Mike Morell, once the CIA’s acting director, played a starring role in Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign to paint Donald Trump as a Russian pawn, as Just the News reports. His actions, rooted in a web of political maneuvering, raise questions about the weaponization of intelligence for partisan gain. This isn’t just a dusty history lesson -- it’s a warning about how power plays can distort truth.
In 2016, Morell spearheaded efforts to tie Trump to Vladimir Putin, a strategy the Clinton campaign leaned into heavily to deflect from her email scandal. Newly declassified evidence, dubbed the "Clinton Plan intelligence," reveals a calculated effort to smear Trump with Russia ties. The FBI, under questionable leadership, even chased these flimsy collusion claims.
Morell’s fingerprints are all over this saga, from op-eds to orchestrated letters, all designed to cast Trump as a Kremlin stooge. His August 2016 New York Times piece endorsed Clinton while branding Trump a national security threat, claiming Putin had recruited him as an “unwitting agent.” Clever phrasing, but it smells like a political hit job dressed up as patriotism.
The Clinton campaign, with operatives like Jennifer Palmieri and John Podesta, eagerly amplified Morell’s claims. Palmieri gushed in 2017 about how “shocking” it was to see intelligence officials like Morell dive into the fray. Shocking? More like a carefully scripted performance.
By late August 2016, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid jumped in, citing Morell’s claims in a letter to FBI Director James Comey, demanding probes into Trump’s Russia ties. Reid’s letter was less about truth and more about fanning the flames of a narrative. The media, predictably, lapped it up without much scrutiny.
In mid-September 2016, Morell led a letter signed by 50 former national security officials, pushing the Trump-Putin connection with calls for “transparency.” Transparency? That’s rich, considering the Clinton campaign funded the discredited Steele dossier and a debunked Yahoo News story about Trump’s team.
Clinton herself leaned hard into Morell’s rhetoric, citing his endorsements and claims in speeches and campaign videos. Her October 2016 video practically crowned Morell the oracle of Trump’s supposed Russian ties. It’s almost as if the campaign had a script, and Morell was reading his lines perfectly.
By late October, Morell doubled down, penning another piece for the Akron Beacon Journal, tying Trump to Putin. His University of Chicago talk days before the election hammered the same point, warning of Trump’s cozy relationship with Russia. The timing reeks of desperation to sway voters.
In December 2016, Morell called Russian election meddling the “political equivalent of 9/11” in a Cipher Brief interview. Hyperbole much? His dramatic flair helped fuel a Washington Post report claiming Russia intervened to boost Trump, a narrative that crumbled under scrutiny.
Fast forward to 2020, and Morell was back at it, organizing a letter signed by 51 ex-spies falsely claiming Hunter Biden’s laptop was Russian disinformation. Triggered by a call from Antony Blinken, the letter was a blatant attempt to shield Joe Biden during the presidential debate. Political chess, not intelligence analysis.
Morell’s 2020 letter wasn’t just a one-off; it was a sequel to his 2016 playbook. At least 17 signers had appeared on his Intelligence Matters podcast, suggesting a cozy network of loyalists ready to push his narratives. This wasn’t about truth -- it was about controlling the story.
Declassified evidence from John Durham’s report further exposes the Clinton campaign’s dirty tricks. Intercepts linked to a George Soros ally, Leonard Benardo, suggest Clinton’s team plotted to tie Trump to Putin, though Durham noted the emails might be composites. Either way, it’s a damning look at political manipulation.
Morell’s flip-flopping is telling -- in March 2017, he admitted there was no evidence of Trump-Russia collusion, despite years of pushing the opposite. His 2017 amicus brief in a dismissed lawsuit against Trump and his 2020 laptop letter show a pattern of overreach. Truth seems to take a backseat to agenda.
Clinton’s campaign, with figures like Marc Elias and Jake Sullivan, didn’t just stop at Morell’s letters. They funded a fake story about a Trump Organization-Alfa Bank link, further muddying the waters. This wasn’t about national security -- it was about winning at all costs.
On Jan. 20 of this year, Trump struck back, signing an executive order revoking the security clearances of Morell and the other laptop letter signers. It’s a bold move to hold accountable those who weaponized their credentials. The intelligence community should protect democracy, not play favorites in it.
