SouthernWorldwide.com – The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has reportedly commenced questioning current and former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officials. This action is part of a broader Department of Justice (DOJ) probe examining the role of former CIA Director John Brennan in the intelligence community’s 2017 assessment of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
Sources familiar with the matter have informed Reuters that agents have interviewed approximately a dozen officials who were involved in the drafting of the assessment. Investigators are specifically focusing on how the conclusions of this assessment were reached. Additionally, they are scrutinizing whether Brennan may have provided misleading information to Congress during his testimony in 2023.
Brennan’s attorney has confirmed that the former CIA director is identified as a subject of this ongoing investigation.
Read more : Jacob Fatu Acknowledges Violence, AAA Mega Championship Makes WWE History on Raw
The central point of contention in this probe is whether the intelligence assessment, which concluded that Russia aimed to support Donald Trump’s candidacy, was influenced by the controversial Steele dossier. This dossier is a compilation of allegations, largely unsubstantiated, concerning Trump’s alleged ties to Russia. It was funded by political opponents.
Brennan has previously stated that the CIA was against including the dossier in the assessment. However, a summary of the dossier was ultimately appended to a classified version of the report.
The investigation into Brennan gained significant traction after House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan referred Brennan to the Justice Department last year. Jordan alleged that Brennan might have made false statements to Congress regarding the CIA’s involvement in handling the Steele dossier.
In sworn testimony before Jordan’s committee, Brennan stated that “the CIA was not involved at all with the dossier.”
Jordan’s letter to the DOJ, which referred Brennan for criminal prosecution, argued that this claim is contradicted by multiple sources. These sources, Jordan stated, reveal Brennan’s support for including the dossier in the Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA).
Citing messages from Brennan that were declassified by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard in July, Jordan’s letter detailed a CIA memorandum. According to this declassified memo, when two CIA mission center leaders presented Brennan with “specific flaws” in the dossier, he disregarded their concerns. Jordan wrote that Brennan “appear[ed] more swayed by the [d]ossier’s general conformity with existing theories than by legitimate tradecraft concerns.”
Despite the controversies, the original intelligence findings were later upheld by multiple government reviews. However, Trump has consistently characterized the Russia investigation as a “witch hunt” and a “hoax.” He has also called for scrutiny of the officials who initiated the investigation.
For his part, Brennan has claimed that the Trump administration is engaging in “lawyer shopping.” This comment, as reported by Reuters, came after the DOJ removed prosecutor Maria Medetis Long from Brennan’s case. She was replaced by Joe diGenova.
