Ex-CIA chief recounts fears over Trump ties
Former director voiced concern over suspicious contacts with Russia
WASHINGTON — John Brennan, the former CIA director, described on Tuesday a nerve-fraying few months last year as U.S. authorities realized that the presidential election was under attack and feared that Donald Trump’s campaign might be aiding that fight.
Brennan, in testimony before the House Intelligence Committee, said he was concerned by a series of suspicious contacts between Russian government officials and Trump’s associates. The CIA learned about those meetings just as it was beginning to grapple with Russian hackers and propagandists trying to manipulate the presidential race.
His remarks were the fullest public account to date of the origins of an FBI investigation that continues to shadow the Trump administration.
“I know what the Russians try to do,” Brennan said. “They try to suborn individuals and try to get individu-
als, including U.S. individuals, to act on their behalf, wittingly or unwittingly.”
When he left his post in January, he said, “I had unresolved questions in my mind as to whether or not the Russians had been successful in getting U.S. persons involved in the campaign or not to work on their behalf.”
Brennan acknowledged that he did not know whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russian operatives and said the contacts might have been benign.
U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, tried to damage Hillary Clinton’s candidacy and help Trump. On Aug. 4, as evidence of that campaign mounted, Brennan warned Alexander Bortnikov, the director of Russia’s Federal Security Service, known as the FSB, not to meddle in the election. Not only would such interference damage relations between the countries, he said, it was also certain to backfire.
“I said that all Americans, regardless of political affiliation or whom they might support in the election, cherish their ability to elect their own leaders without outside interference or disruption,” Brennan said. “I said American voters would be outraged by any Russian attempt to interfere in the election.”
Brennan’s prediction proved inaccurate. Though intelligence agencies are unanimous in their belief that Russia directly interfered in the election, it has become a divisive partisan issue, with Democrats far more likely than Republicans to accept the conclusion. Trump has declared that “Russia is fake news” and has tried to undermine the conclusions of his own intelligence services.
He has also tried repeatedly to beat back news reports about his campaign’s ties to Russia. White House officials tried to enlist the FBI and CIA to dispute stories early this year. Then, after the FBI publicly confirmed its investigation, Trump asked Dan Coats, the director of national intelligence, and Michael Rogers, the director of the National Security Agency, to publicly deny any collusion between Russia and his campaign, according to two former U.S. officials. The Washington Post first reported Trump’s entreaties.
On the day of the FBI’s confirmation, a call from the White House switchboard came in to Coats’ office with a request to speak to the director, a former intelligence official said. Calls from the switchboard are usually from the highest-ranking officials at the White House — the president, the vice president or the national security adviser.
Coats took the call. The official would not confirm what was discussed.
Coats, who testified on Tuesday in a separate congressional hearing, declined to discuss his conversations with the president.
The White House regarded Brennan’s testimony as the latest example of a former official from the Obama administration describing great concern but offering no public proof of wrongdoing.
“This morning’s hearings back up what we’ve been saying all along: that despite a year of investigation, there is still no evidence of any Russia-Trump campaign collusion,” the White House said in a statement on Tuesday.
During the campaign, a spokeswoman for Trump declared that “there was no communication” with foreign entities. And in January, Vice President Mike Pence flatly denied that there had been any contacts with Russians. Journalists have since reported repeated undisclosed meetings with Russians. Trump’s first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, was forced to resign over misstatements about his conversations with the Russian ambassador to the United States, Sergey Kislyak.
A Justice Department special counsel, Robert Mueller III, is investigating whether any collusion took place. A grand jury in Northern Virginia has issued subpoenas for information related to Flynn’s lobbying and businesses. That investigation is separate from multiple congressional investigations into Russian meddling. Flynn has declined to be interviewed or provide documents to Congress, citing his constitutional right not to incriminate himself.
The Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday issued subpoenas for documents from two businesses owned by Flynn — Flynn Intel LLC and Flynn Intel Inc. — escalating efforts to learn more about his potential business ties to Russia.
Sen. Richard M. Burr, R-N.C., the committee’s chairman, left open the possibility of holding Flynn in contempt of Congress.
“At the end of that option is a contempt charge,” he told reporters on Capitol Hill. “And I’ve said that everything is on the table.”
But the committee’s members are not ready to take that step, Burr said, adding that they want to give Flynn the opportunity he requested to tell his story.
During his testimony on Tuesday, Brennan described Russia’s efforts around the world to use politicians to further Moscow’s objectives. “I certainly was concerned that they were practicing the same types of activities here in the United States,” he said.
He added that American targets were often unwitting in such efforts. “Frequently, people who go along a treasonous path do not know they are on a treasonous path until it is too late,” he said.
Brennan said Russia was trying to capitalize on the turmoil in Washington. “Even though the election is over,” he said, “I think Mr. Putin and Russian intelligence services are trying to actively exploit what is going on now in Washington to their benefit and to our detriment.”