The FBI is reportedly questioning CIA officials in the DOJ investigation of former director Brennan
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The FBI has reportedly begun questioning current and former CIA officials as part of the Justice Department’s investigation of former CIA Director John Brennan and his role in the intelligence community’s 2017 probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Agents interviewed about a dozen officials involved in writing the study, with investigators focusing on how the conclusions were reached and whether Brennan may have misled Congress when he testified in 2023, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Brennan has been identified as subject to investigation, according to his attorney.
BONDI CONFIRMS DOJ FOUND CRIME TRANSFER IN BRENNAN’S FORGOTTEN MATTER THROUGH STEELE DOSSIER
Former CIA director John Brennan and former director of National Intelligence James Clapper appear before the closed-door Senate Intelligence Committee on Russia’s activities in the election on May 16, 2018, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
At the center of the investigation is whether the intelligence assessment – which concluded that Russia wanted to elevate Donald Trump’s position – was influenced by the controversial Steele documents, which are a collection of unsubstantiated allegations about alleged ties between Trump and Russia that were sponsored by political opponents.
Brennan has previously said the CIA objected to the dossier being included in the investigation, although a summary was eventually included in a classified version of the report.
The investigation into Brennan gained momentum after House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan referred Brennan to the Justice Department last year, saying he may have made false statements to Congress about the CIA’s role in handling the Steele report.
Brennan said in sworn testimony to Jordan’s committee that “the CIA had absolutely no involvement with the docket.”
Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, chairs the House Judiciary Committee with FBI Director Christopher Wray as a witness on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, July 24, 2024. Former CIA Director John O. Brennan is shown in a separate photo from Philadelphia, Pa., on Oct. 24, 2022. (CHRIS KLEPONIS/AFP via Getty Images; Gilbert Carrasquillo/GC Images)
“This claim is contradicted by multiple sources who express support for Brennan’s filing with the ICA,” Jordan wrote in his letter to the DOJ directing Brennan to face criminal prosecution.
“According to a CIA memorandum released by the Trump Administration, when two CIA operatives confronted Brennan with ‘certain flaws’ in the dossier, Brennan ignored their concerns, they said.[ing] more moved by [d]ossier’s general conformity to prevailing ideology has legitimate commercial concerns,'” Jordan wrote, citing messages from Brennan that were revealed after Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard declassified internal agency communications in July.
BONDI CONFIRMS DOJ FOUND CRIME TRANSFER IN BRENNAN’S FORGOTTEN MATTER THROUGH STEELE DOSSIER
Early intelligence findings were later confirmed by multiple government reviews. However, Trump has long derided the Russia investigation as a “witch hunt” and “fraud” while demanding that officials involved in launching it be held accountable.
Former CIA Director John Brennan appears on “Meet the Press” in Washington, DC, on Oct. 6, 2019. President Donald Trump signs documents during a White House ceremony in the Oval Office on March 16, 2026, in Washington, DC. (William B. Plowman/NBC/NBC NewsWire via Getty Images; Alex Wong/Getty Images)
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Brennan, for his part, said the Trump administration was “buying lawyers,” according to Reuters, after the DOJ removed prosecutor Maria Medetis Long from Brennan’s case in favor of Joe diGenova.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the CIA and FBI for comment.
Reuters contributed to this report.
