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Newly declassified documents from the Durham Report have linked Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign to the “Russia Hoax” that aimed to smear President Donald Trump amid his run for office.
The documents, made public by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), form the appendix of the 2023 Durham Special Counsel Report, and paint a picture of malevolent political intent aimed at keeping Trump out of the White House.
According to Grassley’s office, the Durham annex exposes an alleged Clinton campaign plan meant to “falsely tie President Donald Trump to Russia.”
Notably, it alleges potential election influence by a foreign government regarding Hillary Clinton, as well as the FBI’s failure to investigate credible intelligence that Clinton’s campaign may have been directly involved in creating the narrative of the “Russia Hoax.”
This also ties into the use of the now-discredited Steele Dossier, which was utilized to obtain FISA warrants on Carter Page, a former foreign policy advisor to President Trump during the 2016 campaign.
“Based on the Durham annex, the Obama FBI failed to adequately review and investigate intelligence reports showing the Clinton campaign may have been ginning up the fake Trump-Russia narrative for Clinton’s political gain, which was ultimately done through the Steele Dossier and other means,” Sen. Grassley said this week.
He added, “These intelligence reports and related records, whether true or false, were buried for years. History will show that the Obama and Biden administrations’ law enforcement and intelligence agencies were weaponized against President Trump. This political weaponization has caused critical damage to our institutions and is one of the biggest political scandals and cover-ups in American history.”
This newest information also comes just weeks after Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard released a House Intelligence Committee report claiming that the Obama administration actively colluded with the intelligence community to manufacture a narrative that Trump was working with Russia to win the election.
The annex, according to Grassley, contained several key findings. The first is the accusation that the Obama-led FBI was aware of Clinton’s role in greenlighting the Russia Hoax narrative and then did nothing to investigate. Second, Fusion GPS was prepping for open-source opposition research on the so-called ties between Trump and the Russians, with the bill footed by the Clinton campaign and the DNC. According to Grassley’s findings, the Obama administration allegedly received intelligence about this in March 2016.
Further:
“Notably, on April 15, 2020, Grassley released Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General (DOJ OIG) footnotes showing that Russian intelligence was aware of Steele’s anti-Trump research in early July 2016. Further, the FBI had reports in hand in 2017 that the Dossier may have Russian sources and was potentially Russian disinformation.”
