Thread by @themarketswork

1) On July 28, 2016, Brennan briefed Obama on Clinton’s July 26 plan to tie Trump to Russian election interference “as a means of distracting the public from her use of a private email server.”
judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/…

https://twitter.com/JohnBrennan/status/1504546410192117764

2) In the weeks that followed the FBI’s opening of its Crossfire Hurricane investigation, Brennan took a number of actions that appear to have been intended to actively reinforce the basic premise behind Clinton’s plan—that Russia was interfering in the election to help Trump.

3) One of the first actions from Brennan took place on Aug. 4, 2016, when he suddenly warned Russia’s FSB head Alexander Bortnikov not to engage in U.S. election interference.

Brennan later claimed that he “was the first U.S. official to brace Russia on this issue.”

4) Brennan then began a series of briefings to the Congressional Gang of Eight.

Brennan testified that “in consultation with the White House, I personally briefed the full details of our understanding of Russian attempts to interfere in the election to congressional leadership.”

5) The message that Brennan delivered to these members of Congress was remarkably similar to the details outlined in the Clinton campaign’s alleged plan to smear Trump.

6) Brennan told each member of the Gang of Eight that:

“Russia’s goals were to undermine public faith in the U.S. Democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clinton and harm her electability and potential presidency. And to help President Trump’s election chances.”

7) At no point during Brennan’s Congressional testimony did he raise the Clinton campaign’s plan to denigrate candidate Trump and no evidence has been presented to indicate that he informed Gang of Eight members of the alleged plan.

8) After his briefing from Brennan, House leader Harry Reid sent a letter on Aug. 27, 2016, to FBI Dir. Comey claiming that “the evidence of a direct connection between the Russian government and Donald Trump’s campaign continues to mount,” calling for a public investigation

9) On Aug. 30, House Democrats wrote to Comey asking him to investigate Trump–Russia collusion and if “connections between Trump campaign officials and Russian interests may have contributed to these attacks in order to interfere with the U.S. presidential election.”

10) As Dems publicized Brennan’s claims, Clinton publicly accused Russia of interfering in the U.S. election on Sept. 5, 2016, implying that Putin “viewed a victory by Donald J. Trump as a destabilizing event that would weaken the United States and buttress Russian interests.”

11) It was during this same period, at Brennan’s urging, that the Intelligence Community began its efforts to build a narrative that Russia was interfering in the 2016 election.

12) On Oct. 7, 2016, the Intelligence Community issued a joint statement that claimed the group of organizations was confident that Russia “directed the recent compromises of emails … including from US political organizations.”

13) Brennan’s work to establish a narrative of Russian interference would become even more significant as Brennan began his creation of the Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA).

The ICA would become the cornerstone of the false allegation that Trump colluded with Russia.

14) The assessment, which was officially commissioned by Obama after the 2016 election but appears to have begun earlier, was completed by early January 2017.

Crucially, a two-page summary of the Steele dossier was attached to the final version of the ICA.

15) As soon as the ICA was published, the entire focus of the media’s attention centered on the Steele dossier, which was published by Buzzfeed on the very same day that the media started reporting about the ICA, Jan. 10, 2017.

16) By legitimizing the dossier, the Intelligence Community effectively ensured that Trump would be saddled with claims of Russia collusion throughout his presidency.

17) End