Citing sources at the Department of Justice, Fox News reported late Tuesday that former CIA Director John Brennan and former FBI Director James Comey are under criminal investigation for potential wrongdoing – including allegedly making false statements to Congress – related to the Trump-Russia collusion probe.
As reported on Thursday’s AM Update, the sources declined to share specifics of the Comey investigation but revealed a bit more about Brennan.
The Investigations
Current CIA Director John Ratcliffe referred evidence about Brennan to FBI Director Kash Patel for potential prosecution following the release of a CIA review last week pertaining to the intel community’s assessment regarding potential Russian interference in the 2016 election.
President Donald Trump’s first term was hamstrung by accusations of collusion between his 2016 campaign and Russian President Vladimir Putin to influence the election. Those claims were later debunked by multiple investigations.
An assessment ordered in the waning days of President Barack Obama’s administration concluded, in part, that President Putin “aspired to help then-candidate Trump win the election.” But the review ordered this past May by Ratcliffe found multiple “procedural anomalies” with Brennan and other’s work, including, “excessive involvement of agency heads who created ‘a politically charged environment that triggered an atypical analytic process.'”
It also determined that the “decision by agency heads to include the Steele Dossier in the [2017 Intelligence Community Assessment] ran counter to fundamental tradecraft principles and ultimately undermined the credibility of a key judgment.”
Ratcliffe found those same agency heads who forced inclusion of the now-debunked Steele dossier in the ICA “implicitly elevated unsubstantiated claims over the objections of the two senior CIA leaders responsible for Russian intelligence.” Those agents warned the information in the dossier – including salacious allegations involving Trump and Russian prostitutes – did not meet “even the most basic tradecraft standards.”
The Testimony
Ratcliffe also revealed that the CIA deputy director for analysis had warned Brennan in an email on December 29, 2016, that including the Steele Dossier in any form risked “the credibility of the entire paper.” But Director Brennan ultimately stated, “My bottom line is that I believe that the information warrants inclusion in the report.”
Months later, in a May 2017 House hearing, Brennan testified that the CIA did not rely on the dossier:
CONGRESSMAN: Do you know if the Bureau ever relied on the Steele dossier as part of any court filings, applications, petitions, pleadings?
BRENNAN: I have no awareness.
CONGRESSMAN: Did the CIA rely on it?
BRENNAN: No.
CONGRESSMAN: Why not?
BRENNAN: Because we didn’t. It wasn’t part of the corpus of intelligence information that we had. It was not in any way used as a basis for the intelligence community assessment that was done. It was not.
In May 2023, former Director Brennan testified to Congress that “the CIA was very much opposed to having any reference or inclusion of the Steele dossier in the intelligence community assessment.” But it was included in the annex and referred to in the main report.
Ratcliffe explained why: “When confronted with specific flaws in the dossier by the two mission center leaders – one with extensive operational experience and the other with a strong analytic background – Brennan appeared more swayed by the dossier’s general conformity with existing theories than by legitimate tradecraft concerns.”
What Comes Next
Fox News reported the full scope of the criminal investigations into Brennan and Comey is unclear at this time, but two sources describe the FBI’s view of the duo’s interactions as a conspiracy. That could open up a wide range of potential prosecutorial options.
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