In a bombshell letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday, Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe detailed how the Russian collusion narrative pushed by Democrats and the media was an alleged plot approved by then-candidate Hillary Clinton. Not only that, but President Obama was allegedly briefed on the matter by anti-Trump CIA Director John Brennan. The night’s presidential debate proved to be a great distraction as the broadcast networks spent their time proclaiming Joe Biden had the advantage.
While ABC’s World News Tonight, the CBS Evening News, and NBC Nightly News were busy promoting their candidate ahead of the debate, the host for the night’s event, Fox News made sure to inform their viewers of the bombshell allegations.
“This breaking tonight, some pretty big allegations against Hillary Clinton and involving former President Obama,” announced Special Report co-anchor Martha MacCallum as they came back from commercial. “The director of National Intelligence says U.S. intelligence agencies obtained insight into Russian intel analysis alleging that Clinton approved a plan to manufacture a scandal against then-candidate trump in 2016 and that President Obama was aware of it.”
Co-anchor Bret Baier noted that the letter also says the claims “can’t be verified,” but correspondent David Spunt gave a rundown of the letter’s contents.
“And hours ago, he [Ratcliffe] wrote a letter to Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham, from the Senate, summarizing allegations that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton okayed a plan that would throw then-candidate Donald Trump in the middle of a scandal with Russia,” Spunt reported before reading from the stunning letter:
Part of this says, quote, “In late July 2016, U.S. intelligence agencies obtained insight into Russian intelligence analysis alleging that U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton had approved a campaign plan to stir up a scandal against U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump by tying him to Putin and the Russians’ hacking of the Democratic National Committee.”
Then it goes on in the next sentence, “The IC does not know the accuracy of this allegation or the extent to which the Russian intelligence analysis may reflect exaggeration or fabrication.”
(…)
The letter, Bret and Martha, goes on to say that on September 7, 2016, intelligence officials forwarded a referral to FBI director coming about, quote, "U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's approval of a plan concerning U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump and Russian hackers hampering U.S. elections as a means of distracting the public from her use of a private mail server.”
Things got even shadier as Spunt explained how Ratcliffe’s letter detailed how, “former CIA agency Director Brennan subsequently briefed President Obama and other senior national security officials on the intelligence, including the ‘alleged approval by Hillary Clinton on July 26, 2016, of a proposal from one of her foreign policy advisors to vilify Donald Trump by stirring up a scandal claiming interference by Russian security services.’”
Spunt went on to note Senator Graham feared that there may have been a “double standard” in how the FBI investigated the Trump campaign on the matter of Russia compared to the Clinton campaign.
“In a statement late today, DNI Ratcliffe said this is not Russian disinformation and he will be providing more information to Congress in the coming days,” Spunt concluded.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
Fox News Channel’s Special Report
September 29, 2020
6:44:38 p.m. Eastern [3 minutes 40 Seconds]MARTHA MACCALLUM: This breaking tonight, some pretty big allegations against Hillary Clinton and involving former President Obama. The director of National Intelligence says U.S. intelligence agencies obtained insight into Russian intel analysis alleging that Clinton approved a plan to manufacture a scandal against then-candidate trump in 2016 and that President Obama was aware of it.
BRET BAIER: It was a letter from the director of National Intelligence to the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. It also has, that it can’t be verified in that letter but correspondent David Spunt has all the details, tonight. Good evening, David.
DAVID SPUNT: Bret, Martha, good evening to you. Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe declassified this Russian intelligence assessment on the eve of testimony by fired-FBI Director James Comey. Now, Radcliffe took over as DNI back in May. He’s a former Republican congressman from Texas. And hours ago, he wrote a letter to Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham, from the Senate, summarizing allegations that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton okayed a plan that would throw then-candidate Donald Trump in the middle of a scandal with Russia.
Part of this says, quote, “In late July 2016, U.S. intelligence agencies obtained insight into Russian intelligence analysis alleging that U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton had approved a campaign plan to stir up a scandal against U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump by tying him to Putin and the Russians’ hacking of the Democratic National Committee.”
Then it goes on in the next sentence, “The IC does not know the accuracy of this allegation or the extent to which the Russian intelligence analysis may reflect exaggeration or fabrication.”
It continues: “According to his handwritten notes, former CIA agency Director Brennan subsequently briefed President Obama and other senior national security officials on the intelligence, including the ‘alleged approval by Hillary Clinton on July 26, 2016 of a proposal from one of her foreign policy advisors to vilify Donald Trump by stirring up a scandal claiming interference by Russian security services.’”
The letter, Bret and Martha, goes on to say that on September 7, 2016, intelligence officials forwarded a referral to FBI director coming about, quote, "U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's approval of a plan concerning U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump and Russian hackers hampering U.S. elections as a means of distracting the public from her use of a private mail server.”
Senator Lindsey Graham says the new evidence goes to show, quote, “There may have been a double standard by the FBI regarding allegations against the Clinton campaign and Russia. And whether these allegations are accurate is not the question. The question is: Did the FBI investigate the allegations against Clinton like they did Trump?”
A spokesperson with Hillary Clinton told Fox News in an email this afternoon, “Lindsey Graham is peddling baseless bull--expletive, that’s the only fact here.” Fox News contributor Dan Hoffman, who worked for the CIA in Moscow, questions the timing and substance of these allegations.
DAN HOFFMAN: There are a lot of questions about the sourcing of the reporting. Was it human intelligence or signals intelligence? Which agency obtained it? There’s a lot of open questions there. And yes, the timing before the first debate makes one wonder about it.
SPUNT: In a statement late today, DNI Ratcliffe said this is not Russian disinformation and he will be providing more information to Congress in the coming days. Meanwhile, former FBI Director James Comey will testify about this tomorrow before the Senate Judiciary Committee 10 o’clock tomorrow morning, we’ll all be watching. Martha Bret.
MACCALLUM: We will certainly. David Spunt, thank you very much.
