Recently declassified government documents suggest that in the summer of 2016, Hillary Clinton approved a campaign strategy aimed at linking then-candidate Donald Trump to Russia in an effort to shift public attention away from the email controversy surrounding her own presidential bid.
The information comes from an annex to Special Counsel John Durham’s report, which investigated FBI conduct during its probe into alleged Trump-Russia collusion. The annex, declassified at the request of Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), includes memos and assessments from U.S. intelligence agencies, including the CIA and FBI, that detail concerns about the Clinton campaign’s possible role in promoting the now-debunked narrative of Russian election interference tied to the Trump campaign.
According to the declassified memos, in July 2016, Clinton personally approved a proposal from her foreign policy advisor, Julianne Smith, to emphasize supposed ties between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The campaign’s goal, the documents suggest, was to divert attention from the fallout over Clinton’s use of a private email server while serving as Secretary of State.
A purported email from Open Society Foundations executive Leonard Benardo described the political strategy as a long-term effort. “Julie says it will be a long-term affair to demonize Putin and Trump,” Benardo wrote on July 25, 2016. Two days later, he added, “HRC approved Julia’s idea about Trump and Russian hackers hampering U.S. elections. That should distract people from her own missing email, especially if the affair goes to the Olympic level.”
While the original emails referenced in the annex could not be directly obtained, the FBI assessed them as “likely authentic,” and the CIA concluded the information regarding the Clinton campaign’s plan was not a product of Russian disinformation. Durham further noted that the emails appeared to originate from a breach of several liberal think tanks, including Open Society Foundations, by Russian hackers.
The annex also describes a March 2016 Democratic Party strategy memo that discussed efforts to discredit Trump by exposing supposed links between his associates and the Russian mafia. These efforts included engaging outside contractors—possibly referring to Christopher Steele, the ex-British spy whose controversial dossier formed a major part of the Trump-Russia allegations. The Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee later acknowledged helping fund Steele’s research.
The documents also allege the Obama administration was briefed in August 2016 about both Russian interference and the Clinton campaign’s intent to link Trump to Moscow. A month later, the CIA sent the FBI an investigative referral flagging the Clinton plan. Despite this, Durham’s report claims the FBI “failed to adequately review and investigate” the intelligence it received.
The annex further alleges that Obama sanctioned the use of “all administrative levers” to reduce the fallout from ongoing investigations into Clinton’s use of a private email server and potential impropriety involving the Clinton Foundation.
In response to the revelations, Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel helped declassify the Durham annex. Patel commented, “It revealed a highly classified piece of the Durham report: evidence that the Clinton campaign plotted to frame President Trump and fabricate the Russia collusion hoax.”
Senator Grassley, who helped lead efforts to make the documents public, argued that the intelligence community failed to act on evidence that the Trump-Russia narrative may have been politically motivated. “History will show that the Obama and Biden administration’s law enforcement and intelligence agencies were weaponized against President Trump,” Grassley stated.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has since referred the matter to the Department of Justice, calling for a criminal investigation into Obama-era intelligence officials. Former President Obama has denied the allegations and dismissed the referral, saying the declassified documents contain no new revelations.
The Justice Department has announced the formation of a task force to review Gabbard’s claims. The investigation comes amid renewed scrutiny of how U.S. intelligence agencies handled the early stages of the Trump-Russia investigation, particularly in light of political motivations that may have influenced their work.
As the debate over the origins and conduct of the Russia probe continues, the newly released documents provide fresh insight into how partisan strategy may have shaped one of the most controversial political scandals of the last decade.
Read the documents below:
