Documents Reveal Clinton Approved 2016 Plan To Claim Trump Ties To Putin - Ratcliffe

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 30th September, 2020) US Director of National Intelligence (DNI) John Ratcliffe has sent a letter to the US Judiciary Committee saying he declassified documents from 2016 that reveal Russian intelligence believed Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton may have approved a plan to falsely smear her opponent Donald Trump by alleging he had close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"I have declassified the following: In late July 2016, US intelligence agencies obtained insight into Russian intelligence analysis alleging that US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton had approved a campaign plan to stir up a scandal against US Presidential candidate Donald Trump by tying him to Putin and the Russians' hacking of the Democratic National Committee," Ratcliffe wrote in the letter addressed to Judiciary Committee Chair Lindsey Graham on Tuesday.

According to his handwritten notes, former Central Intelligence Agency Director John Brennan subsequently briefed President Barack Obama and other senior national security officials on the intelligence, Ratcliffe wrote.

The briefing to Obama included the "alleged approval by Hillary Clinton on July 26, 2016 of a proposal from one of her foreign policy advisors to vilify Donald Trump by stirring up a scandal claiming interference by Russian security services," the letter said.

On September 7, 2016, US intelligence officials forwarded an investigative referral to FBI Director James Comey and Deputy Assistant Director of Counterintelligence Peter Strzok regarding "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 mail server," the letter also noted.

The Intelligence Community is offering the Senate Judiciary Committee a classified briefing with further details, Ratcliffe said.