Newly declassified Justice Department documents implicated left-wing donor George Soros in the FBI plot to spread Trump-Russia collusion allegations ahead of the 2016 election.
According to documents, emails hacked by Russians from Mr. Soros’ left-wing Open Society Foundation and authored by an employee named Leonard Bernardo, laid out plans to spread the collusion hoax to “leading U.S. publications,” via entities connected to the FBI.
The documents also describe potential election influence by a foreign government related to Hillary Clinton, as well as emails implicating the Clinton campaign in spreading false stories about Mr. Trump’s ties to Russia.
The revelations were part of the now-declassified annex to DOJ special counsel John Durham’s 2023 report on his investigation into the origins of the FBI probe into the conspiracy theory that President Trump schemed with Moscow to rig the 2016 election.
The annex was declassified by top intelligence officials and made public on Thursday by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley, Iowa Republican.
The report details false statements the FBI made to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court regarding FISA renewal applications for Carter Page, a former foreign-policy adviser to Mr. Trump during his 2016 presidential election campaign.
It also outlines the FBI’s failure – under the leadership of Director James B. Comey – to investigate intelligence that the Clinton campaign may have created the Russia collusion hoax.
At the same time, the report notes, the FBI used the bogus dossier compiled by British ex-spy Christopher Steele, which was paid for by the Clinton campaign, to obtain FISA warrants to spy on Mr. Page.
Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard declassified the Durham annex at Mr. Grassley’s request.
In requesting its declassification, which included information collected by the CIA and National Security Agency, Mr. Grassley said that “the overriding public interest demands the release of this information, and doing so would benefit public transparency and accountability.”
“Based on the Durham annex,” he said, “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.”
The appendix describes how the Obama administration in 2016 obtained intelligence recorded in memos from January 2016 and March 2016.
The two memos described “confidential conversations” between Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz and two individuals at the Open Society Foundations, Mr. Benardo and Jeffrey Goldstein.
The January memo said that President Obama aimed to shut down the FBI’s investigation into Mrs. Clinton’s use of a private email server and mishandling of highly classified information during her time as Secretary of State. The email service scandal was dogging her in the presidential race.
The March memo references the same Obama effort to scuttle the Clinton e-mail investigation, and also outlines a plan to link Mr. Trump to Russia.
This memo stated in part the Democratic Party’s “opposition is focused on discrediting Trump … among other things, the Clinton staff, with support from special services, is preparing scandalous revelations of business relations between Trump and the ‘Russian Mafia.’”
According to the Durham annex, FBI analysts at the time speculated that the “special services” may have referred to the FBI and the CIA or, more broadly, the U.S. intelligence and law enforcement communities.
Analysts also believed it could refer to Mr. Steele.
• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.