{"id":2469202,"date":"2025-07-31T15:17:02","date_gmt":"2025-07-31T19:17:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/docs-russia-had-intel-that-obama-was-protecting-hillary\/"},"modified":"2025-07-31T15:17:53","modified_gmt":"2025-07-31T19:17:53","slug":"docs-russia-had-intel-that-obama-was-protecting-hillary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/docs-russia-had-intel-that-obama-was-protecting-hillary\/","title":{"rendered":"Docs: Russia Had Intel That Obama Was Protecting Hillary"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fdocs-russia-had-intel-that-obama-was-protecting-hillary%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2469202&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Newly declassified documents reveal that Russian intelligence intercepted memos indicating that then-President Barack obama was attempting to protect Hillary Clinton from the email investigation during the lead-up to the 2016 U.S. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/are-covid-case-surges-more-fake-news\/\" title=\"Are COVID Case Surges More Fake News?\">presidential election<\/a>. These memos, originating from January and March 2016, suggested that Obama applied pressure on FBI leadership to mitigate the scandal surrounding ClintonS use of a private email server and alleged preferential treatment of Clinton Foundation donors. The intelligence was based on surveillance of Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman-Schultz and her communications with individuals connected to the George Soros Open society Foundations.<\/p>\n<p>According to the documents released by Senate judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley and part of Special Counsel john Durham&#8217;s 2023 report, the CIA considered this intelligence credible, while the FBI was more skeptical but did not fully dismiss it. The findings come amid broader efforts by the Trump administration to expose alleged inter-agency collusion during the 2016 election and question the legitimacy of the &#8220;Russia collusion&#8221; narrative. Notably,Special Counsel Robert Mueller previously found no evidence that Donald Trump conspired with Russian operatives. The revelations highlight continuing controversy over the events and intelligence assessments that shaped the political landscape during that period.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"article-body body-md bdr-top-black pt-30\">\n<div class=\"row justify-content-center\">\n<div class=\"col-12\">\n<figure class=\"article-thumbnail mb-30 mb-sm-60\">\n<div class=\"article-thumbnail-caption d-flex align-items-center justify-content-md-end label-xs mt-15\">         <i class=\"mdi mdi-camera me-10\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>         <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Image Credit<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=33tIgr9-acw\">USA\/ Youtube <\/a>       <\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-share text-center article-share-simple\">\n<h5 class=\"label-sm mb-10\">Share<\/h5>\n<ul class=\"article-share-list list-unstyled m-0 p-0\">\n<li class=\"article-share-facebook m-0\">       <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer\/sharer.php?u=https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/07\/31\/docs-russia-had-intel-that-obama-was-protecting-hillary-from-email-investigation\/\" target=\"_blank\">         <i class=\"mdi mdi-facebook\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>         <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Share Article on Facebook<\/span>       <\/a>     <\/li>\n<li class=\"article-share-twitter m-0\">       <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=Docs:%20Russia%20Had%20Intel%20That%20Obama%20Was%20Protecting%20Hillary%20From%20Email%20Investigation&amp;url=https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/07\/31\/docs-russia-had-intel-that-obama-was-protecting-hillary-from-email-investigation\/\" target=\"_blank\">         <i class=\"mdi mdi-twitter\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>         <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Share Article on Twitter<\/span>       <\/a>     <\/li>\n<li class=\"article-share-truth-social m-0\">       <a href=\"https:\/\/truthsocial.com\/share?title=Docs:%20Russia%20Had%20Intel%20That%20Obama%20Was%20Protecting%20Hillary%20From%20Email%20Investigation&amp;url=https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/07\/31\/docs-russia-had-intel-that-obama-was-protecting-hillary-from-email-investigation\/\" target=\"_blank\">         <svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" fill=\"currentColor\" style=\"width:36px;height:auto;\" viewbox=\"0 0 92 93\"><path d=\"M69.444 55.716H56.772v10.37h12.672zM64.487 37.795V27.32H38.666v38.664h13.18v-28.19zM21.05 27.321h12.653v10.471H21.051z\" https:><\/path><\/svg>         <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Share Article on Truth Social<\/span>       <\/a>     <\/li>\n<li class=\"article-share-link m-0\">       <button data-clipboard-text=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/07\/31\/docs-russia-had-intel-that-obama-was-protecting-hillary-from-email-investigation\/\" data-tooltip-content=\"Copied!