Hawkeye Reporter

Sixty-nine percent of voters surveyed in a recent poll support accountability following disclosures by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) regarding the FBI's handling of investigations related to Hillary Clinton and alleged connections between Donald Trump and Russia.

Grassley requested the Department of Justice and Intelligence Community to declassify two documents, which were then made public. The first, referred to as the Clinton Annex, details what it describes as the FBI’s failure to fully investigate Clinton’s use of a private email server and her handling of classified information during her tenure as Secretary of State. The second document, called the Durham Annex, indicates that the FBI had intelligence suggesting that Clinton and her campaign advisors sought to create a narrative linking Trump to Russia in order to divert attention from her own missing emails. According to these documents, the FBI did not fully pursue this evidence and instead relied on information from the Steele Dossier in its investigation into Trump.

A Rasmussen poll conducted July 29-31 among 1,172 likely voters found that nearly two-thirds (65%) are following recent declassified releases by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Sen. Grassley either "very closely" or "somewhat closely." Of those polled, 54% believe Obama administration officials committed serious crimes in manipulating intelligence related to these matters.

The poll also shows bipartisan interest: 56% of Democrats reported following the investigation; 32% believe serious crimes occurred; and 59% agree that those responsible should be held accountable. Among Republicans, those figures are higher at 75%, 83%, and 86%, respectively.

Media coverage has been limited compared with previous reporting on Russiagate. According to Gabbard’s office, major networks such as ABC, CBS, and NBC spent over 2,200 minutes covering Russiagate but only about two minutes on these new disclosures in recent weeks.

Marc Elias, a lawyer for Hillary Clinton, commented on MSNBC: “I am imploring, like honestly, I’m just imploring the media, do not report this as a legitimate investigation,” Elias said. “Do not report this as ‘They are opening an investigation into John Brennan’ … Report this as the misuse, the abuse, the authoritarian takeover of the Department of Justice. That should be the headline.”