John Brennan Reacts to Trump’s Call for “Infiltration” Investigation

SAYS TRUMP IS “SELF-SERVING”

by Sharon Rondeau

(May 20, 2018) — In response to President Donald Trump’s declaration Sunday that he would “demand” a Justice Department investigation into allegations that the FBI employed an “informant” to interact with three members of his 2016 campaign, Obama’s CIA director, John O. Brennan, appealed to Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to stop it.

It is unclear what action Brennan expects the lawmakers to take given that they have no authority over a sitting president.  Congress does, however, have oversight responsibility for the Executive branch, which includes the Justice Department and FBI, among other entities.

On Sunday night, The Post & Email directed that question to Brennan:

On April 5, 2018, Michael Isikoff of Yahoo! News spoke about his newly-published book in which he wrote that Brennan was instrumental in convincing then-FBI Director James Comey to open an investigation into alleged ties between Trump campaign aides and Russian intelligence operatives.  Isikoff also alleged that Brennan “used” then-Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid to leak the existence of the Trump-Russia “dossier.”

On April 6, 2018, Tom Fitton of Judicial Watch said that Brennan leaked “classified information” to Reid “to make Donald Trump look bad.”

Last week, and beginning on May 8, The Washington Post and The New York Times reported that an “informant” who reported to the FBI interacted with two or three Trump campaign aides in 2016, which may have fueled the launch of the counterintelligence investigation now overseen by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

Thus far, the investigation, which Trump calls a “witch hunt,” has revealed no evidence to the public of “collusion” with the Russians.

In the midst of the ongoing investigation reportedly launched by the FBI in late July 2016, Brennan told The Wall Street Journal in the waning days of the Obama administration that “Trump and the new administration need to be wary of Russian promises.”

“Freedom Caucus” leader Rep. Mark Meadows, who along with two other congressmen last week asked Trump to demand outstanding documentation on the FBI’s counterintelligence operation and alleged “FISA abuse,” tweeted on Sunday night that “we’ve seen disturbing evidence that the FBI engaged in political targeting.”

In response to Brennan’s ominous tweet on Sunday, investigative journalist Sara A. Carter tweeted:

In the recent past, Brennan has tweeted comments in response to Trump’s which some have perceived as threatening.  He has accused Trump of exercising “madness” in his foreign policy and of being a hypocrite after Trump called Obama’s Director of National Security James Clapper “a lying machine.”

It is established that Clapper lied to the Senate Intelligence Committee in March 2013 about the intelligence community’s collection of Americans’ communications, but the Trump Justice Department chose not to prosecute him before the five-year statute of limitations expired in March.

Responsive to Trump on Sunday, Justice Department spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores stated, “The Department has asked the Inspector General to expand the ongoing review of the FISA application process to include determining whether there was any impropriety or political motivation in how the FBI conducted its counterintelligence investigation of persons suspected of involvement with the Russian agents who interfered in the 2016 presidential election.”

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein then added:

If anyone did infiltrate or surveil participants in a presidential campaign for inappropriate purposes, we need to know about it and take appropriate action.