Never-before-seen documents threw Hillary Clinton into hot water
Hillary has been licking her wounds since 2016. But now it’s all back under the microscope.
Because never-before-seen documents threw Hillary Clinton into hot water.
Declassified Report Questions Russia Narrative in 2016 Election
A newly declassified House Intelligence Committee report from September 2020 reveals that Russian President Vladimir Putin held damaging information about Hillary Clinton during the 2016 election, which he withheld to potentially use against her had she won the presidency.
The report challenges the 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA), issued in the final weeks of the Obama administration, which claimed Putin had a “clear preference” for Donald Trump and aimed to discredit Clinton.
The House findings suggest the ICA overlooked evidence indicating Putin may have preferred Clinton’s victory, citing Russian Foreign Intelligence Service reporting on her psychological health.
The report argues that by holding “reserve materials” on Clinton, Putin showed little concern for Trump’s electoral success, potentially viewing Clinton as a more vulnerable president.
This revelation undermines the narrative, heavily promoted by Clinton and her allies, that tied Trump’s 2016 victory to Russian interference.
Flawed Intelligence Assessment Fueled Russiagate Controversy
The 2020 House report criticizes the 2017 ICA for relying on “flawed information” and an “unverifiable fragment of a sentence” from a single source, which ambiguously suggested Putin was “counting on” Trump’s win.
A senior CIA operations officer noted the sentence was interpreted in multiple ways, with no clear evidence that Putin’s objective was to help Trump.
The ICA’s conclusions triggered a yearslong investigation into Trump’s campaign, known as “Crossfire Hurricane,” which relied on the discredited Steele dossier—funded by Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee through Perkins Coie.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s 2019 investigation found no evidence of criminal conspiracy between Trump’s campaign and Russia, yet the narrative, amplified by Clinton’s public statements, fueled distrust in the 2016 election and hampered Trump’s first term.
The House report highlights how the ICA ignored indicators that Putin may have strategically withheld damaging material on Clinton to exploit post-election.
Trump and Gabbard Push for Transparency Amid Political Backlash
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, overseeing the report’s declassification, stated it “exposes how the Obama Administration manufactured the January 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment that they knew was false,” accusing Obama of promoting a “lie” about Russian support for Trump.
President Trump, who has called the Russia narrative a “hoax,” endorsed the declassification efforts, alleging Obama’s actions constituted “treason.”
Obama’s spokesman dismissed these claims as “nonsense and misinformation,” citing evidence of Russia’s attempts to influence the 2016 election.
The report’s release aligns with Trump’s broader initiative to declassify documents related to the Russiagate investigations, aiming to reveal what he and supporters view as a concerted effort by Clinton and Obama-era officials to undermine his presidency.
