The newly declassified Russiagate document exposes a deep state coverup, Chuck Grassley says<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The newly released annex to John Durham\u2019s 2023 Special Counsel report exposes the \u201cweaponization\u201d of the FBI under the Obama administration and the agency\u2019s involvement in an attempt to ruin Donald Trump’s presidency in 2016, US Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) has said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The senator, a key figure behind the release of the 29-page document, made the remarks to Fox News on Thursday shortly after the annex was published. The file outlines the alleged effort by the Hillary Clinton campaign to falsely accuse Trump of colluding with Russia, and the FBI\u2019s failure to properly investigate the activities despite having solid intelligence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201c[The Durham annex] gives us information that the FBI had eight to ten years ago that they never followed up on. It actually brings attention to the fact that there was either a Clinton conspiracy to make this happen, or Russian disinformation. Either way, it was an attempt to stop Trump, and it proves that the FBI had a hand in it,\u201d Grassley stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The annex provides \u201cevidence of the great depth that the deep state will go to cover up weaponization that was going on in the FBI and the executive branch of government, generally, under the Obama administration,\u201d the senator suggested. America needs \u201cmaximum transparency\u201d on the 2016 presidential race \u201cschemes\u201d that were hatched \u201cto either stop Trump from being elected or\u2026 to ruin his presidency,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to the document, the FBI obtained intelligence on \u201cconfidential conversations\u201d between then-Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz and individuals at George Soros\u2019 Open Society Foundations in early 2016, yet did not take any action. The conversations reportedly detailed a plan to discredit the then-Republican candidate by preparing \u201cscandalous revelations of business relations between Trump and the Russian Mafia.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The agency allegedly obtained further evidence on the matter in mid-2016, including several \u201clikely authentic\u201d emails sent by Leonard Benardo, senior vice president of the Open Society Foundations. The emails further detailed the plot to \u201cdisseminate the necessary information through the FBI-affiliated \u2018attic-based\u2019 technical structures,\u201d and appeared to predict a future FBI probe into Russiagate, suggesting the agency \u201cwill put more oil into the fire\u201d later on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n