Overview

• The FBI opened criminal investigations on July 8–9 into former CIA Director John Brennan and former FBI Director James Comey under Director Kash Patel’s authority.
• Brennan faces scrutiny for allegedly providing false testimony to Congress about the Steele dossier’s influence on the Intelligence Community Assessment.
• Investigators have not disclosed specifics of the inquiry into Comey and the Justice Department declined to comment on either probe.
• The probes were prompted by CIA Director John Ratcliffe’s declassified “lessons-learned” report that flagged procedural anomalies in the 2017 Russia assessment.
• Earlier inquiries by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz and Special Counsel John Durham reviewed related issues without indicting senior intelligence officials.