Politics
NEW: John Brennan Suffers Brutal Legal Blow As Potential Indictment Looms
The House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday referred former CIA Director John Brennan to the Department of Justice for criminal prosecution. The referral comes as Brennan is already under FBI investigation for allegedly making false statements to Congress about his role in crafting the Russian collusion hoax.
In a press release, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) accused Brennan of “knowingly” making false statements during his transcribed interview before the Committee in 2023. “While testifying, Brennan made numerous willfully and intentionally false statements of material fact that were contradicted by the record established by the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) and the CIA,” Jordan wrote.
Specific instances include falsely denying that the CIA relied on the Steele dossier — a thoroughly debunked, Clinton-funded document that made a number of salacious allegations against President Trump — in drafting the post-2016 election Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA). The former director is also accused of lying when he told the committee that the CIA was opposed to using the Steele dossier in the comprehensive ICA report.
“We write to refer significant evidence that former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) John Brennan knowingly made false statements during his transcribed interview before the Committee on the Judiciary on May 11, 2023. While testifying, Brennan made numerous willfully and intentionally false statements of material fact contradicted by the record established by the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) and the CIA,” Jordan wrote.
“Under 18 U.S.C. § 1001, a witness commits a crime if he ‘knowingly and willfully . . . makes any materially false . . . statement or representation’ with respect to ‘any investigation or review, conducted pursuant to the authority of any committee . . . of the Congress[.]’ Congress cannot perform its oversight function if witnesses who appear before its committees do not provide truthful testimony. Making false statements before Congress is a crime that undermines the integrity of the Committee’s constitutional duty to conduct oversight.”
John Brennan lied to Congress.
Today, we referred him to the Department of Justice for criminal prosecution.
Read the full referral here: https://t.co/NG45lgFWgM pic.twitter.com/92BF4BUz4B
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) October 21, 2025
Brennan’s role in tweaking the ICA report to include unfounded allegations of Russian interference on behalf of the Trump Campaign has been central to the investigations into his conduct.
The 2017 ICA alleged Russia sought to influence the 2016 presidential election to help then-candidate Donald Trump. But the review found that the process of the ICA’s creation was rushed with “procedural anomalies,” and that officials diverted from intelligence standards.
An internal “lessons learned” memo released by current CIA Director John Ratcliffe revealed that multiple CIA officers signed off on letters stating that Russian interference played no impactful role in the 2016 election. It further revealed that the Russian government was actually hoping for a Clinton victory, as they were confident they had “dirt” on her that could be released after she was elected.
It also determined that the decision to include the Steele dossier, “ran counter to fundamental tradecraft principles and ultimately undermined the credibility of a key judgment.”
