FBI launches criminal investigations of John Brennan, James Comey: DOJ sources

SPECIFIC Former CIA Director John Brennan and former FBI Director James Comey are under criminal inquiry for feasible wrongdoing related to the Trump Russia probe including allegedly making false statements to Congress Justice Department sources advised Fox News Digital CIA Director John Ratcliffe referred evidence of wrongdoing by Brennan to FBI Director Kash Patel for likely prosecution DOJ sources advised Fox News Digital The sources commented that the referral was received and advised Fox News Digital that a criminal assessment into Brennan was opened and is underway DOJ sources declined to provide further details It is unclear at this point if the research spans beyond his alleged false statements to Congress As for Comey DOJ sources reported Fox News Digital that an review into the former director is underway but could not share details of what specifically is being probed EX-OBAMA INTEL BOSS LONGED ANTI-TRUMP DOSSIER INCLUDED IN 'ATYPICAL' ASSESSMENT DESPITE PUSHBACKThe full scope of the criminal investigations into Brennan and Comey is unclear but two sources described the FBI's view of the duo's interactions as a conspiracy which could open up a wide range of prospective prosecutorial options The FBI and CIA declined to comment Neither Brennan nor Comey promptly responded to Fox News Digital s request for comment The Brennan analysis comes after Ratcliffe last week declassified a lessons learned review of the creation of the Intelligence Locality Assessment ICA The ICA alleged Russia sought to influence the presidential voting to help then-candidate Donald Trump But the review identified that the process of the ICA's creation was rushed with procedural anomalies and that bureaucrats diverted from intelligence standards WHITE HOUSE WANTS OBAMA INTEL LEADERS 'HELD ACCOUNTABLE' FOR ROLE PEDDLING RUSSIA HOAXIt also determined that the decision by agency heads to include the Steele Dossier in the ICA ran counter to fundamental tradecraft principles and ultimately undermined the credibility of a key judgment The dossier an anti-Trump document filled with unverified and wholly inaccurate declares that was commissioned by Fusion GPS and paid for by Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's campaign and the DNC has been widely discredited Last week's review marks the first time career CIA leaders have acknowledged politicization of the process by which the ICA was written particularly by Obama-era political appointees Records declassified as part of that review further revealed that Brennan did in fact push for the dossier to be included in the ICA Brennan testified to the House Judiciary Committee in May however that he did not believe the dossier should be included in that intelligence product COMEY SAYS MCCABE LIED CONFIRMS HE KICK-STARTED PROBE THAT LED TO HIS FIRINGRatcliffe was not surprised by the review's findings a source familiar communicated Fox News Digital given the director's long history of criticizing Brennan's politicization of intelligence But Ratcliffe was compelled to refer aspects of Brennan s involvement to the FBI for review of viable criminality the source revealed The source was unable to share the sensitive details of Ratcliffe s criminal referral to the FBI with Fox News Digital but noted that Brennan violated the masses s trust and should be held accountable for it The false statements portion of the probe stems from a newly declassified email sent to Brennan by the former deputy CIA director in December That message announced that including the dossier in the ICA in any quota jeopardized the credibility of the entire paper FISA DOCUMENT DROPS TAKEAWAYS FROM DOJ WATCHDOG'S REVIEW OF RUSSIA PROBE Despite these objections Brennan indicated a preference for narrative consistency over analytical soundness the new CIA review states When confronted with specific flaws in the Dossier by the two mission center leaders one with extensive operational experience and the other with a strong analytic background he appeared more swayed by the Dossier's general conformity with existing theories than by legitimate tradecraft concerns The review added Brennan ultimately formalized his position in writing stating that my bottomline is that I believe that the information warrants inclusion in the review But Brennan testified the opposite in front of Congress in May The CIA was very much opposed to having any reference or inclusion of the Steele dossier in the Intelligence District Assessment Brennan testified before the House committee according to the transcript of his deposition reviewed by Fox News Digital And so they sent over a copy of the dossier to say that this was going to be separate from the rest of that assessment FLASHBACK NEWLY DECLASSIFIED INTEL DOCUMENT NOTED STEELE DOSSIER INSISTS HAD 'LIMITED CORROBORATION'CIA executives at the time of its creation pushed back against the FBI which sought to include the dossier arguing that the dossier should not be included in the assessment and casting it as merely internet rumor Ultimately Steele s reporting was not included in the body of the final ICA prepared for then-President Barack Obama but instead detailed in this footnote largely at the insistence of FBI s senior leadership according to a review by the Justice Department inspector general and later the Senate Intelligence Committee But back in June Ratcliffe while serving as director of national intelligence declassified a footnote of the ICA which revealed that the reporting of Trump dossier author Christopher Steele had only limited corroboration regarding whether then-President-elect Trump knowingly worked with Russian administrators to bolster his chances of beating Hillary Clinton and other suggests FLASHBACK DNI DECLASSIFIES BRENNAN NOTES CIA MEMO ON HILLARY CLINTON 'STIRRING UP' DISGRACE BETWEEN TRUMP RUSSIAThe footnote also known as Annex A of the ICA exclusively obtained by Fox News Digital in June spanned less than two