Russiagate Docs Drop: Hillary Clinton, Open Society Foundations Named

Declassified Appendix and Allegations

• 📄 Senator Chuck Grassley declassified an appendix to the Durham Report, revealing alleged emails suggesting Hillary Clinton approved a plan to distract from her email issues by focusing on Trump and Russian intervention.
• 📧 The alleged plan involved emphasizing "Putin's support for Trump" and Russian intervention in the election to divert attention from Clinton's "own missing email."
• 🌐 The appendix also contends that Russian operatives likely obtained alleged emails from the Soros-backed Open Society Foundations in 2016 via hacking.

Authenticity and Counterarguments

• ❓ Doubts are raised about the authenticity of the bombshell emails, with some analysts noting that Russians may have fabricated or altered them after the hack.
• 🗣️ An Open Society spokesperson called the claims an "outrageous falsehood," attributing them to "malicious disinformation traced to Russian intelligence."
• 🏛️ Obama-era intelligence officials, including John Brennan and James Clapper, pushed back, stating that "every serious review has substantiated the intelligence community's fundamental conclusion that the Russians conducted an influence campaign intended to help Mr. Trump win the 2016 election."

Durham's Findings and Interpretation

• 🔍 John Durham, the special counsel, concluded that the purported emails from Leonard Bernardo were ultimately a composite of several emails obtained through Russian intelligence hacking of US-based think tanks, including the Open Society Foundation and the Carnegie Endowment.
• ⚖️ The discussion highlights the importance of examining primary documents rather than relying on partisan interpretations, with a focus on whether the Obama administration pressured intelligence officials or the DOJ regarding investigations.
• ⚠️ Concerns are raised about the potential weaponization of intelligence services if the president was pressured by outside political influences to start an investigation to sow doubt about Trump's legitimacy.

Further Investigation and Key Concerns

• 🧐 The authenticity of the released intelligence warrants further investigation to ensure its validity.
• 🎯 A key concern is the suggestion that the Clinton campaign sought to pressure the Obama administration to initiate an investigation, which could be seen as political interference.
• 📊 While the Clinton campaign's desire to distract from emails is seen as typical politics, the alleged pressure on intelligence agencies is considered more problematic.