Former CIA Director John Brennan testifies during a House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence hearing about Russian actions during the 2016 election on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, May 23, 2017.

Saul Loeb / AFP - Getty Images</s>WASHINGTON - Former CIA director John Brennan said Tuesday he doesn't know whether there was collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian officials in the 2016 election, but he left office in January with "unresolved questions" about whether Russia had been successful in getting Trump campaign officials to act on its behalf "either wittingly or unwittingly."

"I encountered and am aware of information and intelligence that revealed contacts and interactions between Russian officials and U.S. persons involved in the Trump campaign that I was concerned about because of known Russian efforts to suborn such individuals," Brennan testified before the House Intelligence Committee. "It raised questions in my mind about whether Russia was able to gain the cooperation of those individuals."

"I don't know if such collusion — your words — existed," Brennan told the committee. "I don't know. But I know there was sufficient intelligence ... to warrant investigation by the (FBI)."

Brennan's testimony came in the wake of President Trump's firing of FBI Director James Comey two weeks ago as Comey was in the midst of investigating possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian officials. Last week, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed former FBI Director Robert Mueller to act as a special counsel to investigate any possible collusion.

Pressed by committee members on what "evidence" he has of any collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian officials, Brennan said he has no evidence but has intelligence that he shared with the FBI, which used it as a basis for its investigation. He said the CIA is in the business of gathering intelligence, not evidence.

Brennan declined to identify Trump campaign officials who had contact with Russian officials, saying that the information was classified and had been provided to the committee on a classified basis.

He said that Americans don't always know when they're helping Russian spies because Russian intelligence agents often use intermediaries.

"Many times (Americans) do not know that the individual they are interacting with is a Russian,” Brennan said.

The former CIA director warned that he does not believe the Russians are done trying to interfere in America's elections and could try to influence the 2018 congressional elections.

"I believe that they will try to exploit elections," he said, adding that he has "grudging respect" for Russia's intelligence efforts. "The Russian intelligence threat is a serious one."

Beyond elections, Russian President Vladimir Putin will undoubtedly try to exploit political chaos and divisions in Washington, Brennan said.

"The Russians are watching very carefully what is going on in Washington right now, and they will try to use if for their purposes," he said. "Mr. Putin and Russian officials are trying to actively exploit what is going on now in Washington to their benefit and to our detriment."

Brennan also said that, if press reports are accurate, Trump may have violated two major protocols governing the sharing of classified information when he spoke with Russian diplomats in the Oval Office on May 10. The president reportedly shared intelligence information from Israel about ISIS to the Russians. Trump has defended his disclosure, saying he had the right to share the information.

Brennan said protocol requires that any sharing of classified information with foreign governments be done through intelligence channels, not from the president to visiting officials. He said any information that is shared also needs to be cleared by the agency where the intelligence information originated.

He said it "appears from press reports that it (the intelligence Trump shared) didn't go through proper channels."

Brennan said he warned the head of Russian intelligence, Alexander Bortnikov, in a phone call last year that Russian interference in the U.S. presidential election would severely damage U.S.-Russian relations.

"I said American voters would be outraged by any Russian attempt to interfere in our elections," Brennan said. He said he told Bortnikov that Russian interference "would destroy any near-term prospect of improvement" in the relationship between the U.S. and Russia.

Brennan said Bortnikov denied that Russia was meddling in the U.S. presidential election and said he would inform Putin of Brennan's comments.

"I believe I was the first U.S. official to brace Russia on this matter," Brennan said.

Brennan continued briefing the committee in closed session after the public hearing.

The House Intelligence Committee is one of four congressional committees investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian officials.

Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said Brennan's testimony underscored that it's important for Congress to continue conducting its own investigations even though Mueller has been appointed to lead the FBI probe.

"(Tuesday's) testimony by former CIA Director Brennan that the Russians brazenly interfered in our election, and that he became aware of interactions between Trump campaign officials and the Russians that warranted referral to the FBI further underscores the importance of our investigation," Schiff said. "Moreover, the director's admonition that the sharing of any classified information with the Russians should only proceed through intelligence channels, and with significant thought given to ensuring that whatever information is provided would not reveal sources and methods, should serve as a reminder to the White House of the dangers of any impromptu disclosures by the President."

