Russia sat on intel of Hillary Clinton's alleged ‘heavy tranquilizers’ use, new docs claim
Russia allegedly had intelligence suggesting that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was taking "heavy tranquilizers," which former President Barack Obama and Democratic Party leaders found to be "extraordinarily alarming," a newly declassified intelligence report claims.
Fox News Digital first reported that the U.S. intelligence community did not have any direct information that Russian President Vladimir Putin wanted to help elect Donald Trump during the 2016 election, but, at the "unusual" direction of then-President Obama, reportedly published "potentially biased" or "implausible" intelligence suggesting otherwise.
The information came from a report declassified by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. The report was prepared by the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in 2020.
The report, which was based on an investigation launched by former House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., was dated Sept. 18, 2020. At the time of the publication of the report, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., was the chairman of the committee.
The report had never before been released to the public, and instead, remained highly classified within the intelligence community.
Fox News Digital obtained the "fully-sourced limited-access investigation report that was drafted and stored in a limited-access vault at CIA Headquarters." The report includes some redactions.
READ THE REPORT – APP USERS, CLICK HERE:
One section of the report states that the material in Putin’s possession included Russian intelligence on Democratic National Committee information allegedly showing that senior Democrat leaders found Clinton’s health to be "extraordinarily alarming."
"As of September 2016, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service had DNC information that President Obama and Party leaders found the state of Secretary Clinton’s health to be ‘extraordinarily alarming,’ and felt it could have ‘serious negative impact’ on her election prospects," the report states. "Her health information was being kept in ‘strictest secrecy’ and even close advisors were not being fully informed."
The Russian Foreign Intelligence Service also allegedly had DNC communications that showed that "Clinton was suffering from ‘intensified psycho-emotional problems, including uncontrolled fits of anger, aggression, and cheerfulness.'"
"Clinton was placed on a daily regimen of ‘heavy tranquilizers’ and while afraid of losing, she remained ‘obsessed with a thirst for power,’" the report states.
The Russians also allegedly had information that Clinton "suffered from ‘Type 2 diabetes, Ischemic heart disease, deep vein thrombosis, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.’"
The Russians also allegedly possessed a "campaign email discussing a plan approved by Secretary Clinton to link Putin and Russian hackers to candidate Trump in order to ‘distract the American public’ from the Clinton email server scandal."
Gabbard, during the White House press briefing Wednesday, said there were "high level DNC emails that detailed evidence of Hillary's, quote, psycho-emotional problems, uncontrolled fits of anger, aggression and cheerfulness, and that then Secretary Clinton was allegedly on a daily regimen of heavy tranquilizers."
"Then CIA Director Brennan and the intelligence community mischaracterized intelligence and relied on dubious, substandard sources to create a contrived false narrative that Putin developed a, quote unquote, ‘clear preference’ for Trump," Gabbard said. "Brennan and the IC misled lawmakers by referencing the debunked Steele dossier to assess, quote unquote, 'Russia's plans and intentions,' falsely suggesting that this dossier had intelligence value when he knew that it was discredited, the intelligence community excluded significant intelligence and ignored or selectively quoted reliable intelligence that contradicted the intelligence community assessments."
"Key findings on Putin's alleged support for Trump, including this intelligence reporting, would have exposed the ICA's claim as implausible, if not ridiculous," she said.
Neither Clinton nor Obama responded to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
A tranquilizer is a drug used to reduce mental disturbance, such as anxiety and tension. Tranquilizers are typically prescribed to individuals suffering from anxiety, sleep disturbances and related conditions affecting their mental and physical health.
Fox News Digital, in 2020, first reported on the "Clinton Plan."
On July 28, 2016, then-CIA Director John Brennan briefed Obama on a plan from one of Clinton's campaign foreign policy advisors allegedly "to vilify Donald Trump by stirring up a scandal claiming interference by the Russian security service."
Comey, Vice President Joe Biden, Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper were in the Brennan–Obama briefing.
After that briefing, the CIA reportedly properly forwarded that information through a Counterintelligence Operational Lead (CIOL) to Comey and Deputy Assistant Director of Counterintelligence Peter Strzok, with the subject line: "Crossfire Hurricane."
Fox News Digital exclusively obtained and reported on the CIOL in October 2020, which stated: "The following information is provided for the exclusive use of your bureau for background investigative action or lead purposes as appropriate."
"Per FBI verbal request, CIA provides the below examples of information the CROSSFIRE HURRICANE fusion cell has gleaned to date," the memo continued. "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."
