“John Brennan lied to Congress. Today, we referred him to the Department of Justice for criminal prosecution,” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) announced Tuesday, providing the full content of the referral.
“We write to refer significant evidence that former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) John Brennan knowingly made false statements during his transcribed interview before the Committee on the Judiciary on May 11, 2023,” Chairman Jordan explains in his letter to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi:
“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.”
“Making false statements before Congress is a crime that undermines the integrity of the Committee’s constitutional duty to conduct oversight,” Jordan writes.
At issue are Brennan’s comments in testimony regarding the infamous and debunked Steele Dossier used by the CIA and FBI to perpetrate the Trump-Russia Hoax.
The letter introduces three assertions “that support an investigation into whether Brennan made false statements at his transcribed interview”:
- “Brennan falsely denied that the CIA relied on the discredited Steele dossier in drafting the post-election Intelligence Community Assessment.”
- “Brennan falsely testified when he told the Committee that the CIA opposed including the Steele dossier in the ICA.”
- “Brennan falsely denied that the CIA relied on the discredited Steele dossier in drafting the post-election Intelligence Community Assessment.”
In each case, Chairman Jordan cites documents declassified by the Trump Administration that expose Brennan’s claims to be false.
One declassified document quoted by Chairman Jordan reveals Brennan made prejudicial statements and insisted on the use of the discredited dossier:
“According to a CIA memorandum declassified by the Trump Administration, when two CIA mission center leaders confronted Brennan with ‘specific flaws’ in the dossier, Brennan disregarded their concerns, ‘appear[ing] more swayed by the [d]ossier’s general conformity with existing theories than by legitimate tradecraft concerns.’
“Brennan later ‘formalized his position in writing, stating that ‘my bottomline is that I believe that the information warrants inclusion in the report.’
“Similarly, the HPSCI report notes that when senior CIA officers demanded that Brennan remove the Steele dossier from the ICA, Brennan ‘refused to remove it.’ When the officers presented evidence of the dossier’s ‘many flaws,’ Brennan responded, ‘Yes, but doesn’t it ring true?’
“Ultimately, Brennan ‘had to order [the dossier] included over the objections of [CIA] professionals.’”
