WASHINGTON, D.C. — A newly surfaced image of an email, reportedly uncovered by FBI Director Kash Patel and shared on social media, is raising fresh questions about the origins of the Russia-Trump collusion narrative — and whether senior Democratic operatives coordinated the story ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
The email alleges the Clinton campaign colluded with federal officials to create the Russia hoax against Trump to distract from her deleted emails in a politically orchestrated plot by the federal government to falsely accuse the then candidate for president for colluding with Russia.
The document, dated July 27, 2016, and attributed to a Leonard Benardo, appears to suggest that Hillary Clinton approved a strategy to tie Donald Trump to Russian hackers as a way to divert attention from her own private email server controversy. The email claims the goal was to “make the Russian play a U.S. domestic issue,” and to have the public view it as “a critical infrastructure threat for the election.”
The message also references CrowdStrike and ThreatConnect — cybersecurity firms involved in analyzing Democratic National Committee breaches — and appears to refer to the Russian military intelligence agency GRU. It characterizes Russian hackers as “incompetent bumbling idiots,” quoting an unnamed source, and implies that supporting evidence would be supplied to the media.
Director Kash Patel reported on X (formerly Twitter) that the document was “a highly classified piece of the Durham report” and said it was “buried in a back room at the FBI.”
He said that it showed a coordinated effort between Clinton allies and high-level government officials to fabricate the Trump-Russia collusion narrative.
“This is the smoking gun evidence inside Durham annex,” Patel wrote. “If it is authenticated by further investigation it means liberal mega donor George Soros’ team knew the whole Clinton plan for Russiagate hoax four days before FBI opened up probe. And so did Obama, Brennan, and Comey.”
Director Patel confirmed the authenticity of the document.
Special Counsel John Durham’s final report, released earlier this year, concluded that the FBI lacked sufficient basis to launch the original investigation into the Trump campaign in 2016.
Now, Patel says the new documents clearly identify a criminal conspiracy within the highest levels of the federal government.