A break from Main Stream Propaganda....
CIA 'rattled' by Bill Barr's inquiry into origins of Russia probe: Report
CIA ‘rattled’ by Bill Barr’s inquiry into origins of Russia probe: Report
There is a growing sense of unease within the CIA stemming from Bill Barr’s investigation into the origins of the Trump-Russia probe,
according to a reporter from NBC News.
Analysts at the intelligence agency are lawyering up amid uncertainty about whether or not Barr’s review has morphed into a criminal investigation, the
Washington Examiner reports. Barr’s probe is expanding to encompass events beyond President Trump’s inauguration, and U.S. Attorney John Durham, who is overseeing the process, has plans to speak with the agency’s former chief, Trump foe John Brennan.
Barr’s probe expands
It has evidently come as an unpleasant surprise to Brennan and officials at his former agency that Barr’s probe into the Russia hoax is expanding, rather than losing momentum. NBC reported that the Justice Department has been seeking testimony and files from CIA analysts involved in the
intelligence community’s assessment of Russian interference during the 2016 campaign — which
included the infamous dirty Russia dossier, at Brennan’s behest, according to a 2016 email chain from James Comey.
“It’s really not clear where he’s going with this, but a lot of people are very rattled. Those CIA analysts I mentioned had to hire their own lawyers because no one’s even sure whether this is a criminal investigation or not. And if it is a criminal investigation, what is the allegation of wrongdoing? No one I talked to can answer that,” NBC reporter Ken Dilanian told MSNBC’s
Morning Joe.
Durham reportedly plans to interview Brennan as well as James Clapper, the former head of the intelligence community under President Obama. Trump has long
accused the two men of conspiring with James Comey and other top Obama administration officials to spy on his campaign and subvert his presidency in an illegal “coup.”
Brennan, along with Democrats and the media, attacked Barr’s review as an attempt to discredit the Mueller investigation. The former CIA chief responded to reports that Barr’s probe was pushing beyond Trump’s inauguration in January 2017 by
calling the review “bizarre” and questioning its merit, although the DOJ told NBC that Durham had
found something “significant.”
“I don’t know what the legal basis for this is,” Brennan said.
Brennan under microscope
Although Durham’s review did not begin as a criminal investigation, there is uncertainty about whether that has changed. Durham’s prosecutors have reportedly interviewed some two dozen FBI officials to determine if there was anti-Trump bias at the bureau during the 2016 campaign, a move that was described by the
New York Times as a possible prelude to interviews with Comey, Peter Strzok and other consequential players in the Russia hoax.
Barr has faced renewed hostility for
seeking help from Italy, the United Kingdom, Australia and Ukraine in his probe of political “corruption” in the 2016 election by actors friendly to Hillary Clinton. Brennan told MSNBC earlier in October that Barr’s review “really makes me think that the hand of politics and of Trump are now being used to massage what this ongoing review, quasi-investigation is. So I am concerned.”
Brennan has been accused by allies of the president of pushing the salacious, discredited Christopher Steele dossier, which ultimately
became the basis of the Russia collusion hoax after James Comey briefed Trump on the document in January of 2017, and that briefing was leaked to the media.
Former Republican Congressman Trey Gowdy has
claimed to have seen classified records which show that Comey told subordinates in an e-mail chain that Brennan had insisted on the dossier’s inclusion in the Intelligence Community Assessment.
It seems to be no accident that Barr’s investigation is zeroing in on the CIA’s actions under Brennan. Barr’s review is also reportedly
probing whether Josef Mifsud, a mysterious Maltese academic who played a key role in sparking the Trump-Russia investigation, was sent by the CIA to entrap ex-Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulos.