he is charged with illegally sharing confidential documents. Ironically, before he was arrested, Buma had publicly called out President Trump for mishandling sensitive information.
As context, Trump has often clashed with the FBI, specifically during his first term. Buma was a leading critic of Trump from within the Bureau. He spoke to Business Insider several years ago and implied that Donald Trump, along with his attorney Rudy Juliani, were Russian assets. This arrest casts serious doubt on the Russiagate narrative, as one of the leading proponents seems to have his own issues with the law.
In 2023, Buma told Business Insider he had proof of Russian collusion with the Trump campaign. He said, “Rudy Giuliani may have been compromised by individuals suspected of being involved in Russian counterintelligence influence operations. I saw important intelligence information being suppressed.” Despite his claims, no solid proof ever appeared.
According to the complaint, which was posted after his dramatic arrest, Buma had been leaking sensitive information to the press for years. He had taken encrypted screenshots that had been used as sources in news articles. According to the FBI, some files he reprinted contained “sensitive information reports relating to a foreign adversary,” which “were clearly marked with protected warnings that made clear that the information was to be protected.”
The disgraced FBI agent had planned to write a tell-all book and took an unpaid sabbatical to start work on his project. Buma did not hide his plans and shared excerpts from a draft on social media. When the FBI examined these posts, they found that “The book draft contained information that Buma obtained through his position as an FBI Special Agent that relates to the FBI’s efforts and investigations into a foreign country’s weapons of mass destruction program,” said the complaint.
Glen Beck, the popular conservative radio host, posted this story to his X account, where it gathered over 13,000 likes. He said, “An FBI agent who accused the first Trump admin of political bias and claimed that former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani “may have been compromised” by Russian agents was arrested at JFK International Airport on Monday before he could flee the country.”
One user wondered if the agent would face justice. They said, “It says he has been released on $100k bail. Uh, if you had to arrest him at the airport, do you think taking his passport and providing him a court date in California is going to keep him in the country? Maybe I am missing something here. Maybe his risk of significant jail time is low enough that he would rather face the music than become a fugitive. But I certainly hope someone is paying attention. Or maybe they want him to be a passport-less fugitive?”
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Other users advocated for public hearings. One comment read, “Hey, we need to make a bigger deal about these arrests. Televise the actual arrests. People have to be able to match up a crime with a consequence. Or else it doesn’t really mean anything.”
Watch him speak to Business Insider here:
Featured image from embedded video