Did the Obama Administration actively help the terrorist group that grew to become ISIS? That’s the implication of a secret memo sent to then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, uncovered by Judicial Watch and pounced on by Donald Trump.

The intelligence information report (IAR) from August 2012 describes active support given al-Qaeda in Iraq, the Muslim Brotherhood and other groups “driving the insurgency” against the Assad regime in Syria. Al-Qaeda in Iraq (or “AQI”) would become ISIS.

The memo, likely produced by somebody within the Defense Intelligence Agency, contained reporting from the field by an intelligence agent, says Christopher J. Farrell, Director of Investigations and Research for Judicial Watch. Some of the intelligence information on al-Qaeda in Iraq came from Muhammad Al Adnani, the spokesman for the Islamic State of Iraq, who is now the senior spokesman for ISIS. (See the video below.)

The heavily-redacted report goes into great detail about the opposition forces fighting the regime, and the imperativeness of those opposition forces including AQI.  The memo lists “The West, Gulf countries and Turkey” as supporting the opposition, while Russia, China and Iran backed the Syrian regime.

Too Much to Pass Up

The implication that the United States supported the al-Qaeda affiliate that grew to become ISIS was too much for Donald Trump to pass up. He tweeted out Breitbart’s coverage of the memo, saying “Media fell all over themselves over what Donald Trump ‘may have insinuated about @POTUS.’ But he’s right.”

An: Media fell all over themselves criticizing what DonaldTrump "may have insinuated about @POTUS." But he's right: https://t.co/bIIdYtvZYw

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 15, 2016

ABC News took Trump to task for this “conspiracy theory” and for “saying he was right to imply President Obama is an ISIS sympathizer.” The network also criticized Breitbart for “falsely” concluding that “because the memo mentions that al Qaeda in Iraq (a precursor to ISIS) is fighting against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the Obama administration therefore supports ISIS.” ABC News describes State Dept. efforts to avoid helping jihadists, or as noted by The Hill, “the Syrian opposition comprises dozens of different factions, and the Obama administration has struggled at times to find reliable allies not tied to extremists.”

ABC News neglects to mention that the memo uncovered by Judicial Watch expressly predicts the rise of ISIS.

THIS CREATES THE IDEAL ATMOSPHERE FOR AQI TO RETURN TO ITS OLD POCKETS IN MOSUL AND RAMADI, AND WILL PROVIDE A RENEWED MOMENTUM UNDER THE PRESUMPTION OF UNIFYING THE JIHAD AMONG SUNNI IRAQ AND SYRIA, AND THE REST OF THE SUNNIS IN THE ARAB WORLD AGAINST WHAT IT CONSIDERS ONE ENEMY, THE DISSENTERS. ISI COULD ALSO DECLARE AN ISLAMIC STATE THROUGH ITS UNION WITH OTHER TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS IN IRAQ AND SYRIA, WHICH WILL CREATE GRAVE DANGER IN REGARDS TO UNIFYING IRAQ AND THE PROTECTION OF ITS TERRITORY.

According to Breitbart, this intelligence report predicting the rise of ISIS and connecting the U.S. to support for al-Qaeda in Iraq was “sent to various administrations officials and agencies, including to the State Department and to Clinton’s office personally.” Its existence makes it hard for the President and former secretary of state to feign ignorance about the initial ISIS threat.

The Clinton campaign has not responded to Breitbart’s request for comment.

Interesting Timing

It is also interesting to note the timing of the intelligence report: August of 2012. This was in the heat of the 2012 campaign. While news of an increasingly active al-Qaeda group in Iraq would contradict Obama’s campaign message, news that the administration was appearing to be arming al-Qaeda might have been disastrous.

What’s more, the memo was sent as the situation was deteriorating in Libya. In 2011, the U.S. had helped get weapons to Libyan rebels hoping to overthrow Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, but as the New York Times reported those weapons ended up in the hands of jihadists. By August of 2012, Gaddafi was gone, Libya was in chaos and the jihadists had their run of a town called Benghazi. After the murder of Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three others on September 11, Business Insider detailed how Stevens may have been connected to weapons shipments from Libya to Syria.

In the video below, released in May, Muhammad Al Adnani, whose featured prominently in the intelligence report uncovered by Judicial Watch, calls for jihad against those who oppose ISIS, including the U.S.