It is one versus three in the ongoing Senate Intelligence Committee hearings on the collusion between Russian officials and the camp of then Republican candidate Donald Trump. The most damning testimony on Tuesday came from former CIA Director John Brennan who confirmed that intelligence showed there were contacts and interactions between Russians and people linked with Trump’s campaign.
He told the committee that by summer 2016, he was convinced that there were multifaceted and aggressive efforts by the Russians to interfere in the U.S. national elections.
Although the GOP tried to make him say there was no collusion, Brennan made it even harder for the Republican Party to protect the president, The Washington Post pointed out.
CIA turned over intelligence reports for FBI to investigate
The effort to make Brennan say there is no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian officials came from Republican South Carolina Rep. Trey Gowdy. But the legislator could not make the ex-CIA head say that. Brennan said the CIA is not a law enforcement agency, so it turned over to the FBI its intelligence reports.
Brennan said he encountered and is aware of the contacts between the two groups. He became concerned since Russia is known for efforts to suborn those individuals, according to New York Daily News.
While it raised questions in his mind if Russia succeeded, Brennan said he left the CIA with those questions unresolved in his mind.
Brennan’s testimony, the strongest so far against Trump, came on the heels of a report on Monday that the president pressured two other government officials to deny publicly there was a collusion between his campaign team and Russians.
Trump attempted to make Daniel Coats, director of National Intelligence, and Michael Rogers, director of the National Security Agency, to side with him after then FBI Director James Comey told the House Intelligence Committee on March 20 that the bureau was investigating the nature of any links between people in Trump’s campaign and the Russian government.
Inappropriate discussions involving the president
But Coats, in a testimony on Tuesday before the Senate Armed Services Committee, declined to confirm if he was pressured by the POTUS to discredit the FBI investigation on Russia’s interference. He said he does not feel it is appropriate to characterize discussions and conversations with Trump.
Based on what Coats said, a White House official insisted the House hearings showed there is no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians. Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, who could shed more light on the matter since he has been identified as Trump’s point man to the Russians, said he will invoke the 5th Amendment because of fears his testimony would be used against him.
All eyes are now on Comey who would testify publicly this week before three Congressional committees on his interactions with Trump, the memos he wrote, and the FBI investigation.
