Former CIA Director John Brennan said on MSNBC Wednesday that he has no idea why federal authorities are investigating him.
Brennan and former FBI Director James Comey are under criminal investigation for potential wrongdoing related to the Steele dossier, which guided the FBI’s 2016 probe into alleged collusion between President Donald Trump’s campaign and Russia. During an appearance on “Deadline: White House,” Brennan claimed he has had no contact with investigators despite the ongoing probes.
“If there is an investigation then people will be questioned. I would be questioned about it. But, again, I’ve had no contact from them. But, again, I testified in front of many, many congressional committees in the House and the Senate over the years,” Brennan said. “And I continue to explain exactly what we did during this process, why we tried to make sure we stayed true to our intelligence responsibilities and that we were not going to do anything at all to try to interfere in that election.”
Brennan said the intelligence community’s actions were aimed solely at protecting the integrity of the electoral process, not at influencing its outcome.
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“And, again, it was a challenging time, but also one I think that the people who actually worked this, both in terms of trying to collect intelligence prior to the election and then the ones who put together the intelligence community assessment, they really, I think, showed the best of what the intelligence community and what CIA is made of,” Brennan said. “So, again, I am clueless about what it is exactly that they may be investigating me for.”
Current CIA Director John Ratcliffe has referred evidence of Brennan’s wrongdoing to FBI Director Kash Patel, based on a declassified “lessons learned” review of the 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA). The review found “procedural anomalies” in the process, which allegedly allowed officials to deviate from established standards. (RELATED: Turley Explains Why Comey’s Testimony Might Just ‘Trip The Wire’ Into Perjury)
Brennan also allegedly made false statements to Congress in 2023, claiming to the House Judiciary Committee that he did not approve the Steele dossier’s inclusion in the ICA. Newly declassified information from Ratcliffe shows Brennan had, in fact, pushed for its inclusion.
In 2018, Comey testified that the FBI had not verified the dossier before using it to obtain spy warrants against Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. He later told the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2020 that the FBI had not informed him about issues involving Igor Danchenko, the primary source for Christopher Steele, the dossier’s author.
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