Republicans on Capitol Hill and in the White House are turning their attention to former CIA Director John Brennan after special counsel Robert Mueller’s findings of no collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government.
Brennan insinuated on several occasions in the interim two years that there was evidence of contacts between the Russian government and the Trump campaign, serving as one of the most prominent critics of the administration. The former CIA director even testified before Congress in May 2017 that there was evidence of contacts between Russian officials and Trump campaign figures, though now says he might have been given “bad information.” (RELATED: John Brennan Says His Mueller Report Suspicions Were Wrong)
Trump directly accused Brennan of lying before Congress in a Wednesday evening interview on the Fox News Channel, saying “Brennan lied. Many of these people lied to Congress and nothing happened,” adding, “I think Brennan is a sick person. I think there’s something wrong for him. And I watch — for him to come out of the CIA and act that way was so disrespectful to the country and to the CIA and to the position he held.”
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 28, 2019
Republican Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul is also now alleging that a high-level source told him Brennan pushed to include the Steele dossier in a January 2017 intelligence summary on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
BREAKING: A high-level source tells me it was Brennan who insisted that the unverified and fake Steele dossier be included in the Intelligence Report… Brennan should be asked to testify under oath in Congress ASAP.
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 27, 2019
Paul later said Thursday morning on Fox News that he believed Brennan and the FBI briefed former President Barack Obama. “I believe at that time they did talk to President Obama about it. I think they all should be asked ‘when did President Obama learn about this, what was his recommendation? He is in charge of the government. Did he recommend that you try to spread the dossier throughout the government?'”
Republican New York Rep. Peter King also told Fox News on Thursday afternoon that Brennan was “rigging” the investigation against Trump and that “he was going out of his way to slant the report against the president.” King added that Brennan “has been an evil force” behind the use of the dossier and agreed with Paul that he should be brought before Congress.