Former CIA Director John Brennan said Friday that he is willing to be interviewed by the federal prosecutor investigating the origins of the Trump-Russia probe, adding that he has nothing to hide and looks forward “to the day when the truth is going to come out.”
“I feel very good that my tenure at CIA and my time at the White House during the Obama administration was not—that was not engaged in any type of wrongdoing or activities that caused me to worry about what this investigation may uncover,” Brennan said in an interview with MSNBCs Chris Hayes on Friday.
“So, I welcome the opportunity to talk with the investigators,” the former spy chief said, adding, “I have nothing to hide. I have not yet been interviewed by any of those individuals involved in this matter but Im willing to do so.”
Attorney General William Barr assigned John Durham, the U.S. attorney for Connecticut, early in 2019 to investigate the origins of the FBIs counterintelligence investigation of the Trump campaign. Part of Durhams brief is to assess whether the surveillance of Trump campaign associate Carter Page was free of improper motive.
Brennan said in congressional testimony on May 23, 2017, that it was his intelligence that helped establish the FBI investigation.
“I was aware of intelligence and information about contacts between Russian officials and U.S. persons that raised concerns in my mind about whether or not those individuals were cooperating with the Russians, either in a witting or unwitting fashion, and it served as the basis for the FBI investigation to determine whether such collusion [or] cooperation occurred,” Brennan said.
The New York Times has reported that of specific interest to Durham are Brennans CIA communications to find out what role he played in developing an Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) (pdf) that said the Russian government meddled in the 2016 election to help Trump.
While Durham may be scrutinizing Brennans activities around the launch of the Russia probe, there is no indication of any wrongdoing on the part of the former CIA chief.
In the interview on MSNBC, Brennan said he welcomed talking to Durham to assist with his investigation.
“I have not yet been interviewed by any of those individuals involved in this matter, but Im willing to do so because I do believe that for too long, the American public have been misled by Donald Trump, by William Barr and others,” Brennan said.
While it is unclear who else Brennan may have been referring to, in February, senior figures in the Republican camp have intimated that people involved in the Trump-Russia investigation should go to jail.
House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) said in February that he believes some people who allegedly abused their power in an attempt to “take down a candidate for president” should be sent to prison after Durham concludes his probe.
“People need to be held accountable. They abuse their power to literally try to take down a candidate for president of the United States. People ought to go to jail,” Scalise said.
“Ive seen some classified information that I cant go into, but I can say thisRead More From Source
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