Rep. Jordan to Newsmax: Brennan Criminal Referral About 'Accountability'

House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, told Newsmax on Tuesday that the committee's decision to refer former CIA Director John Brennan to the Department of Justice for criminal prosecution stemmed from "clear evidence" that Brennan lied to Congress about his role in advancing the discredited Russia collusion narrative.

Jordan told "The Chris Salcedo Show" the referral followed months of review and testimony indicating Brennan misrepresented his involvement with the Steele dossier — the opposition research file funded by Hillary Clinton's campaign and used by the Obama-era intelligence community to justify surveillance of President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign.

"You're not supposed to lie, but you're definitely not supposed to lie when you're under oath talking to the United States Congress," Jordan said. "He told the committee, 'I was not involved with the dossier at all,' but when ODNI [Office of the Director of National Intelligence] Director Tulsi Gabbard declassified the House Intelligence Committee report, it showed he did want the dossier referenced in the intelligence community assessment."

Jordan added that CIA officials at the time questioned the credibility of the dossier but said Brennan pressed to include it anyway.

"There's a story one of the CIA people confronted Mr. Brennan and said, hey, there's no real evidence that the intelligence used to develop this dossier was any good," Jordan said. "This looks like garbage. And John Brennan's response, according to another CIA official, was, yeah, but doesn't it ring true? He wanted to get President Trump."

Jordan said his committee rarely issues such referrals but believed the evidence "truly supports it."

"And it looks like it does in this case," he said.

Jordan also alleged that Brennan's actions were part of a broader pattern of deception, citing his testimony in 2017 before former Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., and statements during a deposition during the last Congress about a letter signed by 51 former intelligence officials, including himself, suggesting the Hunter Biden laptop was Russian disinformation.

"There's this pattern of not being square with the American people and not being square with Congress," Jordan said.

The Durham Report concluded in 2023 that U.S. intelligence and law enforcement "failed to uphold their mission" during the 2016 election. Jordan argued that accountability for those responsible — including Brennan — is overdue.

"Never forget, they took the dossier that was put together by the Clinton campaign, when they hired the law firm Perkins Coie, who hired Fusion GPS, who hired the foreigner, Christopher Steele, who wrote the garbage document," Jordan said. "They used that garbage document. They put it in the ICA. They also used it to go to the secret court to get the warrant to spy on President Trump's campaign.

"They used all that and changed all the Intelligence Community Assessment in December of 2016, before President Trump is sworn in as in his first term. And then they go up to Trump Tower early Jan. 20, 2017, and talk to President Trump about the Intelligence Community Assessment and specifically about the dossier that they know is garbage.

"So, this is where it all began, and that's why I think it's important that you hold these individuals accountable, because it all started back then, almost a decade ago, when they began this attack on [Trump]."

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