For years, the Trump-Russia collusion saga dominated American politics, media coverage, and federal investigations. Allegations of secret coordination between Donald Trump’s campaign and Russia consumed cable news, triggered congressional probes, launched a special counsel investigation, and fueled nonstop political warfare in Washington. But according to investigative journalists Sara Carter and John Solomon, the deeper story was never about collusion at all. They now argue it was about the weaponization of federal intelligence powers against a duly elected president.
Speaking during an appearance on Hang Out with Sean Hannity, Carter described the moment she first realized something far bigger than ordinary political opposition might be unfolding behind the scenes.
At the time, Carter and Solomon were already digging into intelligence leaks and surveillance issues tied to the Trump transition period following the 2016 election. What they began hearing from confidential sources, however, deeply alarmed her.
“I didn’t want to believe what I was seeing,” Carter recalled.
She said she walked directly into Solomon’s office and told him she believed individuals within the FBI were actively spying on President-elect Trump.
“I said, ‘John, I need to talk to you. I believe that there are people in the FBI spying on President-elect Trump — the duly elected president of the United States,’” she explained.
According to Carter, Solomon initially struggled to accept the claim. But as both journalists continued contacting sources and comparing information, they became convinced there was a much larger operation underway involving surveillance, intelligence gathering, and politically motivated investigations targeting Trump and his associates.
Then came an encounter Solomon says he will never forget.
During a previous interview with Hannity earlier this year, Solomon recounted how, shortly after appearing on television in 2017 discussing the increase in “unmasking” requests involving American citizens, he arrived home to find a government vehicle parked near his driveway with emergency flashers activated.
Two unidentified men stepped out.
Solomon admitted his first thought was that federal agents had arrived to arrest him. Instead, he says the men delivered a cryptic warning.
“Well, that thing you were talking about tonight on television… it’s far deeper,” Solomon recalled one of them saying.
According to Solomon, the men described what they believed was “an incredible political dirty trick” involving abuse of the intelligence community’s extraordinary surveillance powers. They allegedly urged him to continue investigating because he had only uncovered “the tip of a very large iceberg.”
The identity of the two men has never been publicly disclosed.
For Carter, the encounter reinforced what she and Solomon already suspected — that elements inside federal agencies may have been involved in efforts to undermine Trump long before many Americans understood the scale of the investigations taking place behind closed doors.
“I had my sources together,” Carter said, “and together, we were able to unravel the beginnings of what was to be the most important story in American history.”
That is obviously an enormous claim, and critics of both Carter and Solomon continue to dispute aspects of their reporting and conclusions. Still, many key elements that were once dismissed as conspiracy theories have since become publicly documented facts: the FBI’s use of the Steele dossier despite questions about its credibility, the FISA surveillance controversies, intelligence community disputes over unmasking requests, and internal criticism of investigative procedures surrounding the Trump-Russia probe.
