Yesterday former CIA Director John Brennan said the notion that Russia tried to interfere in our election and the allegations of collusion were well founded. At the same time, that doesn’t mean he has evidence of collusion, which he outright said he did not have. Brennan's exact words were “I don’t know.” So, if the media and the Left get excited about the Russian collusion allegations being confirmed, here's some cold water. The former CIA director said that interactions and meetings with the Russians during the 2016 cycle are not evidence of collusion. He noted that suspicions and inquiries are warranted due to the alleged activity being executed in the timeframe of a presidential election. Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH) asked MR. Brennan “if someone left this hearing today and said you had indicated that those contacts were evidence of collusion or collaboration, they would be misrepresenting your statements, correct?”
“They would have misheard my response to the very good questions that were asked of me,” the former CIA director said. “I’m trying to be as clear as possible in terms of what I know, what I assess, and what I can say.”
Turner pressed on asking, “But you would say that a misinterpretation of your statement, yes?”
“I would say that it’s not an accurate portrayal of my statement. Absolutely—it was inconsistent with my remarks,” replied Brennan.
It’s important since Democrats think that any meeting with the Russians is akin to treason. It prompted progressive magazine publisher and editor Katrina Vanden Heuvel to wrote an op-ed accusing the Democrats of whipping up liberals into neo-McCarthyite furor post-2016. Rep. Stephanie Murphy (R-FL) took it a step further and said that any contact with the Russians is inappropriate. Again, all of this shouted into the echo chamber without a single shred of solid evidence to prove Russian colluded with the Trump campaign during the 2016 election.
