Brennan Says FBI Inquiry Into Russia-Probe Role Is ‘Made Up’

Former CIA Director John Brennan said he has received no notice of a criminal inquiry and dismissed reports of an FBI investigation into him as baseless. In an interview with MSNBC on 9 July, Brennan stated he has had “no contact” with the FBI or the Justice Department and is “clueless” about any allegations, calling the purported probe “made up out of whole cloth.” U.S. media outlets, citing Justice Department sources, reported this week that the FBI is examining whether Brennan and former FBI Director James Comey made false statements to Congress about the intelligence community’s 2017 assessment that Russia interfered in the 2016 election. The Justice Department is said to have referred the matter for investigation; the bureau has not publicly detailed the scope of the case. Brennan said he already sat for nearly eight hours of questioning with Special Counsel John Durham during the earlier review of the Russia investigation and noted that Durham concluded the CIA had “stayed in its lane.” He defended the original intelligence findings and accused critics of politicizing the issue to advance former President Donald Trump’s agenda.