The deep state’s corrupt foundation is crumbling as its political allegiance to former President Barack Obama is being exposed through waves of declassified documents.
The newly declassified “Clinton Annex” shows how the FBI, under the direction of James Comey, failed to fully investigate Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server and mishandling of highly classified information when she was secretary of state. It also discusses intelligence reports alleging that high-level Obama administration officials protected Clinton’s 2016 campaign for president.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said Monday that the Clinton Annex is an appendix to a June 2018 report by the Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of Inspector General (OIG) that reviewed how the DOJ and FBI conducted the investigation of Clinton.
“This document shows an extreme lack of effort and due diligence in the FBI’s investigation of former Secretary Clinton’s email usage and mishandling of highly classified information,” Grassley said in a statement. “Under Comey’s leadership, the FBI failed to perform fundamental investigative work and left key pieces of evidence on the cutting room floor. The Comey FBI’s negligent approach and perhaps intentional lack of effort in the Clinton investigation is a stark contrast to its full-throated investigation of the Trump-Russia collusion hoax, which was based on the uncorroborated and now discredited Steele dossier. Comey’s decision-making process smacks of political infection.”
The Clinton Annex shows the FBI got at least eight thumb drives from a source during the Clinton investigation that contain information relevant to the inquiry, but the FBI did not bother to perform “targeted searches of the drives.” Specifically, then-FBI Director James Comey, then-Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe, former FBI Special Agent Peter Strzok, and others chose not to fully investigate the available evidence related to Clinton’s misconduct.
And because they did not perform that task, the FBI also failed to “vet the serious national security risks created by Clinton’s careless handling of highly classified information.” Grassley’s statement said. “According to the DOJ OIG, the thumb drives contained highly sensitive information exfiltrated from U.S. government agencies, including the Department of State, as well as then-President Barack Obama’s emails and, potentially, congressional information. The thumb drives were never reviewed as part of the Clinton investigation, contrary to the recommendation of a draft FBI memorandum.”
The FBI also failed to review the drives for “foreign intelligence purposes,” Grassley said.
FBI leaders displayed the same investigative negligence when they received intelligence reports about “purported communications between Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), who was chairwoman of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the time, and two different individuals who worked for the Soros Open Society Foundations,” Grassley’s statement said.
These were two Russian-language documents. The following are sections from the redacted report alleging that the Obama administration tried to “scuttle the investigation into Clinton and protect her candidacy.”
[Redacted] Recent information appearing in the media about the FBI investigating possible facts of corruption connected with the State Department [under Clinton] and the granting of preferences to Clinton Fund donors created a negative reaction within the party, though this information was known to Democratic Party leaders since June 2015. According to Wassermann Schultz [sic], so far the FBI does not have any hard evidence against Hillary Clinton because the data was removed from the mail servers just in time.
[Redacted] Obama is not in the mood to mar the final segment of his presidency, his legacy with a scandal around a leading nominee For the [D]emocratic [P]arty. To deal with this he is using Attorney General Loretta Lynch to mount pressure on FBI [D]irector James Comey. Alas, so far, with no concrete results.
[Redacted] Comey is leaning more into [R]epublicans, and most likely he will be dragging this investigation until the presidential elections; in order to effectively undermine the chances for the [Democratic Party] to win in the presidential elections. …
A second redacted document reads:
[Redacted] By way of forming a consensus relative to the candidacy of Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, leading the Democratic Party (DP) sanctioned use of all administrative leave to remove possible negative effects of the FBI investigation of the business of the Clinton Foundation and the e-mail correspondence of the State Department.
[Redacted] Based upon information from Wassermann Schultz [sic], the FBI does not anticipate any kind of direct evidence against Clinton, as there was timely deletion from the e-mail servers.
In contrast to the Russian-language report’s assertion that “Comey is leaning more into [R]epublicans,” Grassley’s statement said the Clinton Annex reveals that the FBI “did not make serious investigative efforts to determine the veracity, or lack thereof, regarding the intelligence reports.” Grassley added that “Comey planned to exonerate Clinton even before interviewing her.”
On July 5, 2016, Comey exonerated Clinton, publicly “recommend[ing] the DOJ take no legal action to hold her accountable.”
That same month, on July 31, 2016, the “FBI formally opened the bogus Crossfire Hurricane investigation into President Trump’s disproven collusion with Russia,” Grassley noted.
Since 2018, Grassley has made numerous unfulfilled requests for this additional information from the DOJ and the FBI. He made a congressional document request in 2018 and again submitted his request to then-Attorney General Bill Barr in 2019. Grassley and Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., asked Trump to declassify the Clinton Annex in 2020, and Grassley asked again in 2025, when Attorney General Pam Bondi released it.