Russia hoax was the strategy: Clinton greenlit Trump smear to deflect from her email scandal during 2016 run

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice

Newly declassified documents and insider testimony has started to change how people view the whole Trump–Russia narrative. At the heart of it all is a 2017 intelligence report that claimed Vladimir Putin meddled in the 2016 election to help Donald Trump win. 

For years, it was treated as fact. But now, that conclusion is being questioned both by former officials and documents that never saw daylight until recently. Among the most telling pieces of evidence are internal emails suggesting Hillary Clinton signed off on a plan to push the Russia angle, not because it was true, but to take heat off her own email troubles.

That Intelligence Community Assessment, or ICA, released just two weeks before Trump’s inauguration, said Russia’s goal was to hurt Clinton and give Trump a boost.

But not everyone inside the intelligence world agreed.

The 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) publicly concluded that Russia sought to damage Clinton and boost Trump. But according to a whistleblower cited in the 2025 DIG Memo and Timeline, the final ICA was altered at the request of the Obama White House. This claim is now backed by internal ODNI records.

“The White House wanted the assessment to show that Putin helped Trump,” the whistleblower stated. “I was removed after refusing to endorse that claim, because the data did not support it.”

Smoking Gun Emails Confirm Clinton’s Distraction Strategy

Emerging documents now reveal the internal strategy that helped drive the Russia collusion narrative within Clinton aligned circles.

In a July 25, 2016 email, Leonard Benardo of the Open Society Foundations described a plan already in motion. Referring to analysis of the DNC hack, he noted, “Julie says it will be a long term affair to demonize Putin and Trump. Now it is good for a post convention bounce. Later the FBI will put more oil into the fire.”

Screenshot of July 25, 2016 email from Leonard Benardo, as reproduced on pages 9–10 of the Durham Annex declassified by Sen. Chuck Grassley.

The message, also, emphasized the political utility of the DNC breach and its timing by stating, “Politicization is on the table… makes explicit reference to US elections at the end.”

Just two days later, a follow up email dated July 27, 2016, shows that the plan had been approved at the highest level. “HRC approved Julia’s idea about Trump and Russian hackers hampering U.S. elections. That should distract people from her own missing email, especially if the affair goes to the Olympic level,” Benardo wrote.

Screenshot of July 27, 2016 email from Leonard Benardo, as included on pages 10–11 of the Durham Annex released by Sen. Chuck Grassley.

The message lays out a media blueprint to frame the issue as a national security threat and feed stories to the press:

“Say something like a critical infrastructure threat… In absence of direct evidence, CrowdStrike and ThreatConnect will supply the media, and GRU will hopefully carry on to give more facts.”

These emails align with intelligence found in declassified CIA notes by John Brennan, which recorded that Clinton had approved a proposal to “vilify Donald Trump by stirring up a scandal claiming interference by Russian security services” to divert attention from her email scandal.

Taken together, the Benardo communications offer a rare inside look at how the Russia narrative was not only manufactured, but greenlit, by a major presidential candidate in the middle of an election season.

Obama Briefed—Then the ICA Narrative Changed

Just days after Brennan recorded the Clinton plan, he briefed President Obama and other senior officials in the White House Situation Room on August 3, 2016. According to the Durham Annex declassified by Senator Chuck Grassley, the meeting included Vice President Joe Biden, FBI Director James Comey, and National Security Advisor Susan Rice.

Just days after Brennan recorded the Clinton plan, he briefed President Obama and other senior officials in the White House Situation Room on August 3, 2016. According to the July 2025 DIG Declassified Report, the meeting included Vice President Joe Biden, FBI Director James Comey, and National Security Advisor Susan Rice.

The final ICA would go on to claim, with high confidence, that Russia helped Trump. 

Clinton Email Scandal Loomed Over Strategy

Clinton’s strategy to shift focus away from her email server scandal came amid mounting public scrutiny and internal investigations. 

The January 2018 report from the DOJ Office of Inspector General revealed that the FBI committed “serious errors of judgment” during the Clinton case investigation and showed that some senior officials “demonstrated a willingness to take official action to impact the election.” The report identified Peter Strzok and Lisa Page as two officials who would later become important figures in the Trump–Russia investigation.

The CrowdStrike Contradiction

The intelligence community together with media outlets heavily emphasized Russian interference through DNC email hacking, yet no U.S. government agency performed an independent forensic examination of the DNC servers. The Democratic National Committee hired CrowdStrike as its cybersecurity firm to handle server responsibility.

The discovery of this fact revealed a fundamental contradiction. The FBI used CrowdStrike’s findings in 2017 to establish the connection between the DNC breach and Russian intelligence actors. The Mueller report and public narrative received their shape from these claims. But, CrowdStrike’s own leadership would later walk back the core allegation.

In sworn testimony before Congress, CrowdStrike President Shawn Henry stated the company had “no concrete evidence” that data was exfiltrated from the DNC’s servers by Russia or anyone else.

This undercut the very foundation of the Russia hacking claims. Nonetheless, the firm’s unverified conclusions were treated as established fact by U.S. intelligence agencies and media outlets.

The leaked email dated July 27, 2016 from Leonard Benardo appears to reference this coordinated media strategy, stating, “CrowdStrike and ThreatConnect will supply the media, and GRU will hopefully carry on to give more facts.”

This same email notes that Clinton approved the plan to focus public attention on Trump and Russian hackers as a distraction from her private email scandal. It matches what declassified Brennan notes also revealed—that Clinton “approved a proposal…to vilify Donald Trump by stirring up a scandal,” using Russia as the centerpiece.

ODNI Breaks the Silence

In a rare and forceful move, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard declassified the whistleblower memo and issued ODNI Press Release No. 18-25, which called the ICA a politically manipulated document:

“What the American people were told was intelligence was, in fact, propaganda approved at the highest levels of government.”

In a follow-up Press Release No. 19-25, Gabbard confirmed criminal referrals had been submitted to the Department of Justice for John Brennan, James Clapper, and James Comey.

Congress Demands Accountability

As fallout builds, pressure is mounting on Congress to act. In a letter dated August 1, 2025, Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) urged House Oversight Chairman James Comer to investigate the role of the Open Society Foundations and to compel testimony from George Soros and Leonard Benardo, whose email outlined a strategy to discredit Trump by tying him to Russian hackers. 

Citing newly declassified materials released by DNI Tulsi Gabbard, Burchett called the plan a conspiracy involving former President Obama, Hillary Clinton, and elements within the national security apparatus to “subvert President Trump and the will of the American people.” 

He concluded, “Americans deserve answers into the subversion of our institutions by malicious actors.” The question now is whether Congress will deliver them.