Criminal Investigations Into Comey and Brennan

Former FBI director James Comey and former CIA director John Brennan are reportedly facing criminal inquiries related to the Steele documents, as reported by Fox News Digital.

The documents, created in 2016, were central to the FBI’s investigation into alleged collusion between Donald Trump’s campaign and Russia. Comey and Brennan have previously testified before lawmakers. Sources suggest the FBI might view their official interactions as “conspiracy,” potentially expanding the scope of the investigation significantly.

It’s uncertain how comprehensive the investigation will be. However, it’s been noted that current CIA director John Ratcliffe has brought up evidence regarding Brennan’s alleged misconduct with FBI director Kash Patel. This information has emerged following Ratcliffe’s release of a declassified review concerning the 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA).

The ICA is said to have aimed to influence the 2016 presidential election in a manner favorable to Trump. But the review indicated irregularities during its editing process, allowing civil servants to deviate from standard procedures.

Fox News Digital mentions a newly declassified email from a former CIA director in December 2016, which indicated that including certain documents in the ICA could jeopardize “the credibility of the whole paper.” Brennan later testified to the House Judiciary Committee claiming he hadn’t sanctioned the inclusion of those documents. However, this recent material suggests he actively supported their inclusion in the ICA.

Comey has spoken to Congress about his connection to Steele and the documents over the years. In 2018, he testified that the FBI had not examined the documents before using them to secure a FISA warrant for Trump’s campaign adviser, Carter Page. He noted that Republicans and Democrats were both involved and stated it was important to recognize the politically motivated nature of the investigation.

By 2020, during a Senate Judiciary Committee appearance, Comey expressed he was unaware of serious reliability issues concerning the documents. He stated that his staff had not informed him about the issues surrounding Igor Danchenko, the primary source linked to Steele.

Comey admitted he couldn’t recall the specifics of the Department of Justice’s worries regarding the documents’ political bias related to Trump in October 2016, creating some ambiguity about the CIA’s concerns related to the 2017 ICA.

The FBI did not provide comments, and the CIA has yet to respond to requests for comment.