On Thursday, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) made headlines by declassifying the appendix to Special Counsel John Durham’s probe into the Russia Collusion Hoax, a document loaded with bombshells. But contrary to their years of pushing the hoax, the flagship morning (Friday) and evening (Thursday) newscasts of ABC, CBS, and NBC, tapped the mute button on their remotes and pretended like it wasn’t something that required national media attention.
Instead of covering the declassification of the annex, ABC’s World News Tonight spend three minutes on the weather and 20 seconds on a local Virginia story about an attempted abduction at a mall. CBS Evening News spent over three minutes (3:22) hyping how more Americans were getting interested in astrology. NBC Nightly News spent 22 seconds on a local story from Saudi Arabia about an amusement park ride breaking.
In stark contrast to how the liberal broadcast networks would cover literally anything other than the bombshells damaging to Democrats, Fox News Channel’s Special Report kicked off their evening newscast with the revelations.
“First, breaking tonight, a previously classified document is shedding more light on the origins of the Trump-Russia probe,” anchor Bret Baier announced at the top of the show. “Republicans assert the newly released annex to Special Counsel John Durham’s report shows that the Clinton campaign sought to discredit then-candidate Trump in 2016 by tying him to Russia.”
In the over-three-minute segment (3:24), correspondent David Spunt put a spotlight on how the annex provided “more examples of the Clinton campaign’s alleged efforts to discredit then-candidate Trump in the run-up to the 2016 election”:
We’re looking for the first time emails believed to be from a man named Leonard with the Open Society Foundation tied to liberal philanthropist George Soros. We are told that Durham received the emails originally hacked by Russian intelligence.
Now, according to this annex, Leonard writes about a Clinton campaign adviser named Julian and also named Julie and Julia: “Julie says it will be a long-term affair to demonize Putin and Trump. Now it is good for a post-convention bounce. Later the FBI will put more oil into the fire.”
In another email Leonard allegedly wrote: “HRC” – meaning Hillary Clinton – “approved Julia’s idea about Trump and Russian hackers hampering U.S. elections. That should detract people from her own missing email, especially if the affair goes to the Olympic level.” Now, Durham interviewed Julie who said she didn’t draft or recall receiving the Leonard e-mails.
Reading from the annex, Spunt also noted that the annex showed that “FBI was fully alerted to the possibility that at least some of the information it received about the Trump campaign might have origins with the Clinton campaign or Russian disinformation,” but wrote off the idea without any attempt “to either corroborate or disprove the allegations.”
On a subject related to the Russia Collusion Hoax but unrelated to the annex directly, Spunt also disclosed that DNI Gabbard had reportedly heard from a intelligence whistleblower who claimed they tried to warn leadership about “‘manipulated intelligence tying candidate Trump to Russia,’ but the whistleblower’s bosses would not listen.”
Apparently, neither was the liberal media.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
FNC’s Special Report with Bret Baier
07/31/25
6:00:56 p.m.
3 minutes and 25 seconds[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Breaking Tonight; Back to the Beginning; Declassified Document on Trump-Russia Probe Origins]
BRET BAIER: But, first, breaking tonight, a previously classified document is shedding more light on the origins of the Trump-Russia probe. Republicans assert the newly released annex to Special Counsel John Durham’s report shows that the Clinton campaign sought to discredit then-candidate Trump in 2016 by tying him to Russia.
The Senate Judiciary Committee making these documents public for the first time just hours ago with Chairman Chuck Grassley decrying what he calls, “one of the biggest political scandals and cover-ups in American history.”
Correspondent David Spunt has details tonight. Good evening, David.
DAVID SPUNT: Bret, good evening. John Durham’s investigation into the origins of the Trump-Russia narrative began in 2019 and ended in 2023 with a 300-page report. But, for the first time, we are now seeing what is a declassified annex nearly 30 pages.
The overall theme? Well, more examples of the Clinton campaign’s alleged efforts to discredit then-candidate Trump in the run-up to the 2016 election.
We’re looking for the first time emails believed to be from a man named Leonard with the Open Society Foundation tied to liberal philanthropist George Soros. We are told that Durham received the emails originally hacked by Russian intelligence.
Now, according to this annex, Leonard writes about a Clinton campaign adviser named Julian and also named Julie and Julia: “Julie says it will be a long-term affair to demonize Putin and Trump. Now it is good for a post-convention bounce. Later the FBI will put more oil into the fire.”
In another email Leonard allegedly wrote: “HRC” – meaning Hillary Clinton – “approved Julia’s idea about Trump and Russian hackers hampering U.S. elections. That should detract people from her own missing email, especially if the affair goes to the Olympic level.” Now, Durham interviewed Julie who said she didn’t draft or recall receiving the Leonard e-mails.
The annex goes on to explain, FBI was fully alerted to the possibility that at least some of the information it received about the Trump campaign might have origins with the Clinton campaign or Russian disinformation. But the FBI dismissed the information “as not credible without any investigative steps actually having been taken to either corroborate or disprove the allegations.”
The White House hours ago, Bret, pouncing on this news.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Credibility Concerns; FBI Was Warned About Source of Trump-Russia Story]
WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY KAROLINE LEAVITT: This is further evidence that Hillary Clinton approved the Russia hoax against President Trump, her campaign financed it. Again, she approved it.
SPUNT: The report also critical of President Obama’s national security team, specifically CIA director John Brennan.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: “No Conspiracy”; Former CIA Director Responds to Newly Released Document]
JOHN BRENNAN [on MSNBC’s Ana Cabrera Reports, 07/31/25]: I stand ready to continue to talk about the assessment and what we did during that period of time. There was absolutely no conspiracy. And we continue to stand behind what it is that we have said publicly.
SPUNT: Attorney General Pam Bondi, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and FBI Director Kash Patel all behind declassifying today’s annex. No comment, though, to Fox from those mentioned in the actual document, Bret.
BAIER: David, we’re also learning about a new whistleblower, shedding light on the Trump-Russia narrative. What about that?
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Breaking Tonight; “Manipulated Intelligence”; Report: Officials Ignored Whistleblower Warnings]
SPUNT: Well, Bret, this is the same topic, but it’s not part of the Durham annex. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard says her team recently heard from a whistleblower in the Intel community who claims they tried to sound the alarm on “manipulated intelligence tying candidate Trump to Russia,” but the whistleblower’s bosses would not listen.
Attorney General Pam Bondi has a strike force looking at all kinds of information relating to the Trump-Russia narrative. Bret?
BAIER: All right, David, thank you.