Brennan said he was concerned about leaks from the president's Oval Office meeting with the Russian officials.

"What I was very concerned about ... is the subsequent releases of what appears to be classified information purporting to point to the originator of the information, liaison partners," Brennan said, referring to press reports that the classified information came from Israel. "They continue to be very, very damaging leaks and I find them appalling and they need to be tracked down."</s>It is now becoming boringly predictable, but Obama’s CIA’s chief John Brennan is just the latest in a seemingly unending series of US officials who is unable to cite any evidence of any collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.

In evidence to the Senate Intelligence Committee Brennan said “I don’t know that such collusion existed”.

This admission is important since by general agreement Brennan and the CIA were the branch of the US intelligence community who were most aggressive in arguing the case for Russian meddling in the US election.

The media’s response to this comment of Brennan’s is fascinating, and says everything that needs to be said about the whole Russiagate scandal.

CNN may serve as a good example. Here is what it has to say about Brennan’s evidence

Former CIA chief John Brennan offered a frank assessment of Russia’s aggressive approach to meddling in the 2016 election and, in the process, complicated President Donald Trump’s attempts to cast the whole thing as fake news. This Brennan quote, in particular, is damning: “I encountered and am aware of information and intelligence that revealed contacts and interactions between Russian officials and US persons involved in the Trump campaign that I was concerned about because of known Russian efforts to suborn such individuals. It raised questions in my mind about whether Russia was able to gain the cooperation of those individuals.” Now, as Republicans on the committee were quick to note, Brennan wasn’t saying that he believed that the Trump campaign actively colluded with Russia. Only that, again in his words, “I saw interaction that in my mind raised questions of whether it was collusion…It was necessary to pull threads.” No one — or very, very few people — are alleging that there is any evidence at this point that proves collusion between Trump’s presidential campaign and Russian intelligence operatives. What most people — including the vast majority of Democrats — are saying is that there is enough smoke here that a serious investigation needs to be launched into whether there is a fire somewhere.

This is actually quite extraordinary. Brennan – the former Director of the CIA – admits that he “knows nothing” of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. However this is treated as less important than Brennan’s “concerns” about “contacts and interactions between Russian officials and US persons involved in the Trump campaign”, even though there is no reason to think these “contacts and interactions” were anything other than innocent and innocuous. Note that Brennan does not say they were not, and his “concerns” are based on no evidence of wrongdoing, something which we know Brennan doesn’t have because on his own admission he has none.

As for CNN, it admits that “no one – or very, very few people – are alleging that there is any evidence at this point that proves collusion” between the Trump campaign and Russia.

In other words the entire investigation is based not on evidence – even that a crime was committed – but purely on speculation and gossip, following the long discredited principle that there can be “no smoke without fire”.

What makes this even more preposterous is that it is the media and Donald Trump’s enemies in the intelligence services who in the absence of evidence are generating all the “smoke”.

On the strength of this speculation and gossip – of all this “smoke”, which is all there is – five investigations are underway, four by various committees of Congress and one by the FBI, US citizens have been placed under surveillance and their reputations have been publicly trashed, a Special Counsel has been appointed, the President’s National Security Adviser and the chair of the House Intelligence Committee have been forced to resign, the Attorney General has recused himself, the FBI Director has been sacked, and the media has been writing about little else for months.

I have never in my life come across an investigation launched purely on the strength of speculation and gossip, and which continues to be pursued so relentlessly and so publicly and with such ruinous consequences despite the fact that 9 months after the investigation was launched there continues to be a complete absence of evidence to justify it.

All I can say is that the US must be a very rich country if it can afford to fritter away its time and resources in this senseless way.</s>By Greg Miller, (c) 2017, The Washington Post

WASHINGTON – The CIA alerted the FBI to a troubling pattern of contacts between Russian officials and associates of the Trump campaign last year, former agency director John Brennan testified on Tuesday, shedding new light on the origin of a criminal probe that now reaches into the White House.

In testimony before the House Intelligence Committee, Brennan said he became increasingly concerned that Trump associates were being manipulated by Russian intelligence services as part of a broader covert influence campaign that sought to disrupt the election and deliver the presidency to Trump.

“I was worried by a number of the contacts that the Russians had with U.S. persons,” Brennan said, adding that he did not see proof of collusion before he left office on January 20, but “felt as though the FBI investigation was certainly well-founded and needed to look into those issues.”

Brennan’s remarks represent the most detailed public accounting to date of his tenure as CIA director during the alleged Russian assault on the U.S. presidential race, and the agency’s role in triggering an FBI probe that Trump has sought to contain.

“It should be clear to everyone that Russia brazenly interfered in our 2016 presidential election process,” Brennan said at one point, one of several moments in which his words seemed aimed squarely at the president.

Trump has refused to fully accept the unanimous conclusion of U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia stole thousands of sensitive e-mails, orchestrated online dumps of damaging information, and employed fake news and other means to upend the 2016 race.

GOP lawmakers spent much of Tuesday’s hearing trying to get Brennan to concede that he had no conclusive evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow. Brennan acknowledged that he still had “unresolved questions” about the purpose of those contacts when he stepped down as CIA director in January.

But, “I know what the Russians try to do,” Brennan said. “They try to suborn individuals and they try to get individuals, including U.S. persons, to act on their behalf either wittingly or unwittingly.”

Brennan refused to name any of the U.S. individuals who were apparently detected communicating with Russian officials. The FBI investigation, which began last July, has scrutinized Trump associates including Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign manager, Carter Page, who was once listed as a foreign policy adviser to Trump, and former national security adviser Michael Flynn who was forced to resign after misleading statements about his contacts with the Russian ambassador were exposed.

The probe has intensified in recent weeks and identified a current White House official as a significant person of interest.

Because Russia uses intermediaries and other measures to disguise its hand, “many times, [U.S. individuals] do not know that the individual they are interacting with is a Russian,” Brennan said.

He added that Russian agencies routinely seek to gather compromising information, or “kompromat,” to coerce treason from U.S. officials who “do not even realize they are on that path until it gets too late.” The remark appeared to be in reference to Flynn.

Leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee said Tuesday they will consider “interim steps” to compel Flynn to hand over documents related to its Russia, short of citing him for contempt, after he refused to comply with a subpoena.

Brennan was also asked about Trump’s disclosure of highly classified information to the Russian foreign minister and ambassador in a White House meeting this month. Brennan said that the CIA at times provided tips about terrorist plots to the Kremlin, but he indicated that Trump violated key protocols.

Sensitive information should only be passed through intelligence services, not divulged to foreign ministers or ambassadors, Brennan said. Referring to the information revealed by Trump, Brennan said it had neither gone through “the proper channels nor did the originating agency have the opportunity to clear language for it.”

Brennan was a key figure in the Obama administration’s handling of Russian election interference. As alarm grew, Brennan held classified meetings with top congressional officials in the fall to impress upon them the unprecedented nature of Moscow’s interference.

Later, Brennan was among the top officials who briefed then-President-elect Trump on the scale of Russia’s intervention, and its assessed goal of helping Trump win.

On Tuesday, Brennan testified that he was the first to confront a senior member of the Russian government on the matter, using an August phone conversation with the head of Russia’s security service, the FSB, to warn that the meddling would backfire and damage the country’s relationship with the United States.

Brennan said he told FSB chief Alexander Bortnikov that “American voters would be outraged by any Russian attempt to interfere in the election” and that such activity “would destroy any near-term prospect of improvement” in relations with the United States.

Bortnikov, twice denied that Russia was waging such a campaign, according to Brennan, but said he would carry the message to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“I believe I was the first U.S. official to brace Russia on this matter,” Brennan said.

The Obama administration went on to issue statements publicly accusing Moscow of election meddling, and in December announced punitive measures including the expulsion of 35 suspected Russian intelligence operatives from the United States.

Despite those warnings and efforts at retaliation, Brennan said that Russia was likely not dissuaded from attempting similar interference operations in the future.

The former CIA chief is the latest senior Obama administration official to appear publicly before Congress in hearings that have often produced damaging headlines for Trump.

Earlier this month, former acting attorney general Sally Yates testified that she expected White House officials to “take action” after warning that Flynn had misled administration officials about his contacts with Russia.

