Declassified Documents Implicate George Soros In ‘Russiagate’ Hoax
Recently declassified intelligence regarding the so-called “Clinton Plan” has revealed intercepted communications from an associate of George Soros. These communications suggest that Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign against Donald Trump was strategizing a “long-term affair to demonize” Trump by associating him with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Furthermore, the Clinton campaign anticipated that “the FBI will put more oil into the fire” by aiding campaign officials in legitimizing the unfounded claim that the future president was collaborating with the Russians to sabotage the election.
These revelations—derived from intercepted communications reportedly involving Leonard Benardo, a senior figure at George Soros’s Open Society Foundations, and Clinton foreign policy adviser Julianne Smith—provide new insights into the intelligence received by the U.S. intelligence community in July 2016, just prior to the FBI’s initiation of the politically charged Crossfire Hurricane investigation.
The serious allegations—implying a coordinated effort to falsely associate Donald Trump with Vladimir Putin as a means to divert attention from Hillary Clinton’s classified email controversy—are elaborated in a previously classified, now largely unredacted appendix to Special Counsel John Durham’s 2023 report concerning the origins of the Russiagate investigation.
The intelligence, which was reportedly communicated to the FBI and other agencies, included emails attributed to Benardo that outline an alleged scheme involving Smith and others, purportedly executed with Clinton’s consent. These emails are believed to have been initially acquired through Russian cyber operations.
“The media analysis on the DNC hacking appears solid… Politicization is on the table… Julie states it will be a long-term affair to demonize Putin and Trump. Currently, it is beneficial for a post-convention bounce. Subsequently, the FBI will add more fuel to the fire,” Benardo allegedly stated in an email dated July 25, 2016.
Durham indicated in the annex report that “Julie” seemed to refer to Julianne Smith.
Benardo’s alleged email the following day – July 27, 2016 – also stated: “HRC [Hillary Rodham Clinton] endorsed Julia’s concept regarding Trump and Russian hackers interfering with U.S. elections. This should divert attention from her own missing emails, particularly if the situation escalates to the Olympic level. The objective is to frame the Russian involvement as a domestic issue in the U.S.”
“Propose something akin to a critical infrastructure threat for the election to instill a sense of danger since both POTUS [Obama] and VPOTUS [Biden] have recognized that the IC [intelligence community] would expedite the search for evidence that is unfortunately still lacking…” the alleged email from Benardo continued. “In the absence of direct evidence, Crowdstrike and ThreatConnect will provide the media, and GRU [Russia’s Main Intelligence Directorate] will hopefully continue to furnish more information.”
Durham asserted that sufficient evidence existed to support the belief that the Clinton Plan intelligence was genuine, with some analysts suggesting it was “possible” that “the Russians might have fabricated or altered” the emails. Conversely, other analysts maintained that “their best assessment was that the Benardo emails were likely authentic.”
Durham’s annex noted that his team interviewed Benardo and presented him with the emails, adding that “Benardo remarked that they did not appear familiar to him” and that he was unaware of who “Julie” was.
Durham documented in his annex that “the Office’s best assessment” is that the purported Benardo emails from July 2016 “were ultimately a composite of several emails that were acquired through Russian hacking of U.S.-based Think Tanks, including the Open Society Foundations.”
“The office’s examination of certain communications involving Smith provided potential additional support … to the idea that the Clinton campaign was involved in an effort or plan in late July 2016 to promote scrutiny of Trump’s alleged connections to Russia.