A newly declassified annex from former Special Counsel John Durham’s report has ignited a significant political discussion, suggesting that the Obama-era FBI may have disregarded crucial intelligence indicating that allegations of collusion between President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia were potentially orchestrated by Hillary Clinton’s campaign or stemmed from Russian disinformation. This explosive disclosure, which still contains some redactions, emerges more than two years after Durham concluded his extensive investigation, which previously levied substantial criticism against the FBI’s handling of the Crossfire Hurricane probe into alleged links between Trump’s campaign and Russia.
The declassified intelligence indicates that the FBI was fully aware of the possibility that information related to the Trump campaign could have originated from the Clinton campaign or its supporters, or alternatively, was a product of Russian disinformation. Despite this critical awareness, the Durham Report suggests the FBI seemingly dismissed this intelligence as non-credible without undertaking any substantive investigative steps to either corroborate or disprove the allegations. This alleged oversight raises significant questions about the rigor and impartiality of the initial federal inquiry.
Senator Chuck Grassley, a leading figure in the Russiagate investigation and chairman of the Judiciary Committee, has been a key proponent for the declassification of this annex. Upon its release, Senator Grassley stated that based on the Durham annex, the Obama FBI purportedly failed to adequately review and investigate intelligence reports that implied the Clinton campaign might have been manufacturing the false Trump-Russia narrative for political gain, notably through mechanisms like the Steele Dossier.
Grassley further emphasized that these intelligence reports and related records, regardless of their veracity, were allegedly suppressed for years. He asserted that history would reveal the “weaponization” of law enforcement and intelligence agencies under the Obama and Biden administrations against President Trump, deeming it one of the most substantial political scandals and cover-ups in American history. This sentiment underscores a persistent demand for accountability and transparency in governmental investigations.
Adding another layer to this complex narrative, former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe, now CIA Director, had previously declassified documents in 2020. These documents revealed that federal officials had referred Hillary Clinton to the FBI for investigation after gaining insight into a Russian intelligence analysis. This analysis purportedly alleged that Clinton had approved a campaign plan to connect Trump to Russia’s hacking operations, aiming to divert attention from the controversy surrounding her unauthorized use of a private email server during her tenure as Secretary of State.
The annex within the Durham Report corroborates that FBI personnel, including then-Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, shared this intelligence concerning the potential Clinton campaign plan with high-ranking Department of Justice officials as early as March 31, 2016. Furthermore, it affirms that “multiple high-ranking” U.S. officials, including President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and then-FBI Director James Comey, were briefed on the situation by CIA Director John Brennan in the White House on August 3, 2016. Intriguingly, notes from Brennan indicate the CIA sent an investigative referral to the FBI in September 2016 that explicitly mentioned the “purported Clinton campaign plan.”
One of the most heavily redacted sections of the annex indicates that the CIA prepared a written assessment in 2017 regarding the “authenticity and veracity” of the intelligence detailed in the referral memo, stating that the CIA did not assess the memoranda to be the product of Russian fabrications. However, Durham reported to Congress in 2023 that agents on the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane team were not made aware of this critical intelligence, suggesting its potential utility could have been invaluable. The report highlighted the FBI’s alleged improper reliance on British ex-spy Christopher Steele’s anti-Trump dossier, which was funded by Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee.
Durham’s report concluded that irrespective of the reliability of the “Clinton Plan intelligence,” it should have prompted immediate analysis by FBI personnel and fostered far greater caution when handling partisan materials like the Steele Reports and the Alfa Bank allegations. Moreover, the report stressed the necessity for the FBI to have disseminated this intelligence more broadly among those responsible for the Crossfire Hurricane investigation, enabling its effective incorporation into their analysis and representations to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.
Recently, John Ratcliffe reaffirmed that forthcoming declassified intelligence in the Durham report’s classified annex will further expose a “Hillary Clinton plan” and an “FBI plan” designed to “accelerate” and “amplify” the false Steele dossier and Russia collusion claims, while deliberately “burying the truth.” This assertion aligns with Attorney General Pam Bondi’s new task force dedicated to evaluating evidence related to the Obama administration’s efforts to fuel these Russia collusion allegations, pointing towards a potential re-evaluation of past events by a “different Department of Justice” and “different FBI.”
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