At that same hearing, former director of national intelligence James Clapper said that Moscow’s leaders “must be congratulating themselves for having exceeded their wildest expectations with a minimal expenditure of resource,” a reference not only to the outcome of the 2016 race but also to the chaos that has characterized the early months of the Trump administration.

Brennan has feuded publicly with Trump over the president’s treatment of intelligence agencies. In January, he lashed out at Trump for comparing U.S. spy agencies to Nazi secret police.

Brennan was particularly offended by Trump’s remarks during a speech at CIA headquarters on the day after he was inaugurated. Trump used the CIA’s Memorial Wall – a collection of engraved stars marking the lives of agency operatives killed in the line of duty – to launch a rambling speech in which he bragged about his election victory.

Brennan called the appearance “despicable” and said that Trump should be “ashamed.”

Video: Former CIA director John Brennan testified May 23 before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence about Russia’s influence on the 2016 presidential election. (The Washington Post)</s>Both Trump and numerous Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin, have repeatedly denied claims of alleged Moscow's collusion with the US president's campaign, as well as of the Kremlin's interference in the 2016 US election."I encountered and am aware of information and intelligence that revealed contacts and interactions between Russian officials and US persons involved in the Trump campaign," Brennan stated. "I don't know and cannot confirm if collusion existed."Brennan said that he had no knowledge of President Donald Trump's alleged attempts to ask US intelligence officials to stop the investigation about allegations his campaign colluded with Russia during the 2016 US election.When asked whether Trump has made any efforts to enlist the support of intelligence officials to push back on Russia collusion issue, Brennan stated, "I am unaware of it."Brennan also said that he did not know whether Trump had tried to pressure former FBI Director James Comey to drop an investigation into ex-National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.</s>WASHINGTON - Former CIA director John Brennan said Tuesday he doesn't know whether there was collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian officials in the 2016 election, but he left office in January with "unresolved questions" about whether Russia had been successful in getting Trump campaign officials to act on its behalf "either wittingly or unwittingly."

"I encountered and am aware of information and intelligence that revealed contacts and interactions between Russian officials and U.S. persons involved in the Trump campaign that I was concerned about because of known Russian efforts to suborn such officials," Brennan testified before the House Intelligence Committee. "I don't know if such collusion — your words — existed. I don't know. But I know there was sufficient intelligence ... to warrant investigation by the (FBI)."

Brennan's testimony came in the wake of President Trump's firing of FBI Director James Comey two weeks ago as Comey was in the midst of investigating possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian officials. Last week, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed former FBI Director Robert Mueller to act as a special counsel to investigate any possible collusion.

Pressed by committee members on what "evidence" he has of any collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian officials, Brennan said he has no evidence but has intelligence that he shared with the FBI. He said the CIA is in the business of gathering intelligence, not evidence.

Brennan declined to identify Trump campaign officials who had contact with Russian officials, saying that the information was classified and had been provided to the committee on a classified basis.

The former CIA director warned that he does not believe the Russians are done trying to interfere in America's elections and could try to influence the 2018 congressional elections.

"I believe that they will try to exploit elections," he said, adding that he has "grudging respect" for Russia's intelligence efforts. "The Russian intelligence threat is a serious one."

Beyond elections, Russian President Vladimir Putin will undoubtedly try to exploit political chaos and divisions in Washington, Brennan said.

"The Russians are watching very carefully what is going on in Washington right now, and they will try to use if for their purposes," he said. "Mr. Putin and Russian officials are trying to actively exploit what is going on now in Washington to their benefit and to our detriment."

Brennan also said that, if press reports are accurate, Trump may have violated two major protocols governing the sharing of classified information when he spoke with Russian diplomats in the Oval Office on May 10. The president reportedly shared intelligence information from Israel about ISIS to the Russians. Trump has defended his disclosure, saying he had the right to share the information.

Brennan said protocol requires that any sharing of classified information with foreign governments be done through intelligence channels, not from the president to visiting officials. He said any information that is shared also needs to be cleared by the agency where the intelligence information originated.

He said it "appears from press reports that it (the intelligence Trump shared) didn't go through proper channels."

