The Trump-Russia Hoax: Build it with Lies, Sell it as Truth
The anatomy of a political setup.
Since 2016, Americans have been relentlessly gaslit by government officials, intelligence agencies, and a compliant corporate media claiming that Donald Trump colluded with Russia to steal the presidency. That narrative collapsed under the weight of mounting investigations, declassified reviews, and internal admissions. What has emerged instead is a disturbing portrait of a politically motivated intelligence and law enforcement campaign designed to sabotage Trump’s candidacy—and later, his presidency. *A timeline of “key intelligence manipulated and withheld from the American people by the Intelligence Community (IC)” was released by DNI Secretary Tulsi Gabbard on July 18, 2025.
The twin pillars of that exposure were the 2019 Horowitz Report and the 2023 Durham Report. But ongoing revelations have pushed the story into the realm of undeniable conspiracy. With each passing year, declassified documents and whistleblower accounts have peeled back the layers of institutional deceit.
One such example is the CIA’s own review of the 2016 Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA), declassified in June 2025, revealed that senior intelligence officials departed from standard analytic tradecraft to promote a predetermined political narrative. Furthermore, the FBI has now confirmed that Fusion GPS contractor Nellie Ohr lied to Congress about her coordination with government officials in developing the Steele dossier—a document that played a central role in launching and sustaining the Trump-Russia investigation. Importantly, Ohr’s lie concealed Fusion GPS’s covert pipeline of opposition research into the DOJ’s counterintelligence apparatus.
First Things First: Obama Knew
Declassified CIA notes and testimony confirm that President Barack Obama was briefed on Hillary Clinton’s plan to vilify Trump with a Russia “collusion” narrative as early as July 28, 2016. Former CIA Director John Brennan’s handwritten notes show that he informed Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and other senior national security officials of Clinton’s intent to “stir up a scandal” involving Trump and Russia.
This briefing occurred before the FBI officially launched Crossfire Hurricane. Despite knowing the political origins of the plan, neither Obama nor his administration took steps to halt the FBI’s subsequent investigation—which relied on the Clinton campaign’s opposition research. Instead, senior Obama-era officials—Comey, Brennan, Clapper, and others—moved in lockstep to support the false narrative.
Furthermore, newly declassified emails from 2020 showed that Susan Rice memorialized a January 5, 2017 Oval Office meeting between Obama, Biden, Comey, and Sally Yates, in which they discussed withholding details about Trump-Russia intelligence from the incoming Trump administration. That same day, Comey was instructed by Obama to handle the matter “by the book”—a phrase used to justify the concealment of evidence from the President-elect.
These records confirm that the effort to entrap Trump was not a rogue operation—Obama had the awareness, if not foreknowledge, of the entire plot.
General Michael Flynn: The First Tragic Casualty of the Setup
One of the earliest and most consequential victims of the Obama administration’s post-election operation was Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, Trump’s incoming National Security Advisor. Although FBI officials internally acknowledged in early January 2017 that Flynn had committed no wrongdoing in his phone calls with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, senior Obama officials nevertheless moved to resurrect the investigation against him.
At the now-infamous January 5, 2017, Oval Office meeting, President Obama raised Flynn’s communications with Kislyak and asked whether the FBI should withhold sensitive intelligence from the incoming National Security Advisor. That conversation was later memorialized by Susan Rice in her “by the book” email.
Days later, then-FBI Director James Comey disregarded DOJ guidance and sent two agents—including Peter Strzok—to interview Flynn at the White House. The interview was conducted without notifying White House counsel and under conditions the DOJ later admitted lacked a proper legal predicate. The agents wrote in their handwritten notes that Flynn did not lie and yet that was one of the things he was charged with.
The result was a manufactured perjury trap that ultimately led to Flynn’s resignation and years of legal, financial, and reputational destruction. Declassified FBI notes, disclosed in court filings by Flynn attorney Sidney Powell, revealed chilling internal deliberations: “What’s our goal? Truth/Admission or to get him to lie so we can prosecute or get him fired?” The intent, it seems, had already been determined.
Furthermore, behind the scenes, the targeting of Flynn was marked by deception, bad faith, and institutional cover-up. The FBI’s official 302 summary of Flynn’s January 24, 2017 interview—the form used to document agent recollections—was heavily edited after the fact, raising serious concerns about the credibility and legality of the process. The original version was not submitted until mid-February 2017, and multiple drafts were altered by Strzok and FBI counsel Lisa Page before being finalized. General Flynn has never seen the 302.
