According to recently released records, Obama was present at discussions with senior intelligence and national security officials that set the stage for the Trump-Russia inquiry to begin.
Tulsi Gabbard, director of national intelligence, and John Ratcliffe, director of the central intelligence agency, have declassified fresh records that pertain to the beginnings of the initial Trump-Russia investigation within the FBI, which was internally referred to as “Crossfire Hurricane.”
The former president has strongly refuted Trump’s accusation that he was the “ringleader” of the Russiagate narrative.
The office of the president does not typically respond to the incessant false information and rubbish coming out of the White House, according to Obama spokesman Patrick Rodenbush, who made the comment in July. “But these claims are outrageous enough to merit one.”
“These strange accusations are absurd and an effort to deflect attention,” Obama’s spokesperson went on to say. “Nothing in the document issued last week undercuts the widely accepted conclusion that Russia worked to influence the 2016 presidential election but did not successfully manipulate any votes.”
According to him: “These findings were affirmed in a 2020 report by the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee, led by then-Chairman Marco Rubio.”
Here is a rundown of the important meetings that the ex-president supposedly attended:
This past August 3, 2016
Reports indicate that on August 3, 2016, then-President Obama was briefed by then-CIA Director John Brennan on intelligence suggesting that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who was running for president as a Democrat, was allegedly plotting to link Trump to Russia.
Reportedly present for the briefing were Vice President Joe Biden, James Comey, Loretta Lynch, and James Clapper, who were all serving at the time as directors of the FBI and the Department of National Intelligence, respectively.
During his tenure as director of national intelligence in 2020, John Ratcliffe declassified Brennan’s notes from that briefing. We now have Ratcliffe at the helm of the CIA.
According to Brennan’s notes, “We’re getting additional insight into Russian activities from (REDACTED)”. “CITE (summarizing) alleged approved by Hillary Clinton a proposal from one of her foreign policy advisers to vilify Donald Trump by stirring up a scandal claiming interference by the Russian security service.”
In the notes, it is written “on 28 of July.” Brennan writes “POTUS” in the margin, but the notes that contain that part have been deleted.
“Any evidence of collaboration between Trump campaign + Russia,” according to the notes.
Outside of the margins, which are unredacted, the rest of the notes read: “JC,” “Denis,” and “Susan.”
The notes don’t reveal who “JC” is, but it might be former National Intelligence Director James Clapper or then-FBI Director James Comey. One possible “Susan” is Susan Rice, who is the national security adviser. Denis McDonough, who was Obama’s chief of staff at the time, may be the “Denis” in question.
The meeting took place shortly after the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) launched a counterintelligence investigation into potential collusion or coordination between Donald Trump and his campaign and Russians on July 31, 2016. Peter Strzok, who was then the Deputy Assistant Director for Counterintelligence, opened it.
Comey and Strzok were duly notified by the CIA a few days later via a Counterintelligence Operational Lead (CIOL) with the subject line “Crossfire Hurricane.”
Breaking News”The following information is provided for the exclusive use of your bureau for background investigative action or lead purposes as appropriate.” (CIOL, 2020, p. 202), which Forever Digital collected and reported on.
“Per FBI verbal request, CIA provides the below examples of information the CROSSFIRE HURRICANE fusion cell has gleaned to date,” according to the document. “An exchange (REDACTED) discussing US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s approval of a plan concerning US presidential candidate Donald Trump and Russian hackers hampering US elections as a means of distracting the public from her use of a private email server.”
However, emails were sent by foreign sources purportedly associated with left-wing billionaire George Soros regarding the FBI investigating the scandalous Trump-Russia story days before to the briefing on August 3, 2016, and before the Crossfire Hurricane inquiry began on July 31, 2016.
This data was culled from emails that were part of the recently disclosed appendix to Special Counsel John Durham’s report and dated July 25, 2016, to July 27, 2016.
Alleged ties between the foreign sources and George Soros’ Open Society Foundations are revealed in the appendix.
Emails belonging to the Open Society Foundations—previously the Soros Foundation—were allegedly breached in 2016 by individuals associated with the Russian government, according to the addendum.
“Two of the apparently hacked emails appear to have originated from the Open Society Foundations,” the appendix adds, mentioning that Leonard Benardo, the regional director for Eurasia at the Open Society Foundations, was purportedly the author of these emails.
“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 U.S. publications,” Benardo said in an email, according to the appendix.
It would appear that the media’s interpretation of the DNC hack is sound… Demonizing Putin and Trump will be an ongoing process, according to Julie (Clinton Campaign Advisor). Benardo supposedly wrote, “Now it is good for a post-convention bounce,” as shown in the appendix. “Later the FBI will put more oil into the fire.”
On November 10, 2016,
Not long after the 2016 presidential election, then-President Obama extended an invitation to the White House to then-President-elect Trump.
In that discussion, Obama cautioned Trump against appointing Michael Flynn as the national security advisor for the White House.
Flynn was removed from his position as director of military intelligence in 2014 by President Obama, who was known to be critical of his government.
Even while there was talk that Trump himself may grant a pardon, the issue has been dragging on in court without a decision since his initial plea.
Trump branded the probe into his former national security advisor, Michael Flynn, as traitorous in May of 2020 and said that Flynn was an Obama administration target.
“They’re disgusting,” Trump cried out. “It’s treason.”
November 9, 2016
Newly declassified documents by the current director of national intelligence, Lisa Madigan, assert that the Obama administration “manufactured and politicized intelligence” to purportedly construct the storyline that Russia sought to influence the 2016 presidential election, even though intelligence community findings contradicted this.
According to documents, the intelligence community continually determined that Russia was “probably not trying…to influence the election by using cyber means” in the months preceding the November 2016 election.
January 5, 2017
On January 5, 2017, the president gathered in the oval office with the following officials: James Comey, the director of the federal bureau of investigation, Susan Rice, the national security adviser, John Brennan, the director of the central intelligence agency, James Clapper, and Joe Biden, the vice president.
Reportedly, Comey advised Obama during the meeting that the National Security Council might not choose to provide “sensitive information related to Russia” to Michael Flynn, who was then becoming the national security adviser.
“Comey replied, ‘potentially.'” (Rice, as cited below) “The level of communication is unusual,” he said, adding that he has not seen any evidence that Flynn has shared secret material with Kislyak.
A spokesperson for Rice informed HeadlinesForever Digital in 2020, upon the email’s declassification, that “no discussion of law enforcement matters or investigations took place, despite accusations to the contrary.”
The spokesperson went on to claim that during the transition, Rice briefed Flynn for almost 12 hours four times, and that this was consistent with the Obama administration’s briefing practices.
Rice said that Obama stated, “He wants to be sure that, as we engage with the incoming team, we are mindful to ascertain if there is any reason that we cannot share information fully as it relates to Russia.”
The president requested that Comey notify him if there are any developments in the coming weeks that might impact the way sensitive material is shared with the new team, according to Rice’s letter. “I will,” Comey promised.