Below is my column in Fox.com on the release of the last declassified material on the origins of the Russian collusion investigation. After the release, former CIA Director John Brennan and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper wrote in the New York Times insisted that they never relied on the Steele dossier. The column only reaffirmed the level of dishonesty and duplicity that marked their tenures in office. (The Times still printed this claim despite being demonstrably untrue).
The documents quote Brennan in overruling career analysts and intervening to include the dossier in the intelligence assessment. Moreover, the column echoes the media spin that the investigation was about an attempted Russian interference while dismissing the collusion claim that consumed much of the first term. (Even after leaving office, Brennan continued to push the false collusion claim). Both countries routinely hacked each other’s emails — that is why we have the most recent incriminating evidence on the Clinton campaign’s funding and spreading the false collusion claims. We hacked their emails. We have also regularly tried to influence the elections of other nations. The key to the dossier and the Russian investigation was the allegation of collusion and the central role of the Clinton campaign in creating the narrative that Trump was a Russian asset.
Here is the column:
This week, Washington was rocked by new releases in the declassification of material related to the origins of the Russian investigation. The material shows further evidence of a secret plan by the Clinton campaign to use the FBI and media to spread a false claim that Donald Trump was a Russian asset. With this material, the public is finally seeing how officials and reporters set into motion what may be the greatest hoax ever perpetrated in American politics. There never was a Russian collusion conspiracy. This is the emerging story of the real Russian conspiracy to manufacture a false narrative that succeeded in devouring much of the first term of the Trump Administration.
What is emerging in these documents is a political illusion carefully constructed by government officials and a willing media. The brilliance of the trick was getting reporters to buy into the illusion; to own it like members of an audience called to the stage by an illusionist.
The effort closely followed the three steps of the classic magic trick: The Pledge, The Turn, and The Prestige.
The Pledge
The trick began with the pledge, the stage where the public is set up by showing ordinary events with the suggestion that it is about to transform into something extraordinary. The key is to make something seem real that is actually not.
The Clinton campaign delivered the pledge by secretly funding the Steele dossier, using Fusion GPS and a former British spy named Christopher Steele, to create a salacious account of Trump being an agent of Russia. New emails state that Hillary Clinton personally approved the operation.
It was Elias who was the general counsel to the Clinton presidential campaign when it funded the infamous Steele dossier and pushed the false Alfa Bank conspiracy. (His fellow Perkins Coie partner, Michael Sussmann, was indicted but acquitted in a criminal trial.)
During the campaign, a few reporters asked about the possible connection to the campaign, but Clinton campaign officials denied any involvement in the Steele Dossier. After the election, journalists discovered that the payments for the Steele dossier were hidden as “legal fees” among the $5.6 million paid to Perkins Coie under Elias.
When New York Times reporter Ken Vogel tried to report the story, he said, Elias “pushed back vigorously, saying ‘You (or your sources) are wrong.’” Times reporter Maggie Haberman declared, “Folks involved in funding this lied about it, and with sanctimony, for a year.”
Later, John Podesta, Clinton’s campaign chairman, appeared before Congress for questioning on the Steele dossier. Podesta emphatically denied any contractual agreement with Fusion GPS. Sitting beside him was Elias, who reportedly said nothing to correct the misleading information given to Congress.
The FEC ultimately sanctioned the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee over the handling of the funding of the dossier through his prior firm.
The Turn
The next step is the turning point when the ordinary becomes something extraordinary. This required the involvement of the government. The Clinton team worked behind the scenes to feed the dossier to the FBI. It would be the criminal investigation that would transform the ordinary accounts, like Carter Page speaking in Moscow, into an elaborate Russian plot. Even though the FBI was warned early on that Page was a CIA asset, not a Russian asset, the Clinton team found eager officials in the Obama Administration to assist in the illusion.
The newly disclosed evidence shows how the turn was made. In July 2016, Brennan briefed former President Obama on Hillary Clinton’s “plan” to tie then-candidate Trump to Russia as “a means of distracting the public from her use of a private email server.” The original Russia investigation — funded by Clinton’s campaign — was launched days after this briefing.
Months later, it would be Brennan who overruled his own CIA analysts in his ordering of a second last-minute assessment at the end of the Obama Administration in support of the Russian allegations. It would help make the turn with the all-consuming Russian investigation that would follow.
