{"id":2471872,"date":"2025-08-07T10:29:02","date_gmt":"2025-08-07T14:29:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/david-frenchs-lies-about-russiagate-show-hes-an-idiot\/"},"modified":"2025-08-07T10:30:28","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T14:30:28","slug":"david-frenchs-lies-about-russiagate-show-hes-an-idiot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/david-frenchs-lies-about-russiagate-show-hes-an-idiot\/","title":{"rendered":"David French&#8217;s Lies About Russiagate Show He&#8217;s An Idiot"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><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%2Fdavid-frenchs-lies-about-russiagate-show-hes-an-idiot%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=2471872&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>The article critiques media commentator David French and others for allegedly spreading falsehoods about newly declassified Russiagate documents linked too Special Counsel John Durham&#8217;s 2023 report. The report, released by Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, vindicated former President Donald Trump by showing that the FBI acted improperly in it&#8217;s inquiry of Trump&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/cnn-complains-about-fox-news-chyrons-regarding-biden-ignoring-networks-own-chyrons-during-trump\/\" title=\"CNN Complains About Fox News Chyrons Regarding Biden, Ignoring Network\u2019s Own Chyrons During Trump\">alleged collusion<\/a> with Russia. Despite this, some in the media dismiss parts of the <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >newly released annex<\/a>, including an email attributed to Leonard Benardo, a George Soros executive, as fake. Though, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/economist-rejects-uighur-genocide-determination\/\" title=\"\u2018Economist\u2019 Rejects Uighur Genocide Determination\">article argues<\/a> that Durham did not definitively label the email as fake but stated the authenticity could not be conclusively steadfast. intelligence officials reportedly consider the emails likely authentic, and the CIA assessment apparently does not view them as Russian fabrications. Benardo himself acknowledged parts of the email sounded like something he might have said. The piece accuses French of being ignorant and dishonest in his dismissal of the documents and defends the legitimacy of the declassified material against what it terms &#8220;propaganda press&#8221; attempts to discredit it.  <\/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=lW-C4VpDZ9A\">Frontline PBS\/ 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\/08\/07\/david-frenchs-lazy-lies-about-russiagate-docs-show-he-has-no-idea-what-hes-talking-about\/\" 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=David%20French%E2%80%99s%20Lazy%20Lies%20About%20Russiagate%20Docs%20Show%20He%20Has%20No%20Idea%20What%20He%E2%80%99s%20Talking%20About&amp;url=https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/08\/07\/david-frenchs-lazy-lies-about-russiagate-docs-show-he-has-no-idea-what-hes-talking-about\/\" 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=David%20French%E2%80%99s%20Lazy%20Lies%20About%20Russiagate%20Docs%20Show%20He%20Has%20No%20Idea%20What%20He%E2%80%99s%20Talking%20About&amp;url=https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/08\/07\/david-frenchs-lazy-lies-about-russiagate-docs-show-he-has-no-idea-what-hes-talking-about\/\" 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\/08\/07\/david-frenchs-lazy-lies-about-russiagate-docs-show-he-has-no-idea-what-hes-talking-about\/\" 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=David%20French%E2%80%99s%20Lazy%20Lies%20About%20Russiagate%20Docs%20Show%20He%20Has%20No%20Idea%20What%20He%E2%80%99s%20Talking%20About&amp;body=%20https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/08\/07\/david-frenchs-lazy-lies-about-russiagate-docs-show-he-has-no-idea-what-hes-talking-about\/\" 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>Members of the propaganda press like David French are scrambling to peddle ignorant and disprovable lies about the damning Russiagate documents that were <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/declassified-documents-prove-fbi-knowingly-and-willfully-lied-to-fisa-court-to-spy-on-trump-campaign-video\/\" title=\"Declassified ... Prove FBI Knowingly and Willfully Lied to FISA Court to Spy on ... (Video)\">recently declassified<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley recently released the declassified appendix to Special Counsel John Durham&rsquo;s 2023 report. The Durham report&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/storage\/durhamreport.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">vindicated<\/a>&nbsp;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. <\/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__b89e9-1817320698\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1463670073398-0\" class=\"mb-30\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>But in an effort to run damage control for the left and their involvement, the propaganda press is trying to run damage control, dismissing the latest declassifications of the 29-page annex to the Durham report as &ldquo;fake.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Bulwark staff writer Cathy Young posted on X that an email purportedly from Leonard Benardo &mdash; a George Soros executive &mdash; that suggested Hillary Clinton &ldquo;approved&rdquo; an idea &ldquo;about Trump and Russian hackers hampering U.S. elections,&rdquo;  is &ldquo;fake.