Ultimately, I believe there are two fundamental stories that unveil the entirety of what’s transpired in Washington:
- John Brennan’s dual role – using unofficial intelligence to establish the FBI’s Trump-Russia Counterintelligence Investigation & using the Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) to push the Trump-Russia Narrative.
- FISA Abuse committed by the DOJ’s National Security Division and the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division.
Yesterday, I published a thread on John Brennan (Thread Reader Here). What follows is an experiment of conversion from thread to post.
I’ve been discussing the role of CIA Director John Brennan for some time now.
John Brennan’s Role in the FBI’s Trump-Russia Investigation
In very broad terms, here is what I think probably transpired:
Brennan used unofficial intelligence – from unofficial channels – to establish a Multi-Agency Task Force.
Brennan fed this information to the FBI as a tactic to push the FBI into starting their July 2016 Counterintelligence Investigation.
Some of this unofficial intelligence originated from foreign sources – particularly Britain’s GCHQ. Some came through illegal FISA Section 702 searches conducted by the FBI and NSD.
This unofficial intelligence – both foreign and Section 702 – proved insufficient to obtain a FISA Warrant in June/July 2016.
This didn’t stop the FBI from proceeding with their July 31, 2016 Counterintelligence Investigation into Russia-Trump.
But the Electronic Communication (EC) used to start the FBI’s Counterintelligence Investigation contained no Official Intelligence. The EC was a stop-gap measure only. The FBI needed more. They needed a FISA Warrant.
The Steele Dossier was created to serve as a laundering device for both types of previously gathered information – illegal Section 702 searches and unofficial foreign intelligence.
Carter Page’s July 2016 Moscow trip coupled with Page’s involvement in the Buryakov case presented the FBI with a fortuitous and unique opportunity.
Page was not present in the first Steele document dated June 20, 2016, but was added into subsequent documents produced in July 2016.
Note: In reality, there was no “Dossier” until it was fully compiled in December 2016. There was only a sequence of documents from Steele. Documents that were passed on individually – as they were created.
Therefore, from the FBI’s legal perspective, they didn’t use the Dossier. They used individual documents.
Data previously gathered – Section 702 and unofficial foreign intelligence – was combined with allegations relating to Page’s July 2016 Moscow trip and information the FBI held regarding Page’s involvement in the Buryakov case.
Documents from the reformulated “Dossier” were then used to obtain the October 2016 FISA Warrant.
The FISA Warrant provided retroactive cover for opening the FBI Counterintelligence Investigation and the illegal Section 702 searches.
Brennan and Clapper then used the Intelligence Community Assessment to push the Russian Narrative so prevalent in 2017.
Concurrently, information from illegal Section 702 “About” queries was disseminated into intelligence channels and leaked to the media.
Brennan first began to attract my attention during his May 23, 2017 House Intelligence Committee Testimony. With hindsight, there was much to be gleaned.
John Brennan Heads for the Exits
We learned that Brennan fed a steady stream of foreign intelligence to the FBI:
“I made sure that anything that was involving U.S. persons, including anything involving the individuals involved in the Trump campaign was shared with the bureau [FBI].”
We know that Brennan’s “intelligence” served as the basis for the FBI Counterintelligence Investigation:
“I was aware of intelligence and information about contacts between Russian officials and U.S. persons…and it served as the basis for the FBI investigation.”
Brennan was careful to go on record that he briefed the Gang of Eight back in August and September of 2016 regarding the FBI’s July 31, 2016 Counterintelligence Investigation:
“Through the so-called Gang-of-Eight process we kept congress apprised of these issues. In consultation with the White House, I personally briefed the full details.”
Brennan had already informed Obama.
FBI Director Comey did not inform the Gang of Eight. Why would that be?
During Testimony, Gowdy asked a question that would later become clear:
Gowdy: Have you ever requested that a U.S. person’s name be unmasked?
Brennan: Yes I have.
Gowdy: Do you recall any U.S. ambassadors asking that names be unmasked?
Brennan: I don’t know. Maybe it’s ringing a vague bell…
Brennan would likely lie under oath:
Gowdy: Do you know who commissioned the steel dossier?
Brennan: I don’t.
Gowdy: Do you know if the FBI paid for any — portion of the steel dossier?
Brennan: I don’t know.
Again:
Gowdy: Do you know if the Bureau ever relied on the steel dossier as any – as part of any court filings, applications, petitions, pleadings?
Brennan: I have no awareness.
Gowdy: Did the CIA rely on it?
Brennan: No.
And here:
Brennan: It [Dossier] wasn’t part of the corpus of intelligence information that we had. It was not in any way used as a basis for the intelligence community assessment that was done.
The Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) is nonsense. I’ve written about it several times. Most recently here (links to older articles included):
The Steele Dossier & the Intelligence Community Assessment
The Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) contained one significant caveat:
CIA and FBI have high confidence in this judgment; NSA has only moderate confidence.
NSA Director Rogers clarified:
I wouldn’t call it a discrepancy, I’d call it an honest difference of opinion between three different organizations and in the end I made that call.…It didn’t have the same level of sourcing and the same level of multiple sources.
In reality, the DNI’s Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) was constructed by three men:
Former DNI James Clapper, former CIA Director John Brennan and to a lesser extent, former FBI Director James Comey (Strzok was also involved).
The ICA was used to push the Russian Narrative. And despite Congressional assurances from Brennan, the Dossier was used in the ICA.
CNN Interview with Clapper:
When we did our Intelligence Committee assessment, we were aware that there had been research done and that some Republican candidates had contracted through – I think – Fusion GPS.
