Obama loyalist Brennan drove FBI to begin investigating Trump associates last summer

[Ubiquitous]

What caused the Barack Obama administration to begin investigating
the Donald Trump campaign last summer has come into clearer focus
following a string of congressional hearings on Russian interference
in the presidential election.

It was then-CIA Director John O. Brennan, a close confidant of Mr.
Obama’s, who provided the information — what he termed the “basis” —
for
the FBI to start the counterintelligence investigation last summer.
Mr. Brennan served on the former president’s 2008 presidential
campaign
and in his White House.

Mr. Brennan told the House Intelligence Committee on May 23 that the
intelligence community was picking up tidbits on Trump associates
making contacts with Russians. Mr. Brennan did not name either the
Russians or the Trump people. He indicated he did not know what was
said.


But he said he believed the contacts were numerous enough to alert
the FBI, which began its probe into Trump associates that same July,
according to previous congressional testimony from then-FBI director
James B. Comey.

The FBI probe of contacts came the same month the intelligence
community fingered Russian agents as orchestrating hacks into
Democratic
Party computers and providing stolen emails to WikiLeaks.

Mr. Brennan, who has not hidden his dislike for Mr. Trump, testified
he briefed the investigation’s progress to Mr. Obama, who at the
time
was trying to aid Hillary Clinton in her campaign against the
Republican nominee.

As Mr. Brennan described his actions to the House committee: “I
wanted to make sure that every information and bit of intelligence
that we
had was shared with the bureau [FBI] so that they could take it. It
was well beyond my mandate as director of CIA to follow on any of
those
leads that involved U.S. persons. But 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.

“I was aware of intelligence and information about contacts between
Russian officials and U.S. persons that raised concerns in my mind
about whether or not those individuals were cooperating with the
Russians, either in a witting or unwitting fashion, and it served as
the
basis for the FBI investigation to determine whether such collusion
[or] cooperation occurred,” Mr. Brennan added.

Eleven months later, there is no official public confirmation that
Trump people colluded with the Russians on hacking.

When Rep. Trey Gowdy of South Carolina, the Republican point man in
questioning Mr. Brennan, asked what the Russians and Trump people
were
talking about, the former top spy said he did not know.

“I saw interaction and [was] aware of interaction that, again,
raised questions in my mind about what was the true nature of it.
But I
don’t know. I don’t have sufficient information to make a
determination whether or not such cooperation or complicity or
collusion was
taking place. But I know that there was a basis to have individuals
pull those threads,” Mr. Brennan said.

It is known that some Trump people had contact with Russians during
the campaign, when the hacking occurred, and some during the
transition.

Jared Kushner, a White House aide and Mr. Trump’s son-in-law, is
known to have communicated with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak
during
the transition, as did retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn.

The State Department sponsored a trip by diplomats to the Republican
National Convention in July. Mr. Kislyak was among those who
attended.

One Trump person known to have public Russian contacts in July was
Carter Page. Mr. Page signed on as a low-level volunteer who made TV
appearances on Mr. Trump’s behalf and offered advice on foreign
policy.

Mr. Page, who has done business with Russians for years and lived in
Moscow in the 2000s as a Merrill Lynch investment banker, returned
last summer to give two talks that were covered by the news media.

Mr. Page has told The Washington Times he played no role in any
Russian conspiracy to hack or otherwise interfere in the election.

He believes the Trump campaign severed ties with him because of
sensational charges in an unverified anti-Trump dossier that
surfaced in a
smattering of news stories before Nov. 8.

The dossier was one of the forces influencing the FBI that summer.
Some press reports said it was the reason the bureau began
investigating
Trump associates and acquired a warrant to wiretap Mr. Page as a
possible foreign agent.

But Mr. Brennan’s May 23 testimony shows that it was his actions
that drove the FBI probe.

The dossier was financed by a Clinton backer and written by British
ex-spy Christopher Steele. He was hired by Democratic-tied Fusion
GPS
in Washington.

Mr. Steele’s 35 pages of memos were first circulated in late June.
In mid-July Fusion passed around another memo that made the most
sensational charges. “Further Indications of Extensive Conspiracy
Between Trump’s Campaign and the Kremlin” was the headline.

Mr. Steele said that Mr. Carter and former Trump campaign manager
Paul Manafort formed a team to work with the Russians to hack the
Democrats.

Mr. Page calls the charge preposterous. He told The Times he has
never met Mr. Manafort.

Also denying the charges was Mr. Manafort, whom the Trump
organization fired after reports he received questionable payments
from a pro-
Russian Ukrainian politician. Mr. Manafort said he did not knowingly
talk to any Russians.

After Mr. Brennan’s May 23 appearance, Mr. Page sent a letter to the
House committee.

“His testimony followed closely in line with the highly defamatory
and baseless accusations offered during their regime’s final year in
office as well as the months since,” Mr. Page wrote to Rep. K.
Michael Conaway, the Texas Republican who is leading the panel’s
investigation, and Rep. Adam B. Schiff of California, the
committee’s top Democrat.

“Throughout my interactions with the Russians in 2016, I
consistently made it crystal clear that all of my benign statements
and harmless
actions in Moscow as well as elsewhere overseas were solely made as
a scholar and a business person speaking only on behalf of myself.
In
other words, in no way connected to then-candidate Trump,” Mr. Page
wrote.

The Steele dossier said he met with two Kremlin-connected Russians
in Moscow that July. Mr. Page said he has never met the two men.

Mr. Brennan has been a harsh critic of Mr. Trump, especially since
the election. He took umbrage at Mr. Trump blaming the intelligence
community for leaks and his likening it to how the Nazis did
business. Mr. Brennan said Mr. Trump does not understand the threat
posed by
Russia.

While Mr. Brennan was at the White House, the Obama administration
launched a six-year “reset” approach to Moscow, with then-Secretary
of
State Clinton standing next to Russian President Vladimir Putin and
urging Americans to do business with Russia.

Relations soured after Mr. Putin’s forces invaded Ukraine.

To this day, nearly a year after Mr. Brennan alerted the FBI, there
has been no public official confirmation that Trump people
coordinated
with the Russians on hacking. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, California
Democrat and Senate Intelligence Committee member, said earlier this
month
she has seen no evidence of collusion.

The Senate and House Intelligence committees are both investigating
that charge.

Last week, the Senate panel asked the Trump presidential campaign
for all records related to Russia.


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Dems & the media want Trump to be more like Obama, but then he'd
have to audit liberals & wire tap reporters' phones.