Former CIA Director John Brennan said he’s “clueless” as to why a criminal investigation was opened against him for his role in the debunked Trump-Russia collusion case.
According to reports this week, the FBI launched criminal probes into Brennan and former FBI director James Comey for statements they made before Congress related to alleged election interference by the Russians before the 2016 presidential election.
“Quite frankly, I don’t know what is true,” Brennan told MSNBC on Wednesday. “There’s so many things that get out into the media bloodstream, and it’s interesting that it was, I think, Fox News and the New York Post that are reporting things like this. So, I don’t know whether or not there’s any validity to it.”
Brennan was made head of the CIA by former President Barack Obama near the beginning of Obama’s second term in 2013. Brennan is now under renewed scrutiny over the inclusion of the discredited Steele Dossier, despite warnings from CIA operatives that the material “did not meet even the most basic tradecraft standards.”
The Steele Dossier became the linchpin of the Mueller investigation and was written by former British spy Christopher Steele and paid for by the Hillary Clinton campaign.
Brennan has maintained his innocence and told MSNBC that he was following proper procedure throughout the investigation.
“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,” he said, adding, “I am clueless about what it is exactly that they may be investigating me for.
“I have tried to answer every question I have been asked whether it be by Senate or House members or John Durham or others, fully, because I want to make sure that people understand exactly what the Russians were doing to try to interfere in our very, very solemn domestic election system.”
Asked by reporters what he thought of the probe into Brennan and Comey, President Donald Trump responded “I know nothing about it other than what I read today, but I will tell you I think they’re very dishonest people. … I think they’re crooked as hell, and maybe they have to pay a price for that.”