Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on Wednesday demanded a full investigation into former Obama officials who were involved with the Trump-Russia hoax, and called for former CIA Chief John Brennan to come before Congress “ASAP.”
Paul tweeted that a “high-level source” informed him that Brennan had insisted that the unverified Steele dossier be included in the 2017 U.S. intelligence Assessment of Russian Interference in the 2016 Election.
BREAKING: A high-level source tells me it was Brennan who insisted that the unverified and fake Steele dossier be included in the Intelligence Report… Brennan should be asked to testify under oath in Congress ASAP.
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 27, 2019
The Kentucky Republican also tweeted that “it’s time for Congress to investigate” the Obama officials behind the Russia hoax, including Obama himself.
I agree with @kimguilfoyle Time for Congress to investigate. What did President Obama know and when? How did this hoax go on for so long unabated? https://t.co/fgJZaqR6cI
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 27, 2019
In an interview with the Washington Examiner, Paul said Brennan needs to come before the Senate Judiciary Committee immediately to explain his involvement with the anti-Trump dossier.
“I think we need to find the truth,” he told Washington Secrets.
He said the goal would be to stop similar faulty investigations into future administrations, “Democratic or Republican.”
In the interview, he also said he would ask Trump in a letter this week to declassify the information related to the distribution and use of the dossier.
Paul said the topic of a probe into the dossier “keeps coming up for discussion. How did all this get started.” He added that Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Lindsay Graham has indicated it would open a probe.
Brennan has denied in the past that he included the now discredited Clinton campaign-funded dossier in the intelligence community report, but at least two other top intelligence officials claim he did, the Examiner reported.
Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Dan Coats also denied that the dirty dossier was included in part of the report in March of 2018.
The intelligence report, titled “Background to Assessing Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent U.S. Elections: The Analytic Process and Cyber Incident Attribution”, did not rely on information from the Steele dossier or from Steele, said Barrett, chief spokesman for DNI Dan Coats.
“Neither the classified nor the declassified versions of the intelligence community assessment were informed by Steele or by the contents of the dossier, either directly or indirectly,” he said.
However, in a report last March in The New Yorker citing three former government officials, Jane Mayer wrote that “the highly classified report included a two-page appendix about the dossier.”
The New Yorker piece said former FBI Director James Comey briefed then-President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden on the intelligence assessment on Jan. 5, 2017.
The appendix did not name Steele but summarized information supplied by a former intelligence officer who had worked with the FBI and who had offered “troubling information,” she said.
“Comey laid out the dossier’s allegations that there had been numerous contacts between the Trump campaign and Russian officials, and that there may have been deals struck between them,” Mayer wrote. “Comey also mentioned some of the sexual details in the dossier, including the alleged golden-showers kompromat.”
One of the participants in the classified White House meeting was quoted as calling the report “chilling.”
Paul told the Examiner that the dossier wasn’t taken seriously “until it was recognized in intelligence assessments and only after the late Sen. John McCain and top Obama officials helped circulate it.”
Of all the former Obama officials who have lambasted President Trump in the media, Brennan has been the most vocal. When Trump withdrew his security clearance last summer, the former spook said that President Trump did it because his campaign colluded with the Russians to sway the 2016 election and is now “desperate to end the special counsel’s investigation.”
Special Counsel Robert Mueller, however, in his report last week dismissed the collusion charges, further discrediting the Steele dossier.
“My plan is to object to the release of the Mueller report and/or all of the Mueller information until they also release the complete information from the White House, DOJ, FBI, on why they chose to credit the dossier,” Paul tweeted.
My plan is to object to the release of the Mueller report and/or all of the Mueller information until they also release the complete information from the White House, DOJ, FBI, on why they chose to credit the dossier. https://t.co/6IlHgb88XC
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 27, 2019
The senator said that he is not calling for a special prosecutor because he feels that Congress or the Justice Department can investigate.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told Fox News Host Sean Hannity last night that the Senate Judiciary Committee will investigate how the president “could be accused of working with a foreign government when there’s no real basis in fact.”
“[Mueller] has rendered his verdict: there is no collusion. Now, it's time to look at how this got off the rails.” –@LindseyGrahamSC pic.twitter.com/USF4HMX1h8
— GOP (@GOP) March 27, 2019
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