Former CIA Director John Brennan said that Trump couldn’t have gotten the warning that his campaign was under federal investigation in 2016, because warning Trump would have compromised the investigation.
On MSNBC’s Deadline: White House, host Nicolle Wallace asked, “I guess what I’m trying to get at is one of Donald Trump’s attacks on the intelligence community where you spent the vast majority of your career and on law enforcement, which is both sides of those, CIA run by his hand-picked appointees and before that, by a political supporter, Mike Pompeo. The FBI now run by his hand-picked nominee, Christopher WRAY. He attacks them constantly. Is it — should he have been warned by the FBI that there were Russian agents in Trump Tower? Do you know if there was enough information in possession of the U.S. Government that in hindsight maybe he should have been warned?”
Brennan answered, “Certainly the campaign was given defensive briefings by the FBI what they should be on the lookout for. But if there were ongoing investigations at the time, which Jim Comey and others have acknowledged that in late July, there were — those investigations were opened. It’s very, very difficult to reveal details of an investigation while at the same time protecting the integrity of that investigation. So I know that the bureau tried to balance their need to warn and to advise the two campaigns about the potential for foreign interference. But at the same time, continue to pull those investigative threads and they continued to pull them throughout the course of the campaign and during the period between election and inauguration day and subsequent to that. But the bureau has to be able to protect sources and methods and be able to ensure that their investigation is going to be able to continue.”
Trump couldn’t be warned because he was a subject of an investigation
Trump has consistently wanted law enforcement to tip him off and give him inside information so that he can avoid trouble. The president’s main gripe is that law enforcement won’t give him the information that he needs to avoid getting busted. Brennan explained that Trump was briefed on what to look for, but he could not be told that his campaign was under investigation, because doing so would have compromised the investigation itself.
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The fact that law enforcement would tip off Trump means that the investigation is being handled in a professional and objective manner. Trump’s claims of a witch hunt are bogus, and John Brennan explained why.
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Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