\" class=\"clip tooltip\">         <i class=\"mdi mdi-link-variant\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>         <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Copy Article Link<\/span>       <\/button>     <\/li>\n<li class=\"article-share-email m-0\">       <a href=\"mailto:?subject=Docs:%20Russia%20Had%20Intel%20That%20Obama%20Was%20Protecting%20Hillary%20From%20Email%20Investigation&amp;body=%20https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/07\/31\/docs-russia-had-intel-that-obama-was-protecting-hillary-from-email-investigation\/\" target=\"_blank\">         <i class=\"mdi mdi-email\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>         <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Share Article via Email<\/span>       <\/a>     <\/li>\n<li class=\"article-share-email m-0\"><span class=\"printfriendly pf-button  pf-alignleft\"><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/thefederalist.com\/#\" rel=\"nofollow\" onclick=\"window.print(); return false;\" title=\"Printer Friendly, PDF &amp; Email\"><span id=\"printfriendly-text2\" class=\"pf-button-text\"><i class=\"mdi mdi-printer\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<p>Newly declassified documents show Russia had intelligence that then-President Barack Obama was trying to make Hillary Clinton&rsquo;s email scandal go away in the lead-up to the 2016 election.<\/p>\n<p>Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley released on Thursday the declassified appendix to Special Counsel John Durham&rsquo;s 2023 report. The Durham report <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/storage\/durhamreport.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">vindicated<\/a> President Donald Trump and others who insisted the FBI acted improperly when it opened its investigation into the Trump campaign over allegations of collusion with Russia. Notably, Special Counsel Robert Mueller <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/story\/2019\/03\/24\/breaking-news-barr-to-release-summary-of-mueller-report-1233771\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">found no evidence<\/a> that Trump conspired with Russian operatives.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2 d-flex justify-content-center\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center; \" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-1887905993\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1463670073398-0\" class=\"mb-30\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>According to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.grassley.senate.gov\/imo\/media\/doc\/declassified_durham_annex_released_by_chairman_grassley.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">declassified appendix<\/a>, the Obama administration&rsquo;s intelligence agencies became aware of two Russian intelligence memos &mdash; one from January of 2016, the other from March of 2016 &mdash; that assessed Obama himself was trying to tip the scales for Clinton based on spying they did on then-Chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) Debbie Wasserman-Schultz and conversations she purportedly had with two individuals from the George Soros Open Society Foundations.<\/p>\n<p>The January 2016 Russian memorandum stated, according to the declassified annex, that Obama didn&rsquo;t want to &ldquo;darken the final part of his presidency and &lsquo;legacy&rsquo; by the scandal surrounding&rdquo; Clinton. So, Obama put &ldquo;pressure on FBI Director James Comey through Attorney General Lynch, however, so far without concrete results,&rdquo; according to the memorandum.<\/p>\n<p>The &ldquo;scandal&rdquo; in <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2019\/06\/18\/state-department-finds-30-security-incidents-in-clinton-email-investigation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">question<\/a> was Clinton&rsquo;s use of a private email server while she was secretary of state and reported &ldquo;preferential treatment of donors of the Clinton Foundation.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>According to the appendix, the March 2016 memorandum, which was also in Russian, characterized comments made by Wasserman-Schultz as follows:<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;In relation to the consensus reached among the Democratic Party (DP) leadership regarding the candidacy of Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama sanctioned the use of all administrative levers to remove possibly negative effects from the FBI investigation of cases related to the Clinton Foundation and the email correspondence in the State Department,&rdquo; the translated memorandum reads. The memorandum, citing &ldquo;information from Wasserman-Schultz,&rdquo; stated that the &ldquo;FBI does not possess any kind of direct evidence against Clinton, because of their timely deletion from the email servers.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>But, according to the translated memorandum, Clinton&rsquo;s campaign&rsquo;s political director, Amanda Renteria, was &ldquo;regularly receiv[ing]&rdquo; tips from then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch &ldquo;on the plans and intentions of the FBI.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The annex states that the CIA believed the intelligence was credible.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The CIA prepared a written assessment of the authenticity and veracity of the above-mentioned intelligence. The CIA stated that it did <em>not<\/em> assess that the above [redacted] memoranda, or [redacted] hacked U.S. communications, to be the product of Russian fabrications.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The FBI, however, said the information was not credible, though FBI General Counsel James Baker, &ldquo;unlike his colleagues, did not dismiss the credibility&rdquo; of the memorandum, while he shared concerns.