The Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee has taken the step of urging the Department of Justice to prosecute former CIA Director John Brennan, accusing him of providing false testimony to Congress.
Jim Jordan, a Republican representative from Ohio, alleges that Brennan deceived Congress regarding the contentious Steele dossier. This dossier, compiled by ex-British intelligence officer Christopher Steele, made explosive and largely unsubstantiated claims about Donald Trump’s alleged connections with Russia during the 2016 presidential race.
Financed by Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee through the research firm Fusion GPS, the dossier suggested inappropriate links between Trump’s campaign team and Russian officials, including scandalous blackmail allegations, which generated considerable uproar.
In a letter addressed to Attorney General Pam Bondi on Tuesday, Jordan stated, “Brennan’s claim that the CIA had no involvement with the Steele dossier contradicts the evidence.”
He further criticized Brennan’s testimony, labeling it as a deliberate and knowing attempt to misrepresent critical facts under oath.
Originally handed to the FBI in 2016, Steele’s dossier was summarized in an intelligence report that examined Trump’s alleged ties to Russia, a review ordered by then-President Barack Obama.
The referral to the DOJ does not mean that Brennan has been charged with any crime. He has not yet commented on the development.
It comes as Trump has publicly targeted a series of his critics, including former national security advisor John Bolton, former FBI director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
John Brennan, former CIA Director, has said would not be ‘intimidated’ by Trump; seen in 2018
It was reported in July that the FBI had launched its own probe into Comey and Brennan. At the time, Brennan said he was ‘clueless’ about the investigation and the scope of it is still not known.
The former CIA chief has continued to publicly criticize the President despite the potential legal jeopardy.
After last month’s indictment against Comey, Brennan said he would not be ‘intimidated’ and rebuked Trump for ‘corrupting and perverting the justice system.’
‘I’m not going to be intimidated by the likes of Donald Trump. I have always tried to speak my mind and do what I thought was right,’ he told MSNBC.
‘I think more and more people have to speak out, and I’m waiting for those Republicans in Congress to come to their senses, because the damage that’s being done to this country and the dangerous times that we’re in, I think too many Americans do not appreciate the extent of that.’
Jordan’s letter cites Brennan’s May 2023 interview with the House Judiciary committee during which he testified that the CIA was ‘not involved at all’ with the Steele dossier and ‘very much opposed’ to its inclusion in the January 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) ordered by Obama.
That document concluded that Russia sought to influence the 2016 general election in Trump’s favor — a finding that has been heavily debated and in part reliant on the Steele dossier.
The ICA, supported by multiple intelligence agencies, was corroborated by subsequent investigations but remains contentious.
The referral highlights declassified documents released by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard that allegedly contradict Brennan’s testimony.
Among them are documents that claim to show a CIA officer drafted ‘Annex A,’ a two-page classified summary of the Steele dossier included in the ICA.
Brennan and then-FBI director James Comey decided to include the dossier in the ICA’s main body and annex, according to declassified memos cited by Jordan.
Donald Trump, seen at the White House today, has gone after a series of his critics
Senior spies objected to its inclusion, but Brennan overruled them, writing in one declassified memo: ‘My bottom line is that I believe that the information warrants inclusion in the report,’ responding to concerns with, ‘Yes, but doesn’t it ring true?’
Jordan’s letter also referred to Brennan’s 2017 testimony to Congress, where he argued the dossier ‘was not in any way used as a basis for the [ICA].’
Though this falls outside the five-year statute of limitations for perjury, Jordan alleges it demonstrates ‘a pattern of Brennan’s willingness to lie to Congress.’
