Russia investigation origins conspiracy theory

The Russia investigation origins conspiracy theory or Russia counter-narrative is a conspiracy theory narrative created by Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani, Republican Party leaders, and right-wing conservatives. It attacks the legitimacy and conclusions of multiple investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 elections and the public and secretive links between Russian intelligence and Trump associates. Trump in particular has attacked the origins and conclusions of the Crossfire Hurricane and Mueller investigations and ordered Attorney General William Barr and U.S. attorney John Durham to conduct reviews of the investigations.

The narrative includes conspiracy theories such as Trump's Spygate theory, accusations of a secretive, elite "deep state" network, descriptions of the Russian interference investigations as an illegal "Russian collusion hoax", that the "real collusion" was between Hillary Clinton, Democrats, and Russia – and later, Ukraine.

Giuliani and Trump alleged the Russian government had been framed, and that it was the Ukrainian government that had interfered to benefit Hillary Clinton. It was later revealed in court by lawyers for Julian Assange that Dana Rohrabacher, acting on behalf of Trump, had made a quid pro quo offer of a presidential pardon to Assange, in exchange for Assange covering up Russian involvement by declaring that "Russia had nothing to do with the DNC leaks".