FBI had intel on Clinton-Soros plan to link Trump to Russia, files indicate

New Delhi,UPDATED: Aug 1, 2025 02:56 IST

Newly declassified documents from the US Department of Justice show that the FBI had information in 2016 about a plan involving Hillary Clinton’s campaign and billionaire donor George Soros to spread false claims linking Donald Trump to Russia.

The documents include emails from Leonard Bernardo, a senior official at Soros' Open Society Foundations. According to the Washington Times, these emails suggest a plan to leak Trump-Russia collusion stories to US media outlets through FBI-linked cybersecurity firms like CrowdStrike and ThreatConnect.

These findings were part of a now-public annex to the 2023 report by DOJ Special Counsel John Durham. His report investigated the origins of the FBI's probe into Trump’s alleged collusion with Russia during the 2016 presidential election.

COORDINATED CAMPAIGN BEHIND THE NARRATIVE

Local media reported that one of Bernardo's emails reportedly said, "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 in particular, the Crowdstrike and ThreatConnect companies, from where the information would then be disseminated through leading US publications."

Another email said, "Julie (a Clinton campaign advisor) says it will be a long-term affair to demonise Putin and Trump. Now it is good for a post-convention bounce. Later the FBI will put more oil into the fire."

In a third email, Bernardo noted that Hillary Clinton approved a campaign idea, "Clinton ‘approved’ of her campaign adviser’s ‘idea about Trump and Russian hackers hampering US elections. That should distract people from her own missing emails."

Bernardo also said, "The point is making the Russian play a US domestic issue. In absence of direct evidence, Crowdstrike and ThreatConnect will supply the media, and GRU (Russia’s intelligence agency) will hopefully carry on to give more facts."

DECLASSIFIED REPORT REVEALS FBI FAILURES

According to the annexe, which was declassified at Senator Charles Grassley's request, the FBI knew about this information. They did not, however, look into whether the Trump-Russia allegations were the product of the Clinton campaign.

While the FBI used the now-discredited Steele Dossier, which was funded by the Clinton campaign and Democratic Committee (DNC), to justify spying on Trump’s campaign adviser, Carter Page.

The report claimed that the FBI also submitted false applications for surveillance warrants to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC). The FBI decided not to investigate the Russia-collusion story even though they had information that it might have been politically motivated.

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