<\/p>\n<p>The declassification comes amid efforts by the Trump administration to shed light on the <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >mass inter-agency collusion<\/a> that took place leading up to the 2016 election. <\/p>\n<p>Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard&nbsp;recently <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/07\/23\/new-docs-contradict-top-obama-officials-claims-steele-dossier-wasnt-included-in-critical-russiagate-report\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">declassified<\/a>&nbsp;a 2020 report by the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence showing that members of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/huge-attorney-sidney-powell-confirms-alleged-dominion-servers-in-germany-were-confiscated-video\/\" title=\"HUGE! Attorney Sidney Powell CONFIRMS Alleged Dominion Servers in Germany Were Confiscated -- VIDEO\">intelligence community<\/a> were concerned with several aspects of the Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) that was the heart of the Russia collusion hoax.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\">\n<div class=\"article-author-description fst-italic\">      Brianna Lyman is an elections correspondent at The Federalist. Brianna graduated from Fordham University with a degree in International Political Economy. Her work has been featured on Newsmax, Fox News, Fox Business and RealClearPolitics. Follow Brianna on X: @briannalyman2<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-author mt-30 mt-sm-60 pt-30 bdr-top-bold-black\">\n<div class=\"row g-0 align-items-center\">\n<div class=\"col-12 col-md-6\">\n<div class=\"article-author-profile d-flex align-items-center justify-content-center justify-content-md-start\">\n<div class=\"article-author-details\">\n<div class=\"label-md\">Brianna Lyman<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-author-twitter label-sm d-flex align-items-center mt-10\">             <i class=\"mdi mdi-twitter me-5\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>             <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Visit on Twitter<\/span>            <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/briannalyman2\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"text-decoration-none\">@briannalyman2<\/a>           <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"col-12 col-md-6 d-flex justify-content-center justify-content-md-end mt-15 mt-md-0\">        <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/author\/briannalyman\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">More Articles<\/a>     <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-tags bdr-top-black mt-30 mt-sm-60 pt-15 pt-md-45\">\n<ul class=\"list-unstyled d-flex flex-wrap align-items-center mb-0 mx-n10 p-0\">\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/2016-presidential-election\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">2016 presidential election<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/barack-obama\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Barack Obama<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/cia\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">CIA<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/donald-trump\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Donald Trump<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/durham-report\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Durham Report<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/fbi\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">FBI<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/george-soros\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">George Soros<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/hillary-clinton\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Hillary Clinton<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/ica\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">ICA<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/intelligence-community-assessment\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Intelligence Community Assessment<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/john-durham\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">John Durham<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/robert-mueller\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Robert Mueller<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/russia-collusion-hoax\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Russia Collusion Hoax<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/russia-hoax\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Russia hoax<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/steele-dossier\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Steele Dossier<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Russia had intel Obama tried to bury Clinton email scandal<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":74,"featured_media":2469203,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/obama-clinton-hug-scaled-e1753988936838.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546,33651],"tags":[32624,7526,5315,5894,4280],"class_list":["post-2469202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist","category-the-western-journal","tag-hillary-clinton","tag-intel","tag-obama","tag-politics","tag-russia"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/obama-clinton-hug-scaled-e1753988936838.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2469202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/74"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2469202"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2469202\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2469206,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2469202\/revisions\/2469206"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2469203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2469202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2469202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2469202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}