Clinton’s Campaign Approved Plan to Smear Trump with Russia Allegations
Aug. 1--Newly declassified documents released on July 31, 2025, reveal that the Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton personally approved a 2016 campaign strategy to falsely tie Donald Trump to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The plan, according to intelligence memos and communications uncovered by Special Counsel John Durham and declassified at the request of Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), the President Pro-Tempore of the Senate and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, was designed to distract from Clinton’s own mounting email scandal during the 2016 election.
One memo stated:
“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’”.
The strategy involved disseminating unverified claims through FBI-affiliated cybersecurity firms like CrowdStrike and ThreatConnect, which would then feed the narrative to major U.S. media outlets. Communications from Leonard Benardo, a senior official at George Soros’s Open Society Foundations, described the effort as a “long-term affair to demonize Putin and Trump,” with the expectation that “the FBI will put more oil into the fire”.
The Durham annex concluded that the Clinton campaign’s efforts were not only deliberate but coordinated with elements of the Obama administration, including the FBI and CIA. The intelligence community received this information in July 2016—just before the launch of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation into Trump’s alleged ties to Russia.
These revelations add weight to claims that the January 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment was a politically motivated document, crafted to support Clinton’s narrative and undermine the incoming Trump administration. The declassified documents also show that the Clinton campaign expected the FBI to initiate a formal investigation based on the fabricated claims, further politicizing the intelligence process. They support the claim by Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard that President Barack Obama headed a treasonous conspiracy working to undermine the elected President of the United States, Donald Trump, supporting the knowingly false narrative that Russia had intervened in the U.S. election on behalf of and with collusion from Trump. Gabbard called this a "coup" against the American people and our Constitutional system and demanded that all involved be held accountable.
Already, the Justice Department is conducting a criminal investigation of former CIA Director John Brennan and former FBI Director James Comey on these matters.
We reprint below the press release from the Department of Justice releasing the now declassified annex:
Department of Justice, CIA Transmit Declassified Durham Documents to Senator Chuck Grassley
Thursday, July 31, 2025
For Immediate Release
Office of Public Affairs
WASHINGTON – Today, the Department of Justice transmitted the declassified Appendix of the Durham Report to the Senate Judiciary Committee following collaboration with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). This transmission advances President Donald J. Trump’s directive for maximum transparency and underscores the Attorney General’s commitment to that objective. It also fulfills a request for disclosure by Senate Judiciary Chairman Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA), whose leadership on this issue has been instrumental.
This latest transmission to Senate Republicans follows the Department’s recent disclosure of information related to the FBI’s handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server and mishandling of classified information.
Following the transmission of new Durham documents, Attorney General Pamela Bondi, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and FBI Director Kash Patel released the following statements:
“Today, the Department of Justice provided Chairman Grassley with previously classified information relating to Special Counsel Durham’s investigation into possible coordination between the Clinton campaign and the Obama administration to interfere with the 2016 presidential election. This Department of Justice, alongside the CIA, is committed to truth and transparency and will continue to support good-faith efforts by Congress to hold our government accountable.” – Attorney General Pamela Bondi
“Today, CIA and the Department of Justice under Attorney General Pam Bondi are taking a bold step forward in declassifying the underlying intelligence in the Durham appendix showing the false Trump-Russia collusion narrative for what it was – a coordinated plan to prevent and destroy Donald Trump’s presidency. CIA stands with the Department and is committed to transparency and rebuilding trust in the IC. The American people deserve the opportunity to see the evidence for themselves.” – CIA Director John Ratcliffe
“The American people deserve the full, unfiltered truth about the Russia collusion hoax and the political abuse of our justice system it exposed. Today’s declassification and release of documents tied to the Durham report is another step toward that accountability. The FBI will continue working tirelessly with our federal partners at DOJ, CIA, and more to uncover the facts that should have been brought to light years ago. I’m grateful to Chairman Grassley for his steadfast leadership on this issue, and I look forward to our continued partnership in exposing one of the most shameful frauds ever perpetrated on the American public.” – FBI Director Kash Patel