pages and detailed reporting by Steele the former British spy who authored the unverified anti-Trump dossier a document that helped serve as the basis for controversial Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act FISA warrants obtained against former Trump campaign aide Carter Page Steele s reporting at the time was commissioned by opposition research firm Fusion GPS and funded by the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee DNC through law firm Perkins Coie The footnote made clear the internal concerns leaders had over that document An FBI source Steele using both identified and unidentified subsources volunteered highly politically sensitive information from the summer to the fall of on Russian influence efforts aimed at the US presidential polling the annex read We have only limited corroboration of the source s reporting in this affair and did not use it to reach the analytic conclusions of the CIA FBI NSA assessment The source collected this information on behalf of private clients and was not compensated for it by the FBI it continued But the annex notes that Steele's reporting was not developed by the layered subsource arrangement The FBI source caveated that although similar to previously provided reporting in terms of content the source was unable to vouch for the additional information's sourcing and accuracy the annex states Hence this information is not included in this product FBI IGNORED 'CLEAR WARNING SIGN' OF CLINTON-LED EFFORT TO 'MANIPULATE' BUREAU FOR 'POLITICAL PURPOSES'Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz also reviewed the inclusion of Steele s reporting in the ICA during his review of alleged misconduct related to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act or FISA His statement issued in late identified that there were considerable inaccuracies and omissions in FISA warrants for former Trump campaign aide Page Those warrants relied heavily on Steele s reporting despite the FBI not having had specific information corroborating statements against Page that were included in Steele s reporting Meanwhile Fox News Digital exclusively published in October that Brennan briefed former President Obama and administration agents on intelligence that then-Democrat nominee former Secretary of State Clinton was stirring up a plan to tie Trump to Russia Ratcliffe as director of national intelligence declassified Brennan s handwritten notes memorializing that meeting which were exclusively obtained by Fox News Digital in October On July Brennan briefed Obama on a plan from one of Clinton's campaign foreign approach advisors to vilify Donald Trump by stirring up a outrage claiming interference by the Russian safety system Comey then-Vice President Joe Biden former Attorney General Loretta Lynch and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper were in the Brennan-Obama briefing FLASHBACK DECLASSIFIED TRUMP-RUSSIA PROBE DOCS TO DATE WHAT TO KNOW After that briefing the CIA properly forwarded that information through a Counterintelligence Operational Lead CIOL to Comey and then-Deputy Assistant Director of Counterintelligence Peter Strzok with the subject line Crossfire Hurricane Fox News Digital exclusively obtained and informed on the CIOL in October which stated The following information is provided for the specific use of your bureau for background investigative action or lead purposes as appropriate Per FBI verbal request CIA provides the below examples of information the CROSSFIRE HURRICANE fusion cell has gleaned to date the memo continued An exchange REDACTED discussing US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton s approval of a plan concerning US presidential candidate Donald Trump and Russian hackers hampering US elections as a means of distracting the citizens from her use of a private email server The FBI on July opened a counterintelligence inquiry into whether candidate Trump and members of his campaign were colluding or coordinating with Russia to influence the campaign That inquiry was referred to inside the bureau as Crossfire Hurricane Former Special Counsel Robert Mueller was appointed to take over the FBI s original Crossfire Hurricane scrutiny After nearly two years Mueller s analysis which concluded in March yielded no evidence of criminal conspiracy or coordination between the Trump campaign and Russian officers during the presidential vote Shortly after John Durham was appointed as special counsel to investigate the origins of the Crossfire Hurricane probe Durham detected that the FBI failed to act on a clear warning sign that the bureau was the target of a Clinton-led effort to manipulate or influence the law enforcement process for political purposes ahead of the presidential ballot The aforementioned facts reflect a rather startling and inexplicable failure to adequately consider and incorporate the Clinton Plan intelligence into the FBI s investigative decision-making in the Crossfire Hurricane inspection Durham s description states Indeed had the FBI opened the Crossfire Hurricane inquiry as an assessment and in turn gathered and analyzed facts in concert with the information from the Clinton Plan intelligence it is likely that the information received would have been examined at a minimum with a more critical eye the description continued Durham in his overview reported the FBI failed to act on what should have been when combined with other incontrovertible facts a clear warning sign that the FBI might then be the target of an effort to manipulate or influence the law enforcement process for political purposes during the presidential polling Meanwhile the White House wants the Obama-era intelligence functionaries to be held accountable President Trump was right again White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced in a comment to Fox News Digital Those who engaged in this political controversy must be held accountable for the fraud they committed against President Trump and the lies they explained to the American people