A longtime journalist and former Trump administration official has argued that Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign polling played a key role in sparking the investigation into alleged ties between President Donald Trump’s campaign and Russia. John Solomon, founder of the news website Just the News and head of a government transparency task force under Trump, discussed the origins of the Russia collusion probe in a recent podcast interview.

Solomon traced the origins back to late 2015, when Clinton’s team commissioned polling to assess which scandals related to the Clinton family were most damaging to her presidential bid. Despite numerous controversies tied to the Clintons, including Bill Clinton’s impeachment over his affair with Monica Lewinsky, allegations surrounding campaign fundraising in China, and Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server as secretary of state, the poll delivered an unexpected result.

“The one they’re most concerned about is Uranium One and the Clinton family’s relationship with Russia,” Solomon said. The Uranium One controversy involves a $500,000 speaking fee paid to Bill Clinton by a Russian-linked entity during a period when Hillary Clinton, serving as secretary of state, was involved in approving deals that included the sale of American uranium assets, including a company called Uranium One, as well as utility contracts. According to Solomon, this issue was seen by Clinton’s campaign as the most significant threat to her election prospects.

In response, Solomon said, the Clinton campaign sought to redirect scrutiny by associating Donald Trump’s campaign with Russia. In April 2016, the law firm Perkins Coie, which represented Clinton’s campaign, retained the opposition research firm Fusion GPS to investigate Trump’s ties to Russia. Solomon described this move as an effort to deflect attention from the Uranium One controversy by “projecting their sins on Donald Trump” or another Republican nominee.

Solomon characterized the ensuing Russia collusion investigation as a “wash, rinse, repeat cycle” of Democratic-led probes targeting Trump, originating from this strategic decision to frame the Trump campaign with allegations of Russian interference.

The account provides a perspective on the origins of the Russia collusion narrative, suggesting it was in part a reaction to Clinton’s campaign concerns over vulnerabilities exposed by internal polling. Whether the narrative was generated primarily to counteract Clinton’s vulnerabilities or arose independently remains a topic of political and legal debate.