Former CIA Director Brennan Says He Would Testify to Congress

Former CIA director John Brennan arrives at a closed-door hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee in Washington on May 16, 2018. Alex Wong/Getty Images

Former CIA Director John Brennan said Thursday he would gladly testify to Congress.

Speaking on MSNBC on the same day that ex-FBI head James Comey agreed to testify to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Brennan said: “I welcome the opportunity to testify publicly in front of the Justice Committee.”

“I am happy to talk to them just the way I spoke to John Durham, the Department of Justice, or any other committee on the hill,” he added later.

Durham is the U.S. Attorney leading the criminal investigation into Crossfire Hurricane, the FBI’s previous counter-intelligence probe into Donald Trump’s campaign.

A former FBI attorney pleaded guilty this month to altering an email during the probe as part of Durham’s investigation. More charges are possible, according to Attorney General William Barr.

Brennan had begun saying that Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Senate Homeland Security Chairman Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) “don’t have the—” and appeared to mouth or say an expletive before starting over. “They don’t have the interest in calling me up in front of their committees and to testify publicly in front of the American people,” he said.

The investigations into Crossfire Hurricane are “a hyper-partisan, politically corrupt effort to try to create an environment prior to the election that cast Donald Trump in a positive light and Joe Biden in a negative light,” he added.

Johnson gained authority on Wednesday to subpoena Brennan and 39 others involved in Crossfire Hurricane.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) speaks during a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing to examine the Crossfire Hurricane investigation, on Capitol Hill in Washington on Aug. 5, 2020. Carolyn Kaster/Pool/AFP via Getty Images

Brennan said he would agree to testify if asked, without a subpoena. He has previously said he does not have anything to hide.

Graham said publicly in May that he would call Brennan but has not done so.

The dossier compiled by ex-British spy Christopher Steele and paid for by Hilary Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee “is a bunch of political garbage, unverified to this day,” Graham said at the time. “Why was it included in the intel assessment? Did Brennan have anything to do with that?”

Johnson has said he was waiting on various documents to subpoena certain figures. He has only subpoenaed one person, former State Department official Jonathan Winer, so far, along with records from the FBI.

Neither Brennan nor Johnson responded to inquiries on Friday.

Chairman Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) speaks at the start of a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing on the government's response to the CCP virus outbreak in Washington on March 5, 2020. Samuel Corum/Getty Images

Brennan sat down with Durham at the CIA headquarters in Virginia in August, according to his spokesman. Brennan was allegedly told by Durham that he’s not a subject or a target of a criminal investigation.

In the new interview, Brennan said he believes Durham’s team was “testing various theories that they had heard and were asking for my views as well as my recollections on things.”

“But it was handled in a very professional manner,” he added.

Brennan then expressed concern about the resignation of Nora Dannehy, who was working for Durham.

Dannehy’s abrupt resignation on Sept. 11 was reportedly due to pressure placed on Durham’s team to produce results before the Nov. 3 election. Durham’s office declined to provide details on the resignation beyond confirming it and attempts to reach Dannehy, who has not commented publicly on her action, were unsuccessful.

Barr has said he feels no pressure to produce results before the election and that Durham’s team is not working on a specific timeline.

Correction: A previous version of this article misidentified Crossfire Hurricane. The Epoch Times regrets the error.