US Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe on Tuesday declassified documents that revealed former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director John Brennan had briefed former President Barack Obama on Hillary Clinton's purported "plan" to tie then-candidate, Donald Trump, to Russia as "a means of distracting the public from her use of a private email server" ahead of the 2016 presidential election, Fox News has reported.
Ratcliffe has declassified Brennan's handwritten notes which were taken after he briefed Obama on the intelligence the CIA received and a CIA memo, which revealed that officials referred the matter to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for potential investigative action.
The office of the Director of National Intelligence transmitted the declassified documents to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees on Tuesday afternoon, according to Fox News.
"Today, at the direction of President Trump, I declassified additional documents relevant to ongoing Congressional oversight and investigative activities," Ratcliffe said in a statement to Fox News Tuesday.
A source familiar with the documents explained that Brennan's handwritten notes were taken after briefing Obama on the matter.
"We are getting additional insight into Russian activities from [REDACTED]," Brennan notes read. "CITE [summarising] alleged approved by Hillary Clinton a proposal from one of her foreign policy advisers to vilify Donald Trump by stirring up a scandal claiming interference by the Russian security service," Brennan's notes read.
The notes state "on 28 of July." In the margin, Brennan writes "POTUS," but that section of the notes is redacted.
"Any evidence of collaboration between Trump campaign + Russia," the notes read.
The remainder of the notes is redacted, except in the margins, which reads: "JC," "Denis," and "Susan." "
The notes do not spell out the full names but, according to Fox News, "JC" could be referring to then-FBI Director James Comey, "Susan" could refer to National Security Adviser Susan Rice, and "Denis" could refer to Obama chief of staff Denis McDonough.
The declassification comes after Ratcliffe, last week, shared declassified information with the Senate Judiciary Committee which revealed that in September 2016, US intelligence officials forwarded an investigative referral on Clinton purportedly approving "a plan concerning US presidential candidate Trump and Russian hackers hampering US elections" in order to distract the public from her email scandal.
Ratcliffe informed the committee last week that the Obama administration obtained Russian intelligence in July 2016 with allegations against Clinton, but cautioned that the intelligence community "does not know the accuracy of this allegation or the text to which the Russian intelligence analysis may reflect exaggeration or fabrication."
According to Ratcliffe's letter, the intelligence included the "alleged approval by Hillary Clinton on July 26, 2016, of a proposal from one of her foreign policy advisers to vilify Donald Trump by stirring up a scandal claiming interference by Russian security services."
( With inputs from ANI )
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