Analysis of Trump’s First Term Timeline
On a recent appearance on Fox News, George Washington University Law Professor Jonathan Turley discussed the events surrounding President Donald Trump’s initial term in office.
Turley highlighted declassified findings from National Intelligence Director Tarsi Gabbard. These revelations suggest that former President Barack Obama, along with his national security team, actively “manufactured and politicized intelligence” following Trump’s 2016 election win. During his segment on “Ingraham’s Angle,” Turley pointed out how the media aided in perpetuating this narrative.
“The media’s take on the Russian collusion story, allegedly funded by the Hillary Clinton campaign, is intriguing. While they denied funding for Steele’s documents, they seemed to overlook that fact,” Turley noted.
A crucial moment occurred in July 2016, when CIA Director John Brennan informed Obama of Clinton’s alleged scheme to create a Russian collusion narrative to distract from her email controversy. “Laura, piecing together the timeline paints quite a troubling picture. In July 2016, [then-CIA Director] John Brennan informed Obama that Hillary was concocting this conspiracy to deflect attention from her email issues,” Turley explained to Laura Ingraham. He mentioned that shortly after this conversation, declassified materials surfaced, revealing that it was Brennan who dismissed the Steele documents, which the White House intended to use towards the end of Obama’s presidency.
Turley elaborated on how international perceptions shaped the FBI’s actions even before the official investigation began. “What stands out to me now is how this originated from foreign sources that the FBI had identified as being part of this scheme,” he said. “This was essentially before this plan materialized—a true conspiracy, though not the one involving Russia. It was, in fact, a conspiracy of investigation perpetuated by individuals who misled the courts.”
In 2018, both the New York Times and the Washington Post were awarded the Pulitzer Prize for national reporting for their extensive coverage on Russian interference in the 2016 election, despite some skepticism regarding the validity of certain assertions.
The documents in question significantly contributed to acquiring warrants to surveil Trump associates like Carter Page but have since lost their credibility. In October 2022, FBI analyst Brian Orton testified that the bureau considered compensating Steele with between $1 million and $1.5 million for testimony he ultimately did not provide.
Additionally, in 2022, the Clinton Campaign and the Democratic National Committee were fined by the Federal Election Commission for their roles in promoting questionable documents central to the conspiracy allegations. Some senior officials also called into question Brennan’s major claims about Russian interference in the election, especially his assertion that Russia aimed to assist Trump in defeating Clinton.