Some of the substantive content of the dossier we were able to corroborate in our Intelligence Community assessment from other sources in which we had very high confidence.
The Steele Dossier & the Intelligence Community Assessment
In a March 5, 2018 letter to Nunes, Admiral Rogers informed the committee that a two-page summary of the dossier was “added” as an “appendix to the ICA draft,” and that consideration of that appendix was “part of the overall ICA review/approval process.
Two Colleagues Contradict Brennan’s Denial of Reliance on Dossier
From the article:
A source close to the House investigation said Brennan himself selected the CIA and FBI analysts who worked on the ICA, – they included FBI Agent Peter Strzok.
Strzok was the intermediary between Brennan and Comey, and he was one of the authors of the ICA.
We know the Electronic Communication used to start the FBI Counterintelligence Investigation contained no Official Intelligence Product:
Nunes Interview – “No Official Intelligence Used” & Problems for Brennan
Nunes:
There was no intelligence that passed through Five Eyes channels to our government. There was no Official Intelligence that was used to start this investigation.
Recall Brennan’s Testimony:
I was aware of intelligence and information about contacts between Russian officials and U.S. persons…and it served as the basis for the FBI investigation.
I made sure that anything that was involving U.S. persons, including anything involving the individuals involved in the Trump campaign was shared with the bureau [FBI].”
What information was Brennan sharing with the FBI?
The Electronic Communication, Redacted Names & John Brennan
From the Guardian:
GCHQ first became aware in late 2015 of suspicious “interactions” between figures connected to Trump and known or suspected Russian agents. This intelligence was passed to the US as part of a routine exchange of information.
Over the next six months, until summer 2016, a number of western agencies shared further information on contacts between Trump’s inner circle and Russians.
British spies were first to spot Trump team’s links with Russia
The BBC reported on events as well:
Last April [2016], the CIA director was shown intelligence that worried him. It was allegedly a tape recording of a conversation about money from the Kremlin going into the US presidential campaign.
It was passed to the US by an intelligence agency of one of the Baltic States.
Trump ‘compromising’ claims: How and why did we get here?
Sometime in the early summer of 2016, Robert Hannigan, Britain’s intelligence head of Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) traveled to Washington D.C. to meet with Brennan regarding alleged communications between the Trump Campaign and Moscow.
How Trump walked into Putin’s web
This was strange because Hannigan’s U.S. counterpart wasn’t CIA Director Brennan – it was NSA Director Mike Rogers.
Brennan used information gained from Hannigan & other European sources:
Brennan used the GCHQ information and other tip-offs to launch a major inter-agency investigation.
The taskforce included six agencies or departments of government. Details on this are somewhat hazy.
A FISA warrant was reportedly sought in June 2016:
Lawyers from the National Security Division drew up an application. They took it to the secret US court that deals with intelligence, the FISA court.
Their application was reportedly rejected.
Trump ‘compromising’ claims: How and why did we get here?
Brennan stated he gave all evidence to the FBI:
The CIA and the Intelligence Community had collected a fair amount of information in the summer of 2016 about what the Russians were doing on multiple fronts. And we wanted to make sure that the FBI had full access to that.
Consider the situation being created. Repeated transfers of foreign intelligence from the CIA Director to the FBI.
This pushed the FBI towards the establishment of a formal Counterintelligence Investigation.
On July 31, 2018, FBI Agent Strzok drafted the Electronic Communication and the FBI formally opened a Counterintelligence Investigation into the Trump Campaign.
But the FBI would later determine there were no clear Russian links.
Brennan’s evidence did not hold up to scrutiny.
Investigating Donald Trump, F.B.I. Sees No Clear Link to Russia
Ask yourself: If the FBI had determined no clear Russian links, why didn’t they kill the Counterintelligence Investigation?
I think it’s possible Comey may have been considering doing just that.
Did John Brennan Leak to Keep the FBI Counterintelligence Investigation Alive
Brennan later confirmed the use of UK Intelligence during a Meet the Press Interview:
The FBI has a very close relationship with its British counterparts. The FBI had visibility into a number of things involving some individuals who may have had some affiliation with the Trump campaign.
Meet the Press – February 4, 2018
Suddenly it was the FBI that had visibility into “a number of things”.
Recall, it was George Papadopoulos – not Brennan – that was supposedly the reason the FBI opened their Investigation into the Trump Campaign.
But there was no Official Intelligence used in the EC.
I do have some thoughts on Papadopoulos.
Ask yourself this:
Why does Papadopoulos appear nowhere in the Steele Dossier?
Why is George Papadopoulos Missing From the Steele Dossier
On January 13, 2017, Theresa May was asked whether the UK Government had any involvement in the creation of the dossier (h/t @The_War_Economy):
“It is absolutely clear that the individual who produced this dossier has not worked for the UK Government for years,”
Theresa May responds to Russian allegations MI6 is to blame for the ‘dirty dossier’ on Trump
I’m not so sure May is correct. But I do think folks should be taking a look at this guy.
Dearlove has ties to everyone – including Steel, UK Intel firm Hakluyt, Halper and Downer.
Everyone.
Sir Richard Dearlove & UK Intelligence Ties
I will close this writing experiment exactly as I began.
Ultimately, I believe there are two fundamental stories that unveil the entirety of what’s transpired in Washington:
- John Brennan’s dual role – using unofficial intelligence to establish the FBI’s Trump-Russia Counterintelligence Investigation & using the Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) to push the Trump-Russia Narrative.
- FISA Abuse committed by the DOJ’s National Security Division and the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division.