Powell’s relentless legal pursuit ultimately led to the dismissal of Flynn’s case, but not before he was forced to sell his family home and endure a relentless smear campaign during a time when he had been ordered to stay silent and couldn’t defend himself. In May 2020, the Department of Justice issued a Motion to Dismiss, concluding that the FBI interview had no legitimate investigative justification and that the case should have been dropped well before Flynn ever sat down with agents.
In the DOJ’s May 2020 Motion to Dismiss are the words that ultimately vindicated Flynn. The “FBI had in its possession transcripts of the actual communications between Mr. Flynn and Mr. Kislyak…Those transcripts show no derogatory information.” It is important to note that the Horowitz report also confirms Peter Stzrok’s central role in the mismanagement of Crossfire Hurricane, under which the Flynn case evolved.
As stated in the court documents themselves:
There was an “absence of any derogatory information…The government is not persuaded that the January 24, 2017 interview was conducted with a legitimate investigative basis…
Flynn’s case stands as a tragic chapter in modern American justice, underscored by his own rarely viewed January 2020 declaration explaining why he agreed to plead guilty—despite knowing it was a lie. He recounted how his legal team at Covington & Burling, along with the Special Counsel’s Office, pressured him into believing that if his “proffer went well,” the risk of indictment would diminish. Faced with the threat of financial ruin and implicit pressure that prosecutors might target his son, Flynn felt cornered.
At the time, Flynn did not grasp the full extent of the misconduct surrounding him—including the deeply problematic conflicts of interest involving the very law firm representing him. After 33 years of honorable military service, he approached the justice system with the discipline and trust of a soldier, never expecting the betrayal that would follow.
In his own heart-wrenching words, excerpted below, Flynn shares the internal agony of being caught between truth, duty, and paternal love. His emotional account—highlighted in red—reveals the raw and painful calculus he faced: how to survive, protect his family, and endure.
For anyone who has never lived through the terror of a politicized prosecution, it may be hard to fathom why a decorated three-star general would admit guilt for something he did not do. But Flynn’s plea was not a reflection of guilt—it was the act of a father and a patriot trying to shield his loved ones and fulfill his obligations the only way he knew how. Pictured below are the referenced passages from his declaration:
The Horowitz Report: Unmasking the Mechanics of FISA Abuse
When DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz released his long-awaited December 2019 report on the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane investigation, the mainstream media seized on one line: “We did not find documentary or testimonial evidence that political bias or improper motivation influenced the decision to open the investigation.” But what they ignored—willfully or otherwise—was the damning body of evidence that painted a far more disturbing picture: a weaponized FBI leadership, led by then-Director James Comey, that used unverified opposition research to justify secret surveillance of the Trump campaign. And that was only part of the story.
Horowitz’s report focused on the FBI’s handling of the Trump-Russia probe. He documented 17 “significant inaccuracies and omissions” in the FBI’s applications for FISA surveillance on former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. These included the failure to disclose Page’s longstanding relationship with the CIA, reliance on the Clinton-funded Steele dossier, and the use of political opposition research–funded by the DNC and Hillary Clinton’s campaign–as the backbone of a surveillance campaign against a U.S. citizen.
Notably, FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith even altered an email to make it appear Page was not a CIA source—an outright fabrication that resulted in Clinesmith’s guilty plea. Horowitz criticized James Comey for failing to exercise appropriate oversight and for renewing the FISA applications based on tainted information. While Horowitz concluded he couldn’t prove political bias, he repeatedly noted “gross incompetence and negligence.”
Durham: The Broader Conspiracy
Horowitz’s findings would be amplified and further contextualized by Special Counsel John Durham, whose final report in May 2023 concluded that the FBI “never should have launched Crossfire Hurricane” in the first place. Together, these two investigations—Horowitz's forensic examination of DOJ conduct and Durham’s sweeping probe into the origins of Russiagate—reveal a deep and disturbing truth: the intelligence and law enforcement apparatus of the United States was leveraged to sabotage a duly elected president.
As such, Durham’s investigation picked up where Horowitz left off. Appointed by Attorney General William Barr to examine the origins of the Trump-Russia probe, Durham concluded that Crossfire Hurricane was opened without sufficient predicate, and based on little more than a vague tip from an Australian diplomat about George Papadopoulos—a junior Trump adviser mouthing off in a London bar.
Durham confirmed that the Steele dossier was central to the FBI’s surveillance and that the Bureau knew early on that its sources were compromised. For example, Igor Danchenko, Steele’s primary sub-source, told the FBI as early as January 2017 that the claims in the dossier were based on gossip and speculation. Yet the FBI (at the insistence of Brennan) continued to cite the dossier as credible evidence in FISA applications and briefed both Congress and the media as though it were verified intelligence–when all along key officials knew it was not.
