By Bryan Dean Wright | Commentary, Fox News
Five key details emerge about how intelligence was allegedly manipulated to undermine Trump's presidency
Former CIA Director John Brennan was once my boss. Given what we just learned in a shocking new report about his role in the Trump Russia hysteria, he should be in prison.
Here’s why.
The CIA released fresh details yesterday about the creation nearly 10 years ago of the agency’s Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) of Russia’s influence campaign in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. It found that Russian President Vladimir Putin “aspired” to help then-candidate Donald Trump win the election. That assessment – ordered by then-President Barack Obama and executed by Brennan – ignited the Trump-Russia hoax that would haunt Trump’s presidency for four years.
We’re now learning five key details Brennan used to cook the books to ensure maximum damage to Trump.
1) Brennan lied about his use of the discredited Steele dossier
He told The Wall Street Journal in January of 2017 he never read it and gave it no particular credence.
He was lying.
As his former staffers now admit, Brennan specifically pushed for the inclusion of the dossier in the ICA despite explicit warnings from his top operational and analytical management that the dossier “didn’t meet the most basic [of] tradecraft standards.”
Brennan said he didn’t care.
As we’re now learning, he said he wanted it included because it “fit narrative consistency” — aka Trump Russia collusion — and that then-FBI Director James Comey was demanding the same.
That’s shocking, because both Comey and Brennan’s agencies had investigated its allegations in the fall of 2016 and found them not to be credible.
But both Comey and Brennan still wanted it in, simply and clearly to destroy President Trump.
2) Brennan manipulated who would write the ICA
As we’re now learning, Brennan demanded that his agency take the lead in drafting the ICA, intentionally blocking out other intel agencies and the National Intelligence Council.
As the new report confirms, that decision “depart[ed] significantly from standard procedures for formal IC assessments.”
But why would Brennan do that?
As a former CIA officer, I know why: He wanted to control the authors (his employees), their assessment, any dissent, and their careers if they crossed him.
3) Brennan interfered in the ICA’s drafting
As the new report confirms, “Direct engagement in the ICA’s development [by agency head Brennan] was highly unusual in both scope and intensity. This exceptional level of senior involvement likely influenced participants, altered normal review processes, and ultimately compromised analytic rigor.”
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