House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan asked the Justice Department on Tuesday to prosecute Obama-era CIA Director John O. Brennan on charges of lying to Congress, saying he misled lawmakers over his role in spreading anti-Trump lies.
Mr. Brennan told Mr. Jordan’s committee in a 2023 interview that the Central Intelligence Agency “was not involved at all” with the Steele dossier, a collection of salacious and fabricated stories about Mr. Trump.
But a newly declassified House Intelligence Committee report says the CIA did work with the FBI to disseminate information from the Steele dossier.
Mr. Brennan also testified that he “opposed” including information from the dossier in a 2017 intelligence community assessment that Russia meddled in the 2016 election to help President Trump win. But Mr. Jordan said “multiple sources,” including a now-declassified CIA memo and the House Intelligence Committee report, say Mr. Brennan personally fought to defend the information.
After officers detailed the dossier’s flows, Mr. Brennan is quoted as saying, “Yes, but doesn’t it ring true?”
He ordered the information’s inclusion over the objections of his agency’s staff, the House intelligence report said.
“Brennan’s testimony before the committee on May 11, 2023, was a brazen attempt to knowingly and willfully testify falsely and fictitiously to material facts,” Mr. Jordan said.
The Ohio congressman told The Washington Times in an interview this month that he expected criminal charges against Mr. Brennan.
“It looks to me like he may have misled Congress,” Mr. Jordan said. “We are looking at that.”
The FBI was already investigating Mr. Brennan, according to news reports in July that said the bureau received a referral after current CIA Director John Ratcliffe released a review of his agency’s behavior surrounding the 2016 election.
At that time, Mr. Brennan, speaking on MSNBC where he is a contributor, said he was “clueless about what it is exactly that they may be investigating me for.”
The FBI was already investigating Mr. Brennan, according to news reports in July that said the bureau received a referral after current CIA Director John Ratcliffe released a review of his agency’s behavior surrounding the 2016 election.
FBI Director Kash Patel last month confirmed an “ongoing investigation” into the intelligence community’s assessment of Russia and Mr. Trump surrounding the 2016 election.
Mr. Brennan, speaking last month on MSNBC, said what he did was “consistent with our legal authorities and with the law.”
“I don’t see any case against me,” he said.
The Justice Department this month won an indictment against former FBI Director James Comey, who was charged with obstruction of justice and making a false statement to Congress based on testimony to the Senate in 2020.
He is accused of falsely stating that he did not approve of FBI leaks.
Mr. Comey has pleaded not guilty and has sought to have the charges dismissed as a vindictive prosecution.
Mr. Brennan was a senior anti-terrorism aide for President Barack Obama before becoming CIA director in March 2013.
According to the new documents, Mr. Brennan was part of a group of senior Obama officials who argued Russia was trying to tilt the 2016 election to Mr. Trump and who relied on the Democrat-funded Steele dossier as evidence. The dossier has been widely derided as unsubstantiated and part of what Mr. Trump calls the Russia hoax.
Mr. Jordan, in his letter on Tuesday, also dinged Mr. Brennan for a 2017 appearance before the House intelligence panel where he said the CIA did not “rely on” the dossier.
The Republican chairman said that testimony falls outside the five-year statute of limitations on lying to Congress, but Mr. Jordan said he added it as evidence of “a pattern of Brennan’s willingness to lie to Congress about the Steele dossier.”
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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