WASHINGTON, D.C. — A newly declassified intelligence appendix from Special Counsel John Durham’s investigation has revealed that Hillary Clinton personally approved a campaign strategy to fabricate a narrative linking President Donald J. Trump to Russian election interference during the 2016 presidential campaign.
The annex, released by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, outlines internal communications among top Clinton campaign staff, the Democratic National Committee (DNC), and operatives connected to outside groups, including Open Society Foundations. The declassified material indicates the strategy was designed to distract from Clinton’s own email server scandal, which was dominating headlines at the time.
According to the documents, Clinton’s campaign operatives framed the narrative in a way that could be pushed as a domestic intelligence concern, relying on cybersecurity firms and media allies to validate the claims—despite lacking any direct evidence. Intelligence reports from the period suggest Clinton herself gave the green light to the plan on or around July 27, 2016.
One message, cited in the annex, quotes an official saying: “HRC approved Julie’s idea about Trump and Russian hackers hampering U.S. elections. That should distract people from her own missing emails.” The plan was allegedly coordinated with digital security firms such as CrowdStrike and ThreatConnect, both of which played key roles in promoting claims of Russian intrusion into DNC servers.
Senator Grassley said the FBI failed to properly investigate the origin of the collusion claims and, instead, relied on documents like the now-discredited Steele Dossier to justify FISA warrants against members of President Trump’s campaign.
“This declassified annex provides yet more evidence that the Trump-Russia narrative was a manufactured political smear,” Grassley stated. “Not only did the Clinton campaign create this disinformation campaign, but the FBI and other agencies looked the other way while using it to go after a sitting president.”
The findings have reignited calls from lawmakers and former Trump officials to investigate potential abuses of power and to hold accountable those who knowingly promoted a false narrative. The intelligence detailed in the annex also raises new questions about coordination between domestic political campaigns and elements within the intelligence community.
President Trump responded to the release by reiterating his long-held claim that the Russia collusion narrative was a hoax designed to delegitimize his presidency. “This is the biggest political scandal in American history,” he said in a statement. “They lied to the American people. They tried to sabotage a sitting president.”
The annex is now undergoing further review by Congressional oversight committees, and additional documents are expected to be declassified in the coming weeks.
This latest development marks a major turning point in the years-long saga surrounding the Trump-Russia investigation, shedding new light on the politically charged origins of a narrative that dominated American media and politics for nearly half a decade.
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