Durham also uncovered coordination between FBI officials and Clinton-connected operatives. His indictment of Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann, though resulting in an acquittal, revealed that Sussmann fed false Trump-Alfa Bank claims to the FBI while concealing that he was working on behalf of the Clinton campaign. Durham’s report showed that top FBI officials, including Andrew McCabe and Peter Strzok, eagerly moved forward on politically charged claims without proper vetting.
The Durham report characterized the entire operation as infected by confirmation bias and a predisposition to believe the worst about Trump while dismissing any evidence that contradicted the narrative.
CIA’s 2025 Tradecraft Review: Politics Over Intelligence
In June 2025, former CIA Director John Ratcliffe declassified an internal review of the 2016 Intelligence Community Assessment on Russian interference. That assessment, which concluded Vladimir Putin “aspired to help Trump,” had been used to lend official credibility to the collusion narrative.
But the tradecraft review dismantled that conclusion.
The CIA found that the ICA’s central analytic line was based on a single, unverified source, rushed through without proper vetting. Analysts bypassed peer review, ignored dissenting voices within the intelligence community, and failed to apply standard sourcing and reliability assessments. In short, tradecraft was sacrificed for politics—all to frame Trump as Putin’s puppet.
The review acknowledged that the ICA’s language was “crafted to achieve political impact” and departed from the objective standards typically required for intelligence products. This validated long-standing criticisms that the ICA was not an intelligence document—it was a political weapon dressed up as one.
Nellie Ohr: The Lie That Linked Fusion GPS and the DOJ
In May 2025, the FBI confirmed something many had suspected for years: Nellie Ohr lied to Congress in her 2018 testimony when she claimed she had no contact with DOJ or FBI officials about the Steele dossier.
Ohr, a contractor for Fusion GPS (the same firm hired by the Clinton campaign), funneled politically charged opposition research through her husband, Bruce Ohr, a senior DOJ official. According to internal FBI records released in 2025, Nellie Ohr delivered a USB drive of dossier materials to her husband, who then passed them to the FBI—well before the bureau claimed it had knowledge of the dossier’s origins.
This direct pipeline between a Clinton-paid researcher and the Justice Department obliterates the claim that the investigation was apolitical. The FBI's confirmation of Ohr’s lie, and its failure to prosecute her, underscores the two-tiered justice system that allowed Democrat-aligned operatives to deceive Congress without consequence.
Comey's Role: A Study in Duplicity
James Comey’s dirty fingerprints are all over this scandal. As FBI Director, among other things he:
Held an unauthorized press conference in July 2016 to clear Hillary Clinton of using her personal email system for state business.
Concealed the existence of the Trump-Russia probe from Congress until after the election.
Signed the first three FISA applications against Carter Page based on unreliable, unverified information.
Leaked classified memos to the press in a successful effort to trigger the appointment of Special Counsel Robert Mueller. ““I asked a friend of mine to share the content of the memo with a reporter. Didn’t do it myself, for a variety of reasons... I thought that might prompt the appointment of a special counsel,” said Comey testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee. (Leaked Memo #4)
Comey’s actions reflected not only insubordination but a disturbing level of political opportunism. He manipulated processes, bent rules, and misled both the courts and the public—all under the guise of defending “norms.”
The Real Collusion: A Weaponized Intelligence State
Taken together, the Horowitz Report, the Durham investigation, the CIA tradecraft review, Flynn’s ill-conceived case, and the FBI’s confirmation about Nellie Ohr’s lies tell a story far more damning than anything alleged about Donald Trump.
None of this was a mistake. It was instead, a conspiracy of assumption, politically motivated bias, and institutional sabotage—executed by unelected bureaucrats and political operatives under color of law. In sum:
Intelligence was politicized.
Surveillance powers were abused.
Investigations were launched on false pretenses.
Lies were told to Congress—and protected.
The Real Threat to Democracy
There is growing discussion today about launching a formal investigation into the long-running effort to subvert a presidential election—or to silence anyone who dares to challenge the entrenched power structure in Washington. The real collusion wasn’t between Trump and Russia. It was between Clinton-funded political operatives, senior FBI officials, and intelligence leaders who betrayed their oath by allowing partisan politics to override truth, law, and the democratic process.
The evidence is no longer speculative. It is documented, confirmed, and irrefutable. What remains is for Congress and the American people to hold the perpetrators accountable—and to ensure this never happens again.
*This article has been edited to reflect new documents released by DNI Gabbard on July 18, 2025.