The House Intelligence Committee voted Tuesday to give federal prosecutors classified information associated to John Brennan, in accordance to a committee spokesperson, signaling the Justice Department’s investigation into the former CIA director could also be heading in direction of attainable charges.
The committee held the vote behind closed doorways, a supply mentioned, and the information is not going to be made public.
The vote got here after the Justice Department requested the documents from the committee.
Federal prosecutors have for months labored to build a case against Brennan over allegations that he lied to Congress a few years-ago intelligence evaluation on Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
One of the information the committee will flip over is a transcript of an interview with Brennan, the supply mentioned.
An lawyer for Brennan declined to remark, and he has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
The DOJ’s request for Intelligence Committee information was first reported by Punchbowl News.
Earlier this month, federal prosecutors in Miami issued a subpoena to former FBI Director James Comey in search of years of information associated to the intelligence group evaluation of Russian meddling, in accordance to a number of sources aware of the matter.
Both the Comey subpoena and DOJ’s request for information from Congress are key steps that prosecutors would want to take earlier than deciding whether or not or not to carry charges.
Brennan’s legal professionals have been bracing for a attainable indictment for months.
Career prosecutors in Miami have signaled to Justice Department officers they don’t consider the case against Brennan is a powerful one, NCS beforehand reported, however have continued to work towards presumably bringing it in DC federal courtroom.
Brennan instructed House investigators in 2017 that Russia “brazenly interfered” in US elections, together with actively contacting members of Trump’s marketing campaign. However, he stopped shy of dubbing it “collusion.”
The investigation into Russian election interference in the end didn’t discover that Trump’s marketing campaign or associates conspired with Russia or that Trump dedicated a criminal offense. But the investigation additionally didn’t exonerate the president on obstruction of justice.
Through a mixture of presidential powers together with govt orders and federal investigations, Trump has sought retribution on quite a few fronts, focusing on these concerned in the a number of authorized instances against him, together with his indictments for hoarding classified documents and making an attempt to overturn the 2020 election, as effectively as the probe into the 2016 election.
NCS’s Veronica Stracqualursi contributed to this report.