Jordan calls for criminal charges against former CIA Director John Brennan
Former CIA Director John Brennan is the subject of a criminal referral to the Justice Department, with House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) writing to the agency Tuesday to argue Brennan should face charges for lying to Congress.
The criminal referral centers on testimony Brennan gave to Congress in 2023, and argues that Brennan’s comments about the CIA’s role in investigating the 2016 election run afoul of information gathered by House Intelligence Committee Republicans.
The letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi largely accuses Brennan of lying about the role the Steele dossier played in intelligence community reviews of the 2016 election and Russian interference. The dossier has since been largely discredited.
The 2017 House Republican report Jordan’s referral is based on remained classified until it was recently released by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, a move highly criticized by other intelligence community officials.
She did so after releasing her own memo accusing Brennan and other Obama-era officials of engaging in a “treasonous conspiracy.” However, the memo largely shows intelligence leaders discussed how Russia was never able to shift any vote totals during their efforts to influence the 2016 election.
Current CIA Director John Ratcliffe has already made a criminal referral in relation to the matter, and Brennan is already reportedly under investigation by the Justice Department.
An attorney for Brennan did not respond to a request for comment, but Brennan denied wrongdoing amid the July reports he was being investigated.
“It is hard to believe that here we are, eight and a half years afterward. We’re still going over this ground that has been, I think, fairly well and exhaustively plowed,” Brennan said on an appearance on MSNBC.
He defended the work of the intelligence community in reviewing Russian efforts to influence the 2016 contest given the adversary’s likelihood to continue to meddle in U.S. affairs, saying the intelligence community went to “great lengths” to protect the identities of those examined in their work, including those set to enter the Trump administration.
“I think this is unfortunately a very sad and tragic example of the continued politicization of the intelligence community, of the national security process. And quite frankly, I’m really shocked that individuals who are willing to sacrifice their reputations, their credibility, their decency to continue to do Donald Trump’s bidding on something that clearly is just politically based,” he said.
Jordan, a fierce Trump ally, noted the parameters that prosecutors would need to prove in order to score a conviction on any prospective charges — that Brennan lied intentionally.
“While testifying, Brennan made numerous willfully and intentionally false statements of material fact contradicted by the record established by the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) and the CIA,” Jordan wrote in the letter.
Any charges against Brennan would mirror a similar case already brought against former FBI Director James Comey, whom the Justice Department also accused of lying when he appeared before Congress. Comey has denied any wrongdoing, and the charges were brought shortly before the statute of limitations ran out in the case. A career prosecutor stepped aside over concerns with the case, with former Trump attorney Lindsey Halligan being appointed to lead the office.
Rep. Jamie Raskin (Md.), the top Democrat on the Judiciary panel, criticized Republicans for mining past testimony in an effort to bring criminal charges.
“Instead of working to end their shutdown of the government, lower healthcare costs and meet the needs of our people, Committee Republicans are dredging up old testimony from Trump foes, even when the statute of limitations has already run, in the hopes of finding something—anything—that could please their boss Donald Trump,” he said.
“The allegations of lying are flimsy, slipshod and contradictory.”