Newly declassified documents reveal that twice-failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton endorsed a strategy devised by one of her campaign aides to “smear” then-candidate Donald Trump with unfounded allegations of Russian involvement and divert attention from her own growing email issue during the 2016 race.
The strategy called for “raising the theme of ‘Putin’s support for Trump\’” and “subsequently steering public opinion toward the notion that it needs to equate” genuine electoral infrastructure tampering with the Russian leader’s political influence effort.
“Clinton approved a plan proposed by one of her foreign policy advisors, Julianne Smith, to ‘smear Donald Trump by magnifying the scandal tied to the intrusion by the Russian special services in the pre-election process to benefit the Republican candidate,’” one of the declassified memos read.
Special Counsel John Durham discovered the information during a multi-year investigation into intelligence operations related to the 2016 election.
At Sen. Chuck Grassley’s (R-Iowa) request, FBI Director Kash Patel, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and other US intelligence officials declassified the files from Durham’s investigation.
“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,” Grassley said in a statement.
Advertisement
“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,” he added.
“This political weaponization has caused critical damage to our institutions and is one of the biggest political scandals and cover-ups in American history. The new Trump administration has a tremendous responsibility to the American people to fix the damage done and do so with maximum speed and transparency.”
Advertisement
Last week, Director of Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard released newly declassified memos that also showed U.S. intelligence officials concluded Russia did not play a significant role in Donald Trump’s victory over Hillary Clinton.
Paul Sperry, a senior reporter for Real Clear Investigations, took to X to report that sources informed him that there are