Career analysts were not buying the turn. They objected that the reliance on the Steele dossier “ran counter to fundamental tradecraft principles and ultimately undermined the credibility of a key judgment.” One CIA analyst told investigators that “[Brennan] refused to remove it, and when confronted with the dossier’s main flaws, [Brennan] responded, ‘Yes, but doesn’t it ring true?’”
That is the key to the turn; it needs only to be enough to fool the audience.
The Prestige
The final stage is called the Prestige, where the magician faces the toughest part of the trick. As explained in the 2006 movie “The Prestige,” the viewer is “looking for the secret… but you won’t find it, because of course you’re not really looking. You don’t really want to know. You want to be fooled.” However, “making something disappear isn’t enough; you have to bring it back.”
The difference is that this trick was designed to derail Trump and it worked. In the end, however, the Special Counsel and Inspector General both rejected the Russian collusion claims. The public then reelected Trump. Now, the prestige may be revealed by the CIA.
Reports indicate that the CIA is about to declassify material showing that foreign sources were also in on the trick. The information reportedly indicates that foreign sources were aware of the move to create a Russian collusion scandal and expected that the FBI would play a role in the plan. That was before the bureau launched its controversial Crossfire Hurricane probe. One source said the foreign intelligence predicted the move “with alarming specificity.”
The most recently declassified material shows that the Russian actors in 2016 hacked emails from the Open Society Foundations, formerly known as the Soros Foundation. The emails reveal a broader network of activists and allies who were aware of the Clinton conspiracy.
Leonard Bernardo, who was the regional director for Eurasia at the Open Society Foundations, explained that “during the first stage of the campaign, due to lack of direct evidence, it was decided to disseminate the necessary information through the FBI-affiliated…from where the information would then be disseminated through leading U.S. publications.”
Bernardo added, “Julie (Clinton Campaign Advisor) says it will be a long-term affair to demonize Putin and Trump. Now it is good for a post-convention bounce. Later, the FBI will put more oil into the fire.”
The media (including the Washington Post and New York Times, which won Pulitzer prizes for reporting on the debunked claims) are apoplectic in dismissing these disclosures. The last thing they will do is report on how they helped sell a political hoax. The problem is that they never said it was a trick. They said it was the truth. That is why they cannot honestly cover the story. To do so would not be coverage, it would be a confession.
It appears that everyone was in on the trick: the U.S. government, the media, even foreign governments. The only chumps were the American people. Now they are about to see how it was done.
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro professor of public interest law at George Washington University and the author of “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.”
What is truly amazing is that the defense being used is that the Trump administration is weaponizing the government against its enemies, therefore threatening our democracy. This is comparable to the accusation of racism against anybody who questions a progressive position- to respond is to open yourself to opprobrium, since the logic is that your rebuttal is racist. Investigating these heinous acts by Clinton and Obama are called threats to democracy, and any rebuttal are called further evidence of the same.
The American public has to see past these obfuscations and twisted definitions and demand that justice be done, or the future of our nation is more than bleak.
“the Trump administration is weaponizing the government against its enemies, therefore threatening our democracy”
NTM the irony of the obvious projection, since that is precisely what the Obama, Clinton, Brennan, and the rest of that pack of rats sought to accomplish with this conspiracy.
If I remember correctly, New York passed a law allowing someone to sue Trump even thought the statute of limitations had run out. It was specifically aimed at Trump. Is it within Congress ability to pass a new law that can extend the statute of limitations for this specific type of obstruction and or crime?
No, because both the NY law and its application to Trump are blatantly unconstitutional. That is one of the many reasons that the garbage case will be overturned and thrown out on appeal.
I believe that treason has no statute of limitations
Not constitutional Treason but Conspiracy in the U.S. Code – The 5-year statute begins on the date of the most recent episode.
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AI Overview
The statute of limitations for most federal conspiracy charges under 18 U.S.C. § 371 is five years. This statute applies to conspiracies to commit an offense against the United States or to defraud the United States. The statute of limitations begins to run from the date of the last overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy, according to legal precedent.
The Authority for PDT to enforce proper elections lies in Article IV, Sec 4. Look it up.
With each new “reveal” and unearthing of buried rot that typifies the treachery of the Democrat Party, the truth comes to light: That political cabal has metastasized into the Perfidy Party, and in every sense of the word:
https://www.thesaurus.com/browse/perfidy.
The cabal has now proven beyond any doubt — let alone a reasonable doubt — that it has forever forfeited any claim of right, ability or competence to govern a free people in a constitutional republic such as remains of this one.