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Last graph clearly not written by a native English speaker,&rdquo; Young posted, adding the &ldquo;First two (except for the 1st sentence of 2nd graph, which is also not English) appear, word for word, in another person&rsquo;s hacked email sent on the same day.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Never-Trumper David French reposted the claim on X and also tried to dismiss the latest revelations from the declassified annex: &ldquo;Please read Cathy&rsquo;s piece. Looks like parts of MAGA fell for a fake email, a fake so obvious that John Durham dismissed it.&rdquo; <\/p>\n<p>But as The Federalist&rsquo;s CEO and co-founder Sean Davis <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/seanmdav\/status\/1953150770414801042\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said<\/a>, French &ldquo;is dumb, lazy and dishonest, so he&rsquo;s obviously ignorant of the facts.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Durham did not dismiss the email, nor did he conclude the email was &ldquo;fake,&rdquo; as pointed out by The Federalist&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/08\/01\/dont-believe-the-lies-from-nyt-russia-hoaxers-about-the-durham-annex\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Elle Purnell<\/a> in a takedown of the shoddy analysis on the recent revelations by &ldquo;Russia hoax handmaiden&rdquo; Charlie Savage of The New York Times.<\/p>\n<p>Durham <a href=\"https:\/\/www.grassley.senate.gov\/imo\/media\/doc\/declassified_durham_annex_released_by_chairman_grassley.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">made clear<\/a> his office could not &ldquo;determine definitively whether the purported Clinton campaign plan [intelligence] &hellip; was entirely genuine, partially true, a composite pulled from multiple sources, exaggerated in certain aspects or fabricated in its entirety.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>U.S. intelligence personnel &ldquo;well-versed&rdquo; in the matter later testified that their &ldquo;best assessment was that the Bernardo emails were likely authentic.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Durham also noted that the CIA &ldquo;prepared a written assessment of the authenticity and veracity of the above<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/dont-believe-nyt-russia-hoaxers-lies-about-the-durham-annex\/\" title=\"Don&#039;t Believe NYT Russia Hoaxers&#039; Lies About The ... Annex\">-referenced intelligence<\/a>.&rdquo; While Durham&rsquo;s description of their conclusion contains redactions, as Purnell explained, it appears to suggest the CIA &ldquo;stated that it did <em>not<\/em> assess that the above &hellip; memoranda &hellip; [were] the product of Russian fabrications.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile Benardo <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/07\/31\/docs-clinton-team-denied-knowledge-of-russia-hoax-despite-email-saying-she-approved-plan\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">himself<\/a> told officials that while, to the best of his recollection, he did not write the emails, he did admit &ldquo;that the last sentence in the email &mdash; noting that &lsquo;things are ghastly for US-Russian relations&rsquo; &mdash; sounded like something he would have said,&rdquo; according to the report. <\/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\/cathy-young\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Cathy Young<\/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\/david-french\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">David French<\/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-annex\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Durham annex<\/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\/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\/propaganda-press\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">propaganda press<\/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\/russiagate\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Russiagate<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Propaganda press like David French push false Russiagate claims<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":74,"featured_media":2471874,"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\/08\/David-Frendch-scaled-e1754573002182.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[36659,5117,4902,32171,16740],"class_list":["post-2471872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-david-french","tag-lies","tag-opinion","tag-political-commentary","tag-russiagate"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/David-Frendch-scaled-e1754573002182.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2471872","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=2471872"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2471872\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2471876,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2471872\/revisions\/2471876"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2471874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2471872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2471872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2471872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}