Durham 'very interested' in grilling John Brennan, report says

John Brennan (Official CIA portrait)

Barack Obama's CIA director, John Brennan, is regarded by many as the architect of the now-debunked Trump-Russia collusion claim, and has accused President Trump of treason.

He also failed to grasp the foundational premise of the American justice system, innocent until proven guilty, in his recent statement that people are innocent until they are accused.

But he may soon be getting an education in both subjects with Fox News reporting U.S. Attorney John Durham, assigned to investigate the origins of the Trump-Russia probe, saying he would like to question Brennan.

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Citing sources familiar with the situation, Fox News said Brennan has been notified that Durham is "very interested" in such an interview and has been told he could be contacted.

"A prominent Trump critic, Brennan continues to take swipes at the president amid the impeachment inquiry over allegations he improperly pressured Ukraine to launch politically helpful investigations. After Trump questioned the account of a witness who this week voiced concerns about those conversations, Brennan tweeted: 'As in previous times of National peril, we rely on our military, diplomats, intelligence officials, law enforcement officers, & other courageous patriots to protect our liberties, freedom, & democracy. May they stay resolute & strong despite corrupt political headwinds they face,'" the report said.

"Because Durham’s investigation is focused on a timeline spanning from the weeks leading up to the 2016 presidential election through the spring of 2017, former FBI special agent Peter Strzok will likely be seen as another key figure. Strzok, on July 31, 2016, officially opened the FBI’s initial Russia investigation."

A number of Obama administration officials could be targeted in the Durham review, which has now become a criminal investigation.

That means Durham can subpoena witnesses, file charges and impanel grand juries.

Fox News quoted its source: "You do not impanel a grand jury at this point unless you are going to indict. Durham is at a point where he knows he has crimes and now the question is how many people were involved and they have a pretty good idea of that group of people and what the charges can be and whether or not they can get some cooperators."

Among the officials who could be questioned is fired FBI director James Comey, who said he hopes Durham will protect his reputation from being damaged by "those in leadership."

One source told Fox News that Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s forthcoming report on alleged abuses of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) during the Russia probe will shed light on why Durham’s investigation has become a criminal inquiry.

Under the Obama administration, the Justice Department and the FBI used an unverified, Democratic-funded political document as evidence to obtain warrants to spy on Trump adviser Carter Page.

Others who could come under scrutiny are former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates and former acting Deputy Attorney General Dana Boente.

Attorney General William Barr has confirmed that Durham has been questioning officials in other countries if he thinks they "might have some information that would be helpful to the investigation."

Brennan's comment about the justice system came in an interview with MSNBC's "Morning Joe." He said "people are innocent, you know, until alleged to be involved in some kind of criminal activity."

With sincere apologies in advance to all US liberals who are offended by criticisms of former CIA chiefs, @JohnBrennan's understanding of the presumption of innocence is completely warped, but in the most unsurprising way imaginable: pic.twitter.com/IsE8ulSJMo

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) October 6, 2019

Brennan, now a CNN commentator, also has accused Trump of treason.

Following special counsel Robert Mueller's conclusion that there was no collusion with Russia by the Trump campaign, Brennan told MSNBC's "Morning Joe": "I don't know if I received bad information, but I think I suspected there was more than there actually was."

The Washington Post reported that in August 2016, Brennan requested a meeting with President Obama after compiling his own dossier of claims of Russian interference in the election.

That same month, Brennan briefed then-Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid about elements in another dossier, the unverified anti-Trump document crafted by former British spy Christopher Steele that was funded by the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee. Reid then transmitted some of the information in a letter to the FBI.

Brennan also has a record of lying. He was probed for committing perjury by testifying falsely, under oath, before the House Intelligence Committee that the infamous anti-Trump “dossier” funded by the Democratic Party played no role in the intelligence community’s publicly released conclusion that Russia interfered in the 2016 election.

Brennan further declared he did not know who commissioned the opposition-research dossier, even though senior national security and counter-intelligence officials at the Justice Department and FBI knew the previous year it was funded by the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee.

After Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., accused the CIA of spying on members of the Senate by hacking into computers used by her intelligence committee’s staffers, Brennan said, "Let me assure you the CIA was in no way spying on [the committee] or the Senate."

However, a CIA inspector general's report found the CIA was indeed spying on the Senate, and Brennan was forced to privately apologize to intelligence committee members.

Brennan also claimed in a 2011 speech that there had not been "a single collateral death" from U.S. drone strikes because of their "exceptional proficiency [and] precision.'" However, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism found that one U.S. drone strike alone had killed 42 Pakistanis, "most of them civilians."