{"id":27726,"date":"2017-05-24T14:15:37","date_gmt":"2017-05-24T21:15:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=27726"},"modified":"2017-05-24T14:15:37","modified_gmt":"2017-05-24T21:15:37","slug":"brennan-adds-fuel-to-the-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2017\/05\/24\/brennan-adds-fuel-to-the-fire\/","title":{"rendered":"Brennan Adds Fuel to the Fire"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former CIA Director, John Brennan testified before the House Intelligence Committee yesterday.  He added fuel to the fire building under Donald Trump, aka Putin’s [R-RU].  Equally important, he resisted attempts by House Republicans to twist his testimony into providing a false appearance of innocence for Trump.<\/font><\/p>\n

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\"0524Brennan\"<\/p>\n

Former CIA Director John Brennan told the House Intelligence Committee Tuesday that Russia "brazenly interfered in the 2016 election process," despite U.S. efforts to warn it off. Brennan testified in an open session of the committee, one of a handful of congressional committees now investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 election.<\/p>\n

Brennan said he told his Russian counterpart, the head of Russia’s FSB, last August that if Russia pursued its efforts to interfere, "it would destroy any near-term prospect for improvement in relations" between the two countries. He said Russia denied any attempts to interfere.<\/p>\n

In his opening statement, Brennan also recounted how he had briefed congressional leaders in August of last year, including House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and the chairs and ranking members of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees about the "full details" of what he knew of Russia’s interference in the 2016 election.<\/strong> Brennan said he became convinced last summer that Russia was trying to interfere in the campaign, saying "they were very aggressive."<\/p>\n

Brennan said he is "aware of information and intelligence that revealed contacts and interactions between Russian officials and U.S. persons involved in the Trump campaign."<\/strong> Brennan said that concerned him, "because of known Russian efforts to suborn such individuals," and that it raised questions about whether or not the Russians "were able to gain the cooperation of those individuals." Brennan added he didn’t know if "collusion existed" between the Russians and those he identified as involved in the Trump campaign… [emphasis added<\/em>]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

From <NPR<\/a>><\/font><\/p>\n

First, note that the "gang of eight" know about both Russian interference and Trump campaign Russian contacts in August, and Republicans refused to release the information to the public.<\/font><\/p>\n

Second, note that the CIA does not investigate crime.  They gather intelligence and turn it over to the people who do investigate crime, the FBI.  Brennan would not know if collusion existed, because even considering that determination was outside of his purview.  <\/font><\/p>\n

Lawrence O’Donnell<\/a> covered Brennan and interviewed former CIA Acting Director John McLaughlin.<\/font><\/p>\n