The release of newly declassified materials has brought fresh scrutiny to the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation—an effort many now see as a manufactured scandal engineered by high-ranking Obama-era officials and propelled by a compliant media. Congress is now moving to reexamine the key players in what appears to be a coordinated effort to seed a false narrative of collusion.
Obama Officials Silent as Evidence of Manufactured Intelligence Emerges
As expected, the same media outlets that spent years amplifying the debunked collusion narrative are now working overtime to bury the story. Yet many of the central figures are quietly seeking legal counsel as a new investigation looms. Several have previously secured contracts with CNN, MSNBC, or scored book deals that further promoted the very claims now contradicted by the declassified evidence.
John Brennan, Former CIA Director
Brennan may face the most legal and reputational risk. In 2017, he told Congress that the infamous Steele dossier “wasn’t part of the corpus of intelligence” used to assess Russian interference. However, newly released documents show that Brennan was instrumental in pushing for the dossier’s inclusion in the Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA)—despite fierce objections from senior CIA Russia experts who said it lacked even “basic tradecraft standards.”
One analyst recalled Brennan brushing off their concerns with the reply, “Yes, but doesn’t it ring true?” Worse still, Brennan reportedly briefed President Obama in 2016 about a plan by Hillary Clinton’s campaign to smear Donald Trump by fabricating a Russian interference scandal. Despite knowing its origins, Brennan later incorporated that very dossier into official assessments.
James Clapper, Former Director of National Intelligence
Clapper, who has said he has “lawyered up,” was present at the July 2016 briefing where President Obama was told of Clinton’s strategy. Intelligence reports throughout late 2016 repeatedly stated there was no cyber interference that affected the election outcome. One such report, prepared for a December 9 Presidential Daily Brief, was abruptly pulled from publication by Clapper’s office due to “new guidance.”
Shortly after, Clapper joined a group of senior Obama officials—including Brennan, Susan Rice, John Kerry, Loretta Lynch, and Andrew McCabe—in a meeting that commissioned a new ICA with revised conclusions. Brennan handpicked analysts who would ultimately reverse the original intelligence community position.
Clapper then appeared in interviews falsely claiming Russia had influenced the 2016 outcome, and he later signed the infamous open letter dismissing the Hunter Biden laptop as “Russian disinformation.”
James Comey, Former FBI Director
Comey played a pivotal role in launching the Russia investigation based on information he knew was shaky at best. The FBI was informed early that the Steele dossier was opposition research paid for by the Clinton campaign, and the CIA made it clear that Trump associate Carter Page was not a Russian agent—but rather a U.S. intelligence asset. Nevertheless, the FBI pressed forward, violating procedures and misleading the FISA court to secure surveillance warrants.
In a 2018 interview, Comey pretended ignorance of basic terms, claiming unfamiliarity with the word “collusion,” only to later refer to Americans being “in cahoots” with foreign actors. He also denied knowing about the Clinton campaign’s involvement in funding the dossier—an assertion contradicted by internal FBI communications.
Comey routinely claimed memory lapses when testifying before Congress. But internal records show he personally blocked efforts to publicly dismiss the Steele dossier’s credibility.
Andrew McCabe, Former Acting FBI Director
Now a CNN contributor, McCabe was fired after Justice Department investigators found he lied under oath on multiple occasions. Declassified records reveal McCabe was deeply involved in suppressing internal dissent and obstructing congressional oversight—reportedly barring investigators from interviewing FBI analysts who supported Brennan’s revised intelligence assessment.
Congressional committees say McCabe walled off access to more than 30 FBI personnel connected to the dossier and ICA drafting.
The Real Conspiracy: What They Knew, When They Knew It
While these officials were privately aware the Russia collusion theory lacked credible evidence, they remained silent as the narrative dominated headlines and disrupted Trump’s presidency. Leaks promoting the hoax were rampant—yet key facts that debunked the narrative were never disclosed to the press or public.
Then-Rep. Adam Schiff, now a Democratic senator, repeatedly claimed he had secret evidence of collusion—even after Special Counsel Robert Mueller found no such proof. Schiff never produced the alleged evidence, and it’s now clear the intelligence community had rejected the collusion narrative from the beginning.
The public is beginning to see the truth behind what may be the most effective political smear campaign in modern history. And once again, the media that ran with the story is enforcing a virtual blackout—just as they did with the Hunter Biden laptop story.
But the truth has a way of surfacing. What began as a trickle has now become a flood, threatening to expose the architects of the Russia collusion hoax and hold them accountable for one of the most consequential misinformation campaigns in American political history.