Any member of the electorate who persists in belonging to or supporting the creature should be ashamed. Then again, because shame is not a component of Machiavellian expediency, the likelihood of a mass political epiphany in the near term may be remote.
That said, miracles can still happen. Keep your fingers crossed as the 2026 mid-terms approach.
“With each new “reveal” and unearthing of buried rot that typifies the treachery of the Democrat Party, the truth comes to light”
You mean like this example?
DOJ Official Who Approved $2 Million Payout To Disgraced Russia HoaxersvIdentified As Left-Wing Activist Brian Netter
https://thefederalist.com/2025/08/01/exclusive-doj-official-who-approved-2-million-payout-to-disgraced-russia-hoaxers-identified-as-left-wing-activist-brian-netter/
“The Department of Justice official who signed off on $2 million in taxpayer-funded payments to disgraced Russia collusion hoax participants left the Department of Justice to help lead the “legal resistance” to President Donald Trump and other duly-elected Republicans, new records reviewed exclusively by The Federalist reveal.”
==== or this ====
The Artificial Demon
https://www.kunstler.com/p/the-artificial-demon
“The Russiagate hoax wasn’t limited to Trump. It was also used to create animosity towards Russia, which would allow the Deep State to wage war with Russia. Sad to say, it worked. Ukrainian lives lost. Trillions of U. S. dollors laundered to Deep State contractors.”
I would say it was a lot more than a trick, it was the crime of the century and led to Biden’s 2020 steal and the J6 coverup, for which Biden shamefully has never been held accountable.
I saw this as it was happening as a way to block Trump by the Dems and the UNIPARTY. I did not believe the Russians could get with Trump and interfere enough to win the election for Trump. I believed the media was totally playing for the Dems and that was including Fox. The mess of Trump’s first term was pure blockage in multiple ways to keep him from doing what he planned to do and keep the Deep State operating.
The 2020 election night I stayed up all night and watched the election get stolen for Biden. It was clear to me that it was and all the media was ignoring the steal. The GA State Senate in 21 ran a committee to check for fraud in the 2020 Presidential election and they found it in multiple ways and enough to throw the election and gave the report to the Senate President and Gov Kemp who did nothing. I stopped watching main stream media after the night of the 2020 election. I realized during the 2020 election that Biden was mentally impaired by watching him on TV.
Trump being elected in 2024 gave him 4 years to prepare and plan for DC. He has people he wants and what he wants to do. The Dems and UNIPARTY are trying to slow him down but they cannot stop him. This Russiagate issue will be more pressure on the Dems, UNIPARTY, and Deep State. These Fed District Judges that are not following the law need to be impeached and removed, but the removal will likely not happen due to Senate numbers, Impeachment can happen if the House acts and that will tie up Judges that have been acting outside the law.
How encouraging to see that the scales have completely fallen from Professor Turley’s eyes. Add one more powerful ally in the fight to recover the Founder’s vision from those who so deeply corrupted it.
On a side note, it should be reported in articles such as this one that Clinton’s corruption was not simply that of a run-of-the-mill campaign candidate performing a dirty trick; it was a plot perpetrated by a retired Secretary of State, a Senator, and once First Lady.
…, and do not forget: facilitated by Perkins Coie……
Great article, except for the last paragraph. The old saying “there are none so blind as those who will not see” will be plainly illustrated by the refusal of political partisans to acknowledge reality.
This may already have been posted, but i don’t give a damn. It’s so spot on!
https://babylonbee.com/news/investigation-concludes-trump-is-the-only-one-who-didnt-collude-with-russia
Hear, hear!
calls for Star Chamber events…
You mean like what happened to anyone in the Trump orbit during the Russia hoax frenzy?
Dear Prof Turley,
What ‘foreign intelligence’ was that!? I would want to know.
>”Reports indicate that the CIA is about to declassify material showing that foreign sources were also in on the trick. The information reportedly indicates that foreign sources were aware of the move to create a Russian collusion scandal and expected that the FBI would play a role in the plan. That was before the bureau launched its controversial Crossfire Hurricane probe. One source said the foreign intelligence predicted the move “with alarming specificity.””
*I think we can rule out the Russians.
The Dutch. The Dutch were spying on the Russians, who saw that Hillary planned this whole thing. The Dutch then informed our FBI for them to do something. Threat to democracy and all that. The Dutch were then stunned to see the FBI were in on it! Imagine what our allies think of Obama and the Democrats.
