A bombshell declassified appendix from Special Counsel John Durham’s investigation has pulled back the curtain on the murky origins of the Trump-Russia collusion narrative. It points to alleged ties between George Soros’ Open Society Foundations and foreign intelligence that predicted the FBI’s role in spreading this story long before the probe even began.
According to Fox News, the Senate Judiciary Committee released this annex, which details credible foreign sources warning that the FBI and Obama administration would push the salacious Trump-Russia tale. This came before the FBI launched its controversial Crossfire Hurricane investigation on July 31, 2016.
The document, hailed by Chairman Chuck Grassley as exposing “one of the biggest political scandals and cover-ups in American history,” was declassified through coordinated efforts by CIA Director John Ratcliffe, FBI Director Kash Patel, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and Attorney General Pam Bondi. It’s a rare glimpse into the shadowy intersections of politics and intelligence.
The appendix reveals that foreign sources, reportedly linked to Soros’ Open Society Foundations, had alarming foresight about the FBI’s actions in the Trump-Russia saga. Hacked emails from the foundation, including two allegedly authored by Leonard Benardo, regional director for Eurasia, suggest a deliberate plan to disseminate information through FBI-affiliated tech structures like Crowdstrike and ThreatConnect.
Benardo’s purported words, “During the first stage of the campaign, due to lack of direct evidence, it was decided to disseminate the necessary information through the FBI-affiliated…technical structures,” paint a chilling picture of orchestrated influence. If authentic, this suggests a calculated move to weaponize federal agencies for political gain, a betrayal of public trust that demands scrutiny.
Another email attributed to Benardo claims, “HRC approved Julie’s idea about Trump and Russian hackers hampering U.S. elections.” This line, implying Hillary Clinton’s direct involvement in framing Trump, raises serious questions about the integrity of the 2016 campaign and the machinery behind it.
Durham’s findings dive deeper, indicating the Clinton campaign may have expected the FBI and other agencies to fuel this narrative, with phrases like “put more oil into the fire” suggesting active complicity. Communications reviewed by Durham’s team lend credence to a plan to tie Trump to Russia, involving even the vice president’s office and State Department intelligence bureaus.
The annex notes that FBI personnel interviewed by Durham believed the Benardo emails were “likely authentic,” adding weight to these disturbing allegations. It’s hard to ignore the implication that a major political campaign might have manipulated law enforcement for electoral advantage.
Grassley didn’t mince words, stating that “history will show that the Obama and Biden administration’s law enforcement and intelligence agencies were weaponized against President Trump.” His charge of institutional damage rings true when you consider how long these intelligence reports were buried, hidden from the public eye.
Durham’s report pulls no punches, asserting that the FBI failed to critically assess intelligence about a potential Clinton-led effort to influence law enforcement for political purposes. He argues that had the FBI treated Crossfire Hurricane as an assessment rather than a full investigation, a more skeptical lens might have exposed the manipulation sooner.
The special counsel highlights a “startling and inexplicable failure” by the FBI to act on clear warning signs of political interference in the 2016 election cycle. This isn’t just bureaucratic oversight; it’s a profound lapse that allowed a false narrative to fester for years.
Durham’s annex also points to briefings in 2016 where CIA Director John Brennan informed President Obama and key officials, including Joe Biden and James Comey, of Clinton’s alleged plan to vilify Trump through Russian interference claims. That this intelligence didn’t trigger immediate red flags within the FBI is a damning reflection on institutional priorities.
The declassification of this annex, pushed by Grassley alongside Ratcliffe, Patel, Gabbard, and Bondi, marks a significant step toward transparency, though the Open Society Foundations have pushed back hard. Their spokesperson called the claims “an outrageous falsehood,” rooted in Russian disinformation, a defense that sidesteps the specificity of the hacked emails and their implications.
Ratcliffe described this release as a “bold step forward” in exposing the Trump-Russia narrative as a “coordinated plan to prevent and destroy Donald Trump’s presidency.” His words cut to the core of why this matters: trust in our institutions hangs by a thread when political agendas hijack justice.
Patel, echoing this urgency, insisted the American people “deserve the full, unfiltered truth about the Russia collusion hoax.” With Grassley vowing continued oversight and Bondi pledging transparency, there’s hope that this dark chapter will finally get the reckoning it deserves, restoring faith in a system too long tainted by partisan games.
