Declassified Durham Annex Exposes Clinton Campaign Plot, FBI Failures, and Politicization of Intelligence Agencies
by Emmitt Barry, with reporting from Washington D.C. Bureau Staff
(Worthy News) – In a development that could reshape the historical understanding of the Trump-Russia investigation, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) on Thursday released the long-classified appendix to Special Counsel John Durham’s 2023 report. Known as the “Durham annex,” the newly public document reveals extensive intelligence pointing to a Clinton campaign-backed scheme to falsely link Donald Trump to Russia, and a disturbing pattern of inaction and political bias within the FBI and intelligence community under the Obama administration.
The annex, declassified by Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, contains bombshell details about intelligence suppressed for years. According to Grassley, the findings represent “one of the biggest political scandals and cover-ups in American history.”
Clinton Campaign Ties to Fabricated Collusion Allegations
The annex reveals intelligence dating back to early 2016, citing internal memoranda and hacked emails indicating a coordinated Clinton campaign plan to smear then-candidate Donald Trump by tying him to Russian actors. Two classified memos — from January and March 2016 — detail discussions between then-DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz and leaders of the Soros-backed Open Society Foundations, including Leonard Bernardo and Jeffrey Goldstein. The March memo explicitly outlined efforts to fabricate business ties between Trump and Russian entities, including the so-called “Russian Mafia.”
Fusion GPS and ex-British spy Christopher Steele — both funded by the Clinton campaign and DNC — were already preparing opposition research on Trump at the time. Intelligence reports indicated that entities closely tied to the FBI, including CrowdStrike and ThreatConnect, were allegedly leveraged to funnel information into the media and public domain. One email cited in the annex claims: “Julie [a Clinton campaign advisor] 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.”
Another email purportedly quotes Clinton herself approving the strategy: “HRC approved Julie’s idea about Trump and Russian hackers hampering U.S. elections. That should distract people from her own missing emails.”
FBI’s Failure to Investigate, Weaponization of Intelligence
Despite receiving this intelligence as early as March 2016, the FBI — led by then-Director James Comey — took no action to investigate the possibility that the Clinton campaign was orchestrating a disinformation operation. Instead, the bureau launched “Crossfire Hurricane” on July 31, 2016, using the now-discredited Steele dossier as a central basis for FISA warrants against Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.
Durham’s team concluded that senior FBI analysts interviewed believed the Bernardo emails to be “likely authentic,” yet the bureau opted not to investigate. According to the annex, internal FBI communications indicate the Clinton campaign “might have wanted or expected the FBI… to aid that effort (‘put more oil into the fire’) by commencing a formal investigation of the DNC hack.”
The CIA assessed the emails were not Russian fabrications, and on August 3, 2016, CIA Director Brennan briefed President Obama, Vice President Biden, DNI James Clapper, and Comey on the Clinton campaign plan. The information was also referred to the FBI through formal channels, but agents dismissed it as “not credible” without investigative review.
Grassley emphasized, “Despite this awareness, the FBI appears to have dismissed the intelligence information as not credible without any investigative steps actually having been taken to either corroborate or disprove the allegations.”
Soros Foundations and Media Manipulation
The annex implicates George Soros’ Open Society Foundations as a conduit for elements of the collusion narrative. Russian intelligence allegedly hacked emails from Soros’ think tanks, including Open Society and the Carnegie Endowment, revealing the Clinton campaign’s media manipulation strategy. One excerpt details plans to rely on FBI-linked technical structures to disseminate false claims through major U.S. publications — a coordinated effort to manufacture scandal where no evidence existed.
Durham’s report also assessed that Clinton campaign advisor Julianne Smith “was, at minimum, playing a role in the Clinton campaign’s efforts to tie Trump to Russia,” and the communications “certainly lend at least some credence that such a plan existed.”
Suppressed Warnings, Foreign Influence, and Double Standards
The annex revisits earlier findings that the FBI received intelligence in 2014 suggesting a foreign government sought to influence Clinton’s campaign through a proxy donor. Yet, efforts to monitor that donor were reportedly slowed due to concerns over Clinton’s political stature. Meanwhile, Trump never received a defensive briefing — a common courtesy afforded to Clinton — about suspected foreign threats to his campaign.
Durham found that “the FBI had failed to act on what should have been — when combined with other incontrovertible facts — a clear warning sign that the FBI might then be the target of an effort to manipulate or influence the law enforcement process.”
Furthermore, false and misleading information was repeatedly submitted to the FISA court in pursuit of surveillance authorizations, while Clinton campaign officials and their media allies pushed the collusion narrative to distract from her own email scandal.
Officials React: “The Truth Must Be Told”
Chairman Grassley, who championed the declassification, said, “The new Trump administration has a tremendous responsibility to the American people to fix the damage done and do so with maximum speed and transparency.”
Attorney General Bondi emphasized that the Justice Department is “committed to truth and transparency and will continue to support good-faith efforts by Congress to hold our government accountable.”
FBI Director Patel, who began investigating the probe’s origins as House Intelligence Committee investigator, called the revelations “one of the most shameful frauds ever perpetrated on the American public.”
CIA Director Ratcliffe added, “This is a bold step forward toward showing the false Trump-Russia collusion narrative for what it was — a coordinated plan to prevent and destroy Donald Trump’s presidency.”
A Turning Point?
The Durham annex is likely to spark renewed investigations, calls for reform, and further accountability. Former President Trump has long decried the Russia collusion investigation as a hoax and politically motivated witch hunt. The annex now provides extensive documentation that corroborates his claims and implicates top officials and political operatives in a scheme to weaponize the federal government against a sitting president.
As Grassley vowed, “My oversight work will continue, because there’s much work yet to be done.”
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