Yesterday Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe declassified additional documents that show former CIA Director John Brennan briefed President Barack Obama about a Hillary Clinton's plans to falsely tie Donald Trump to the Russian government.
Ratcliffe declassified Brennan’s handwritten notes – which were taken after he briefed Obama on the intelligence the CIA received – and a CIA memo, which revealed that officials referred the matter to the FBI for potential investigative action.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence transmitted the declassified documents to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees on Tuesday afternoon.
"CITE [summarizing] alleged approved by Hillary Clinton a proposal from one of her foreign policy advisers to vilify Donald Trump by stirring up a scandal claiming interference by the Russian security service,” Brennan’s notes read.
During an interview with CNN Tuesday night, Brennan confirmed the circumstances of his brief to President Obama and adamantly argued nothing was illegal. He also attempted to spin the situation away from Clinton and onto the Russians.
"These were my notes from the 2016 period when I briefed President Obama and the rest of the national security council team about what the Russians were up to and I was giving examples of the type of access that the US intelligence community had to Russian information and what the Russians were talking about and alleging," Brennan said. "What the Russians were alleging that Hillary was trying to highlight the reported connections between Trump and the Russians, if that was accurate and a big if, there is nothing at all illegal about that."
Fmr. CIA director Brennan: DNI made ‘selective’ declassification of my handwritten notes @JohnBrennan discusses pic.twitter.com/4LZzv82l5r
— The Lead CNN (@TheLeadCNN) October 6, 2020
President Trump has approved the declassification of all documents related to the 2016 presidential election and the scheme cooked up by Obama officials to take him down.
I have fully authorized the total Declassification of any & all documents pertaining to the single greatest political CRIME in American History, the Russia Hoax. Likewise, the Hillary Clinton Email Scandal. No redactions! https://t.co/GgnHh9GOiq
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 7, 2020
Meanwhile U.S. Attorney John Durham's investigation into the actions of Obama officials like Brennan and others, continues.
"There's the issue of whether someone crossed the line. In the course of these, in my view, unjustified and horrible abuse of power, actually cross the line and committed a federal offense and I can't really say anything about the status of that investigation except that it's continuing and we'll be careful about not bringing indictments in a way that can be viewed as interfering with the election," Attorney General Bill Barr said during a recent interview with Townhall. "You need strong evidence of intent, it seems to me, before you can charge that kind of crime so developing that evidence is a time consuming process. Most of the people who are mouthing off about 'well why aren't these people already indicted,' they don't understand the criminal justice process. People get lawyers, sometimes they won't talk to you. Even if they talk to you they'll say they'll take the fifth and you have to get documents and frequently fight over documents and fight over things in court so the investigation is a cumbersome process. It's not something that can be done quickly."
"In terms of investigations it's actually moving along but I know people are impatient," he continued.