Recent declassifications have ignited a fresh wave of debate, shedding new light on the origins of claims linking Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign to Russia. These newly unveiled documents suggest a coordinated effort that has once again brought the contentious “Russia Hoax” narrative back into the spotlight, challenging long-held assumptions about its inception.
At the heart of the revelations lies a purported plan by the Hillary Clinton campaign in 2016, allegedly designed to “smear” Trump by connecting him to Russia. This intelligence has been met with fierce pushback from Trump administration officials, who quickly dismissed any suggestions that these sensitive documents were themselves a product of disinformation or fabricated by foreign actors.
Key figures have been vocal in their condemnation of skepticism surrounding the declassified material. Alexa Henning, deputy chief of staff to Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, expressed disbelief at detractors characterizing the intelligence as a likely fabrication of espionage. She questioned the media’s coverage, drawing parallels to nearly decade-old articles and fiercely defending the administration’s position against what she termed the “Russia Hoax,” accusing past officials of concocting it through funding a “FAKE Dossier.”
The files explicitly detail alleged coordination between Clinton’s team and former President Barack Obama’s administration, purportedly to push a narrative that the 2016 Trump campaign colluded with Russia in the election. The declassified Durham annex and a House Intelligence Committee report are cited as substantiating these claims, with emphasis placed on the corroboration of Clinton emails as authentic by the CIA.
Further weight was added to the disclosures by then-CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Attorney General Pam Bondi, who jointly declassified the 24-page annex to special counsel John Durham’s report. Ratcliffe, who had previously referred former CIA boss John Brennan to the Department of Justice related to “Russiagate,” asserted that the files revealed “a coordinated plan to prevent and destroy Donald Trump’s presidency.”
CIA spokeswoman Liz Lyons reinforced this perspective, stating that “the Hillary Clinton campaign worked to plant the Trump–Russia narrative in the press—with her direct approval.” This counter-narrative emerged despite a report by the Times initially questioning the credibility of a key piece of evidence. However, it is crucial to note that the CIA had previously determined in 2017 that intelligence on the “purported Clinton campaign,” including messages from operatives in the George Soros-founded Open Society Foundations, was “not to be the product of Russian fabrication.”
The documents include emails from Open Society’s regional director Leonard Benardo, which were considered “likely authentic” by the FBI. These communications allegedly laid bare a plan from the Clinton campaign to boost messaging “about Trump and Russian hackers hampering U.S. elections” to “distract people from her own missing emails” probe. Lyons underscored the significance of these findings, asserting that Russian intelligence accurately predicted FBI actions just days before the launch of “Crossfire Hurricane,” suggesting a concerning lack of coincidence.
Despite the comprehensive nature of the declassified materials, Durham’s “best assessment” concluded that the emails purporting to be from Benardo were likely a composite derived from Russian intelligence hacking of U.S.-based Think Tanks. His office, however, could not definitively determine the complete authenticity or fabrication of the purported Clinton campaign plan. Interestingly, Biden’s future national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, when consulted by Durham’s team, could not conclusively rule out the possibility of such a plan.
The revelations culminate with Hillary Clinton herself, whose office did not deny the existence of such a plan but told Durham’s office that the files “looked like Russian disinformation to [her].” This stands in stark contrast to the findings of FBI Director Kash Patel, who reportedly discovered the intelligence files, along with thousands of others, stored in “burn bags” at the bureau’s headquarters. Patel characterized these highly classified contents as “evidence that the Clinton campaign plotted to frame President Trump and fabricate the Russia collusion hoax.”
