DOJ Investigates 2017 Intelligence Assessment on Russian Election Interference and Brennan's Congressional Testimony

The FBI has begun questioning current and former CIA officials as part of a Justice Department probe into John Brennan's role in the 2017 intelligence community assessment on Russian interference in the 2016 election. Agents have interviewed roughly a dozen officials involved in drafting the assessment.

Investigators are focusing on how its conclusions were reached and whether Brennan may have misled Congress during his 2023 testimony.

Brennan has been identified as a subject of the Justice Department investigation, according to his attorney. The 2017 assessment concluded that Russia sought to boost Donald Trump’s candidacy in the 2016 election. The probe is examining whether that assessment was influenced by the Steele dossier, a collection of largely unsubstantiated allegations about Trump’s supposed ties to Russia funded by political opponents.

Brennan previously said the CIA opposed including the Steele dossier in the 2017 assessment. A summary of the dossier was attached to a classified version of the assessment. The original 2017 intelligence findings were later upheld by multiple government reviews.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan referred Brennan to the Justice Department last year, alleging he may have made false statements to Congress about the CIA’s role in handling the Steele dossier. Brennan said in sworn testimony to the House Judiciary Committee that the CIA was not involved at all with the dossier.

Jim Jordan wrote in a letter to the DOJ that Brennan's claim is contradicted by multiple sources that reveal Brennan's support for including the dossier in the ICA.

A CIA memorandum declassified by the Trump Administration stated that when two CIA mission center leaders confronted Brennan with specific flaws in the dossier, Brennan disregarded their concerns. The CIA memorandum stated that Brennan appeared more swayed by the dossier's general conformity with existing theories than by legitimate tradecraft concerns.

Internal agency communications from Brennan were revealed after Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard declassified them in July.

Pam Bondi confirmed that the DOJ has received a criminal referral alleging Brennan perjury over the Steele dossier. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, chairs the House Judiciary Committee. The Trump administration removed prosecutor Maria Medetis Long from John Brennan's case in favor of Joe diGenova.

John Brennan claimed the Trump administration is lawyer shopping. C. C.