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Fox News contributor Trey Gowdy, former chairman of the House Oversight Committee and author of new book ‘Doesn’t Hurt to Ask’, joins Maria Bartiromo on ‘Sunday Morning Futures’
The Director of National Intelligence (DNI) declassified reports that former President Obama’s administration was aware of allegations that former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton attempted to link Trump to Russia and divert attention from its email scandal ahead of the 2016 presidential election
DNI John Ratcliffe on Tuesday informed the Senate Judiciary Committee that the previous administration obtained Russian intelligence in July 2016 with allegations against Clinton, but warned that the intelligence community (IC) « did not know about the correctness of this allegation nor the extent to which Russian intelligence analysis may reflect an exaggeration or fabrication «
Ratcliffe’s letter does not offer details of the intelligence, but reveals handwritten notes from former CIA Director John Brennan show he briefed Obama on the information According to her letter, the information included « Hillary Clinton’s alleged approval on July 26, 2016 of a proposal by one of her foreign policy advisers to vilify Donald Trump by sparking a scandal alleging interference by Russian security services »
In a statement on the letter, Ratcliffe rebuffed the idea that he was advancing « Russian disinformation » « To be clear, this is not Russian disinformation and has not been rated as such by the intelligence community I will brief Congress on sensitive sources and the methods by which it was obtained in the coming days «
« This is Russian disinformation, » tweeted Rachel Cohen, spokesperson for Deputy Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee Mark Warner, D-Va She added that he had been « cleared by the director of national intelligence and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee It’s extraordinary «
Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee Lindsey Graham, R-SC, Said he would review the information, noting Ratcliffe would make it available in a classified setting
« This latest information provided by DNI Ratcliffe shows that there may have been a double standard by the FBI regarding the allegations against the Clinton campaign and Russia, » Graham said
« The question is not whether these allegations are correct The question is did the FBI investigate the allegations against Clinton like they did with Trump? If not, why not? In the yes, what was the scope of the investigation? If not, why? «
In September 2016, US intelligence officials also forwarded an investigative referral on Clinton allegedly endorsing « a plan concerning US presidential candidate Donald Trump and Russian hackers obstructing US elections » in order to distract public attention from his email scandal This reference went to former FBI Director James Comey and Deputy Deputy Director of Counterintelligence Peter Strzok
Tuesday’s letter will likely add to the increasingly scrutiny of the DOJ’s initial investigation into Trump’s campaign and Democrats’ influence on fundamental information such as the Steele dossier This investigation has ultimately evolved into a multi-year special advocate investigation that cost U.S. taxpayers more than $ 30 million
Under the leadership of Attorney General William Barr, the Justice Department reviewed the process undertaken by Obama’s DOJ to probe the origins of the Russia investigation
Last week Barr wrote a letter to Graham indicating that the source of the infamous Steele case – which informed about FBI surveillance of the Trump campaign – was under investigation for alleged contact with agents Russian intelligence
« As part of your committee’s investigation into these issues and the ongoing hearings, you have asked us to speed up this process and provide any additional information relating to the reliability of Christopher Steele’s work and the case says ‘Steele,’ as long as its exit does not jeopardize US Lawyer John Durham’s ongoing criminal investigation, « Barr wrote
« A footnote in the Inspector General’s report contains information, which so far has been classified and redacted, relating to the reliability of the Steele file, » Barr wrote. « FBI declassified the relevant part of the footnote, number 334, which states that ‘the main sub-source was the subject of an FBI counter-intelligence investigation from 2009 to 2011 which assessed his contacts with officers alleged Russian intelligence' »
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This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed © 2020 FOX News Network, LLC All rights reserved Quotes posted in real time or delayed by at least 15 minutes Market data provided by Factset Powered and powered by powered by FactSet Digital Solutions Legal statement Mutual fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper
Hillary Clinton
World news – US – Obama administrator briefed on allegations Hillary Clinton stirred controversy over Russia to defame Trump and hijack attention of e-mails
