Former CIA Director John Brennan claimed Wednesday he has “no idea” why he’s under federal criminal investigation.
The former top intelligence official is playing ignorance even as federal authorities probe his alleged role in pushing the discredited Steele dossier that sparked the FBI’s surveillance of President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign.
Brennan made the comments during an appearance on “MSNBC’s Deadline: White House.”
During the interview, Brennan distanced himself from the investigation and insisted he had not been contacted by law enforcement.
“If there is an investigation, then people will be questioned,” Brennan said.
“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.”
“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.”
Despite Brennan’s insistence that the intelligence community acted in good faith, a growing body of declassified evidence appears to suggest otherwise.
Brennan and former FBI Director James Comey are currently under criminal investigation for their involvement in the creation and handling of the 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA).
The ICA is an Obama-era document that alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election in support of Trump.
That assessment relied in part on the now-debunked Steele “dossier.”
The fabricated “dossier” was compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele and funded by the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee.
According to sources who spoke with Fox News, CIA Director John Ratcliffe referred evidence of Brennan’s alleged wrongdoing to FBI Director Kash Patel.
The referral follows a declassified “lessons learned” review of the ICA that uncovered “procedural anomalies” and deviations from standard intelligence protocols, an indication that the process may have been politicized.
The investigation is also examining whether Brennan made false statements to Congress.
In 2023, Brennan told the House Judiciary Committee that he did not support including the Steele dossier in the ICA.
However, newly released information from Ratcliffe appears to contradict that claim, showing Brennan had in fact pushed for the dossier’s inclusion.
Brennan, however, struck a defiant tone, defending the intelligence community’s actions.
“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.”
WATCH:
Brennan’s former counterpart, James Comey, is also under investigation for his role in the FBI’s surveillance of Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.
That surveillance was also based in part on the fake dossier.
Comey testified in 2018 that the FBI had not confirmed the dossier’s contents before using it to secure FISA warrants against Page.
In 2020, he admitted to the Senate Judiciary Committee that he had not been informed about serious concerns surrounding Steele’s main source, Igor Danchenko.
While Brennan now claims ignorance, critics argue that senior intelligence officials knowingly used politically motivated material to justify spying on a presidential campaign.
Accountability may finally be underway.
READ MORE – Trump: James Comey & John Brennan Are ‘Crooked as Hell’ – ‘They Have to Pay a Price’
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