The Dutch trusted that the CIA wasn’t also part of the illegal scheme. Whoops.
“The Dutch trusted that the CIA wasn’t also part of the illegal scheme.”
Any concatenation of the terms “CIA” and “trust” identifies the extenders of that trust as benighted fools…
they might be the only ones
It should not be overlooked that central to all of this was Hillary’s breach of protocol to use a private email server for official State Department business when she was Secretary of State, and then, with her staff, destroying evidence that she had done so. These were crimes, and the covering-up of these crimes now appears to have led Obama, Biden, Brennan, Comey, Clapper, Schiff, the mainstream media, and many others, down a road to perdition. Why did so many seemingly very smart people decide to cover for Hillary’s crimes? Was it just about the power that would have been achieved by Hillary winning the presidency in 2016, or was the conspiracy a projection of something deeper? Remember the CFIUS approval of the sale of US uranium assets to Russia during the Obama administration? That Committee, then chaired by Treasury Secretary Timothy Guithner, included Hilary Clinton, Eric Holder, John Brennan, James Clapper, among others, approved the sale of Uranium One, a American company that mines uranium, to Rosatom, a Russian company controlled by the Russian government. Shortly thereafter, the Clintons received $500,000 from the Russian bank that financed the sale and the Clinton Foundation receive $130 million after the sale of of Uranium One to Rosatom was finalized. Coincidence?
“If Clinton had been charged, Obama’s culpable involvement would have been patent.”
– Andrew C. McCarthy, National Review, January 23, 2018
New FBI texts highlight a motive to conceal the president’s involvement.
From the first, these columns have argued that the whitewash of the Hillary Clinton–emails caper was President Barack Obama’s call — not the FBI’s, and not the Justice Department’s. (See, e.g., here, here, and here.) The decision was inevitable. Obama, using a pseudonymous email account, had repeatedly communicated with Secretary Clinton over her private, non-secure email account.
https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/01/hillary-clinton-barack-obama-emails-key-decision-not-indict-hillary/
Turley seems to have left out Obama’s role in the crime.
This is Watergate on steroids. To the power 100. But as I’ve said, if Nixon had been a Democrat, Watergate would have been buried and if WAPO had pursued it, Woodward and Bernstein would have been canned. The left would have screamed CONSPIRACY THEORY!!
I agree that if Nixon were a Democrat, but. I blame the Republicans. Had they not sided with the Democrats, this scandal would have been no more significant than Iran-Contra, and Nixon could not have been removed from office. The Republicans set a precedent that resulted in President Trump having to pay a terrible price.
*. Yes, the Nixon affair was political. Nixon did his administration in at Kent State. Woodward and Bernstein were used by the Post. It was very clever by taking out Nixon ‘s VP first.
Then they shot Kennedy. Then attempted DJT.
Corrupt for a long time.
My favorite comment for the day, actually made by an Anonymous @8:00:
“For far too long, the names of the people who govern us do not appear on a ballot.”
BRAVO!
(Rare that I say thank you to an Anonymous, but render to Caesar what is Little Caesar’s and render to Pizza Hut the rest.)
*. Lin, what is the motive?
Thanks
I only know where the buck stops.
*see also Citizens United
Facts are stubborn things.
Yes, Bill Clinton received a $500,000 speaking fee in Moscow in 2010.
This fee was paid by Renaissance Capital, a Russian investment bank with reported links to the Kremlin. The speech occurred shortly after the Russian government announced its intention to acquire a majority stake in Uranium One, a Canadian company with uranium assets in the United States.
The Russian bank is just a part of the Russian oligarchy. The treason began long before RussiaGate.
Obama just continued the Clinton legacy. The legacy media swept the story under the rug because they were part of a love for socialism and the forthcoming utopia. If they had been successful you can be sure that Brennan wouldn’t allow you to give your opinion on Twitter. Continued diligence is required.
“Political trick”? This was TREASON! They abused the FBI, CIA, DOJ, FISA and Congress! They lied to America, they tried to overturn an election and they alienated foreign countries and our ability to negotiate in good faith from a diplomatic perspective, which could have also lead the Russia vs Ukraine war! Then, who knows how ALL this may have played a role in the magical escape of Covid exactly 1 year before the next U.S. presidential elections, 17 million deaths and world economies tanking. Potentially 2 elections impacted by the evolutions of these peoples schemes! How about January 6th and all the Congressional hearings and wasted money and people’s right trampled from that event?!? These people need to be held accountable in the harshest possible way and Since Obama was the ringleader, they should face military tribunals, not liberal jury pools in DC. This is exactly how it all get swept under the rug and never stops and this IS much bigger than just a “Russian Collusion” fake narrative!
