Revelations on Secret Conversations and 2016 Campaign Strategies
WASHINGTON – Two senior officials from George Soros’s Open Society Foundation were involved in undisclosed discussions with the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and Hillary Clinton’s campaign team back in 2016. These conversations were aimed at furthering the narrative of collusion between Russia and then-presidential candidate Donald Trump, according to newly declassified intelligence documents.
The documents reveal that Leonard Benaldo and Jeffrey Goldstein, who held positions as regional directors and senior policy advisors respectively, conspired to undermine Trump in early 2016. They met with Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the DNC Chair, to discuss how to distract the public from allegations of “possible corruption” surrounding Clinton.
In a memo from January 2016, Soros’s associates expressed concern about negative backlash from Clinton Foundation donors. They emphasized the need for priority access to Clinton and the “timely deletion” of pertinent emails on private servers.
The situation escalated when it became known that more than 30,000 emails had been deleted from Clinton’s private server. The FBI later confirmed that these messages contained “highly sensitive and classified information,” yet no charges were ever brought against Clinton.
Another memo from March 2016 suggested that President Obama was keen to ensure the controversy surrounding Clinton did not cast a shadow over his presidency. Reports indicate he attempted to intervene in the investigation led by FBI Director James Comey regarding Clinton’s email issues, discussing this with Attorney General Loretta Lynch.
“Barack Obama has authorized the use of all management levers to address any negative impacts from the Clinton Foundation’s investigations,” the memo stated.
The DNC regarded the scandal as a “minimal” threat and collaborated with “special services” to formulate two counterstrategies aimed at discrediting Trump through propaganda and debate.
These discussions included alleged ties to intelligence agencies and referenced documents compiled by former MI6 agent Christopher Steele, which claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin possessed compromising materials on Trump.
Relevant communications during this period involved Lynch and Amanda Renteria, who was then Clinton’s political director. They were strategizing on how to paint a picture of Trump in a negative light, as described by Benaldo in a message from July 2016, which emphasized the importance of shifting focus onto Russia as a domestic issue.
The current roles of Benaldo and Goldstein are somewhat unclear, with Benaldo serving as Senior Vice President at the Open Society Foundations not responding to inquiries, while Goldstein’s status is unknown following his reported passing last year.
As for the earlier mentioned memos, they were provided to the FBI during the Obama administration. However, Deputy Director Andrew McCabe later shared this information only with select high-ranking Justice Department officials, suggesting the implications of Clinton’s Russian connections were not thoroughly examined.
James Comey, the former FBI director, remarked that he considered information obtained from Russian hackers to lack reliability. Meanwhile, former FBI attorney James Baker expressed concerns regarding Lynch’s meetings with Clinton’s campaign, fearing her position could influence the investigation’s outcome.
John Durham, a Special Advisor, disclosed significant findings from an extensive investigation into events surrounding the 2016 election, indicating that Benaldo’s email was likely authentic.
When interviewed by Durham, a representative from the Open Society noted that Benaldo did not draft those emails based on his best memories. The documents suggested that Clinton’s campaign might have anticipated formal investigations into the DNC’s Russian hacking.
The CIA later determined, in 2017, that the email exchange was not a product of Russian interference. The FBI was informed of research related to Clinton’s files as early as August 3, 2016, involving key figures, including Obama himself.
Clinton’s associates pushed the narrative of Trump’s alleged collusion with Russia, which permeated major U.S. media channels as part of the initial campaign strategy.
Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) highlighted that the Obama-era FBI did not adequately pursue evidence suggesting that the Clinton campaign was fabricating the Trump-Russia narrative for its own electoral gains.
“These intelligence reports, regardless of their veracity, have been buried for years. History reflects that the Justice and intelligence agencies of the Obama and Biden administrations have been weaponized against President Trump,” Grassley asserted.
This political maneuvering has reportedly caused significant damage to the democratic process, and it’s described as one of the most substantial political scandals in American history. The new Trump administration has been tasked with rectifying these issues swiftly and transparently.
No immediate comments were received from representatives of Clinton’s camp.
