The committee chairman, Rep. Jim Jordan, said Brennan lied to Congress about the investigation into whether Russia interfered in the 2016 election to aid President Trump.
President Trump accuses President Obama of treason over attack on 2016 Russia investigation
President Trump accused former President Barack Obama of leading an effort to undermine his 2016 presidential campaign by falsely linking him to Russia.
WASHINGTON – Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday referred former CIA Director John Brennan to the Department of Justice for criminal prosecution, alleging that he made false statements during his 2023 congressional testimony regarding the Trump-Russia investigation.
“John Brennan lied to Congress,” the committee chairman, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), said in a post on X, referring to the appointee of President Barack Obama. “Today, we referred him to the Department of Justice for criminal prosecution.”
“Steel Documents”
Specifically, Jordan said in a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi that newly declassified evidence from the Trump-appointed Office of the Director of National Intelligence supports Brennan’s false testimony on May 11, 2023, when he said the CIA had no involvement in the (Steele) dossier.
The Steele dossier is a series of largely discredited intelligence reports written by former British spy Christopher Steele for a private research firm that allege ties between President Trump’s 2016 campaign and the Kremlin.
“As newly declassified documents demonstrate, Brennan was eager to include information from the Steele dossier in the (intelligence assessment), a fact that Brennan himself has documented in writing,” Jordan wrote, referring to the CIA’s classified intelligence assessment of Russian election interference.
Mr. Brennan was not immediately available for comment, but he has denied any wrongdoing, particularly in his role leading the massive multi-agency investigation into whether Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election to help Mr. Trump defeat Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.
The Justice Department did not respond to requests for comment.
Steele’s dossier was shared with the FBI late in the 2016 presidential campaign, and a summary of its claims was eventually added as an appendix to the U.S. intelligence community’s assessment of Russian interference.
The intelligence report was ordered by President Obama after Trump was elected in November 2016, following widespread indications of interference in the Kremlin. But since then, especially since Trump was elected to a second term in 2024, the report has fueled accusations by Trump and his allies that it was a coordinated effort to weaponize U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies against him, a charge they vehemently deny.
A bipartisan 2020 report by the Senate Intelligence Committee found evidence that Russia maneuvered to influence the election but was not successful in manipulating votes.
The referral is the latest move by a Republican-led committee targeting Democrats that Republicans say the government is illegally weaponizing to go after Trump.
Mr. Brennan is one of a number of appointees by President Obama, including the heads of the intelligence agencies, and Mr. Trump himself and the law enforcement and intelligence leaders he has appointed have vowed to investigate and prosecute baseless misconduct related to the Russia investigation.
a ‘flimsy, sloppy, contradictory‘ introduction
The top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, criticized his Republican colleagues for conducting the advisory.
“Instead of working to end the government shutdown, reduce health care costs, and meet the needs of the nation, Republican committees are digging up old testimony from Trump’s opponents in hopes of finding something — anything — that can please their boss, Donald Trump, even though the statute of limitations has already expired,” Raskin said in a statement to USA TODAY. “The claims that he lied are flimsy, sloppy and contradictory.”
The criminal prosecution by Trump’s Republican allies in Congress comes about three months after the president called for the prosecution of Brennan and former FBI Director James Comey for their roles in the Russia investigation.
On September 25, a federal grand jury in Alexandria, Virginia, indicted Comey on charges of lying to Congress and disrupting Congressional proceedings during testimony before a Senate committee in 2020.
Mr. Comey pleaded not guilty and on October 20, cited Mr. Trump’s public statement calling for prosecution, and formally asked for the charges to be dropped on the basis of “vindictive prosecution.”
Comey’s lawyers argued that “President Trump ordered the Department of Justice (DOJ) to prosecute Mr. Comey out of personal malice and because Mr. Comey has frequently criticized the President for his actions while in office.”
On July 8, 2025, Fox News reported, citing Justice Department sources, that the department was investigating both Comey and Brennan (as Comey’s lawyers cited in their October 20 motion for removal).
Brennan, who served as CIA director from 2013 to 2017, has become a vocal critic of President Trump since leaving office, as has Comey.
On July 10, following a Fox News report, Comey’s lawyers said Trump had called Comey and Brennan “really crooked people” and “really bad people and dishonest people,” adding, “They’re probably going to have to pay for that…whatever happens happens.”