*. Yes, anon, but WHY? What is the true motive?
Power.
I can give you 38 Trillion reasons ! Now shut up and pay tour taxes!
On behalf of the American people, only the liberal half of the Country fell for all these obvious lies. Conservatives knew better.
I also want loss of US citizenship for these scum.
Banishment. Sent them to Elon’s Mars base. Yes, I’m aware that it does not exist yet. That’s their problem.
For many of us, this is not surprising information. It’s like witnessing an avalanche taking out a group of skiers ( bad actors). It happened and we know it reasonably happened. Even those that didn’t witness it knew the conditions were right and we can see some evidence it happened. And yet, all we can see is white. Those that didn’t witness it, and/or couldn’t believe such a thing could happen, deny it happened. It’s taken years to dig out proof, and the bodies are being revealed.
This is not some political game. We all need to rise above the sewers political parties operate in and unanimously agree this should never happen again and that people at the highest levels should be held to account with serious penalties. Defending your “team” at this point is sewer-level garbage.
Good analogy.
OLLY,
Well said and I agree. But is there a Democrat who has the intestinal fortitude to come forward, condemn all those bad actors and offer up a solution? That would take real courage and leadership. From what we have seen so far is nothing but silence or we have Senator Booker ranting and raving about fighting against Trump. Until then, we just need to point this attempted coup against Trump’s first admin, again and again. We need more of independent media to keep this in the headlines.
But is there a Democrat who has the intestinal fortitude to come forward, condemn all those bad actors and offer up a solution?
Upstate, great question! Not that I’m in the habit of advising the Democratic party, but the first “prominent” Democrat to rise above party politics to denounce this major scandal will begin to capture the attention of the moderates in their party, Independents and perhaps even moderate Republicans.
” But is there a Democrat who has the intestinal fortitude to come forward, condemn all those bad actors and offer up a solution?”
I have no love for the Dems, but… Wasn’t Gabbard a Dem until quite recently?
“This is not some political game. “
It is not. This political game coalesced in the 60s, and though certain cities were prominent in its development, I think Chicago was the dead center. Stalin was dead, and the New Left was trying to design new strategies for revolution under a veneer of civility. We can see it climbing towards its apex under Obama and spreading mass destruction in the afterglow.
Yes sir. Well said. This is that moment in history where the Democratic party can begin to restore some sanity back into their platform.
When all is said and done Republicans will get cold feet, do absolutely nothing, and Tulsi Gabbard will be left hanging out to dry.
Hallmark, that has certainly been their MO for years. But somehow my impression is this administration is not going to be satisfied with this big reveal without some serious effort to hold people to account. And if they end up exposing weak-knee’d Republicans in the process, all the better.
Let’s not forget, even though these people are guilty of perjury, conspiracy, and malfeasance, no D.C. jury will convict any of them for anything, regardless of the statute of limitations. The D.C. jury pool is just a candy box of woke idiots who will grandstand every verdict. Exactly that happened in Sussman’s trial.
Trump’s remedy of draining the swamp by ending tax-payer-funded Democrat slush funds, moving federal agencies to other states, and wiping out Democrat-controlled bureaucracies in Washington are the only solutions we can count on. Drain the jury box, and you’ll drain the swamp.
*. A candy box, Dio..
Kill them all and let God sort it out, a bumper sticker prevalent of the Vietnam war. It was explicit to Communists then as it is explicit to Communists now.
AI Overview
The phrase “Kill them all, and let God sort them out” is believed to originate from the Albigensian Crusade. It is attributed to Arnaud Amalric, a commander during the siege of Béziers in 1209, according to Wikipedia. The original Latin phrase was “Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius,” meaning “Kill them, for the Lord knows those that are His”. The more widely known English version is a loose translation and is often used to convey the idea of indiscriminate violence and letting divine judgment decide who is guilty.
there must be SOME WAY to try this somewhere RED.
Tell the judicial branch.
99% of those bureaucrats and bureaucracies are unconstitutional, Article 1, Section 8, and the self-qualified and, therefore, absolute 5th Amendment right to private property.