The FBI on July 31, 2016, opened a counterintelligence investigation into whether candidate Trump and members of his campaign were colluding or coordinating with Russia to influence the 2016 campaign. That investigation was referred to inside the bureau as "Crossfire Hurricane."
Former Special Counsel Robert Mueller was appointed to take over the FBI’s original "Crossfire Hurricane" investigation. After nearly two years, Mueller’s investigation, which concluded in March 2019, yielded no evidence of criminal conspiracy or coordination between the Trump campaign and Russian officials during the 2016 presidential election.
Shortly after, John Durham was appointed as special counsel to investigate the origins of the "Crossfire Hurricane" probe.
Durham found that the FBI "failed to act" on a "clear warning sign" that the bureau was the "target" of a Clinton-led effort to "manipulate or influence the law enforcement process for political purposes" ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
"The aforementioned facts reflect a rather startling and inexplicable failure to adequately consider and incorporate the Clinton Plan intelligence into the FBI’s investigative decision-making in the Crossfire Hurricane investigation," Durham’s report states.
"Indeed, had the FBI opened the Crossfire Hurricane investigation as an assessment and, in turn, gathered and analyzed data in concert with the information from the Clinton Plan intelligence, it is likely that the information received would have been examined, at a minimum, with a more critical eye," the report continued.
Durham, in his report, said the FBI "failed to act on what should have been – when combined with other incontrovertible facts – a clear warning sign that the FBI might then be the target of an effort to manipulate or influence the law enforcement process for political purposes during the 2016 presidential election."
Meanwhile, the report states that Brennan "ordered the post-election publication of 15 reports containing previously collected but unpublished intelligence, three of which were substandard – containing information that was unclear, of uncertain origin, potentially biased, or implausible – and those became foundational sources for the ICA judgments that Putin preferred Trump over Clinton."
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"The ICA misrepresented these reports as reliable, without mentioning their significant underlying flaws," the committee found.
"One scant, unclear, and unverifiable fragment of a sentence from one of the substandard reports constitutes the only classified information cited to suggest Putin ‘aspired’ to help Trump win," the report states, adding that the ICA "ignored or selectively quoted reliable intelligence reports that challenged-and in some cases undermined – judgments that Putin sought to elect Trump."
The report also states that the ICA "failed to consider plausible alternative explanations of Putin’s intentions indicated by reliable intelligence and observed Russian actions."
The committee also found that two senior CIA officers reportedly warned Brennan that "we don’t have direct information that Putin wanted to get Trump elected."
Despite those warnings, the Obama administration moved to publish the ICA.
The report also includes intelligence from a longtime Putin confidant who explained to investigators that "Putin told him he did not care who won the election," and that Putin "had often outlined the weaknesses of both major candidates."
The report also stated that the ICA committed context showing that the claim that Putin preferred Trump was "implausible – if not ridiculous."
The committee also found that the ICA suppressed intelligence that showed that Russia was actually planning for a Clinton victory because "they knew where (she) stood" and believed Russia "could work with her."
The declassification of the report comes just days after Gabbard declassified and released documents that included "overwhelming evidence" that demonstrated how, after Trump won the 2016 election against Clinton, then-President Obama and his national security team laid the groundwork for what would be the yearslong Trump–Russia collusion probe.
Meanwhile, Fox News Digital, in 2020, exclusively obtained the declassified transcripts from Obama-era national security officials’ closed-door testimonies before the House Intelligence Committee, in which those officials testified that they had no "empirical evidence" of a conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia in the 2016 election, but continued to publicly push the "narrative" of collusion.
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The House Intelligence Committee, in 2017, conducted depositions of top Obama intelligence officials, including Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, National Security Advisor Susan Rice and Attorney General Loretta Lynch, among others.
The transcripts, from 2017 and 2018, revealed top Obama officials were questioned by House Intelligence Committee lawmakers and investigators about whether they had or had seen evidence of such collusion, coordination or conspiracy – the issue that drove the FBI's initial case and later the special counsel probe.
"I never saw any direct empirical evidence that the Trump campaign or someone in it was plotting/conspiring with the Russians to meddle with the election," Clapper testified in 2017. "That’s not to say that there weren’t concerns about the evidence we were seeing, anecdotal evidence.... But I do not recall any instance where I had direct evidence."
In response, Obama spokesperson Patrick Rodenbush called the allegations "bizarre and ridiculous."
"Out of respect for the office of the presidency, our office does not normally dignify the constant nonsense and misinformation flowing out of this White House with a response. But these claims are outrageous enough to merit one. These bizarre allegations are ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction," said Rodenbush.
"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," he added. "These findings were affirmed in a 2020 report by the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee, led by then-Chairman Marco Rubio."
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