Brennan was scheduled to continue briefing the committee in closed session after the public hearing.

The House Intelligence Committee is one of four congressional committees investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian officials.</s>Former CIA Director John Brennan told House Russia investigators Tuesday that Russia “brazenly interfered” in the US elections, including actively contacting members of President Donald Trump’s campaign — but he stopped shy of dubbing it “collusion.”

“I saw interaction that in my mind raised questions of whether it was collusion,” Brennan told Rep. Trey Gowdy, saying that he supported the FBI digging further. “It was necessary to pull threads.”

Brennan was speaking to the House intelligence committee on the extent of Russia’s meddling in the 2016 elections and possible ties to the Trump campaign, where he was asked about how Moscow recruits sources “wittingly and unwittingly.”

“Frequently, people who go along a treasonous path do not know they are on a treasonous path until it is too late,” Brennan said.

Brennan said that he first picked up on Russia’s active meddling last summer and, in an August 4, 2016, phone call with Alexander Bortnikov, the head of Russia’s FSB intelligence agency, warned him against further interference. Bortnikov, Brennan said, denied any active efforts in the election.

Brennan cautioned lawmakers that although he could not definitively say if those contacts amounted to “collusion,” he knew that Russians were actively cutivating US contacts and, very likely, did not present themselves as Russian spies.

Brennan also said Trump might have broken protocol if he revealed highly classified information with the Russian foreign minister and Russian ambassador to the US in a White House meeting earlier this month.

The panel will get two cracks at Brennan — the first in public at 10 a.m. ET and the second behind closed doors — almost two months after his first appearance was dramatically canceled amid the chaos sparked by House intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes’ clandestine White House trip.

House investigators are particularly interested in finding out more about how Russia conducted its election attacks inside the US and who Russian spies attempted to recruit to their side, said a House intelligence committee source. Intelligence sources have previously told CNN that Trump foreign policy adviser Carter Page was being cultivating as a source for a Russian spy — whether he knew it or not. Page has flatly and continually denied that charge.

But Brennan’s isn’t the only high-profile hearing Tuesday. The latest news most likely to hold the Capitol captive is word that Trump asked his own intelligence chiefs — Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and National Security Agency Director Mike Rogers — to rebut Comey’s then-public statement that the FBI had opened a criminal probe into Russia’s meddling in July of last year.

Coats is testifying in the Senate and Rogers is expected to testify in the House on budget issues, but the blockbuster news of Trump’s attempt to curtail a federal probe, first reported by The Washington Post, has already come up.

Meanwhile, Brennan is also likely to face questions about a split among intelligence leaders last summer over the purpose of Russia’s meddling in the US election — whether it was designed to support Trump or merely spur chaos and confusion in the election. Brennan told senior lawmakers as early as last summer that the Russian operation was squarely designed to support Trump.

Brennan’s appearance comes as the Russia probes have escalated greatly since Trump fired former FBI Director James Comey and subsequently the appointment of a special counsel to investigate Trump and Russia.

On Monday, Mark Warner, the ranking Democratic member of the Senate intelligence committee left open the threat of holding former national security adviser Michael Flynn in contempt if he continues to withhold documents in response to a congressional subpoena.</s>Former CIA director John Brennan told Congress that Russia interfered in the 2016 US presidential election won by Republican Donald Trump.

Brennan, who served as CIA director from 2013 until January 20, told the House Intelligence Committee on Tuesday that Russia “brazenly interfered” in the elections, Efe news reported.

Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton in a race that was marked by leaks of emails and other communications from the former First Lady’s campaign.

Brennan said he was one of the first US officials to warn Moscow about its activities and to cease efforts to affect the election’s outcome.

The former CIA director said he addressed the matter with Russian Federal Security Service director Alexander Bortnikov, who told him he would pass on his concerns to President Vladimir Putin.

“I encountered and am aware of information and intelligence that revealed contacts and interactions between Russian officials and US persons involved in the Trump campaign that I was concerned about because of known Russian efforts to suborn such individuals,” Brennan told the commitee.

Brennan said that by the time he left his post, “I had unresolved questions in my mind about whether or not the Russians had been successful in getting US persons, involved in the campaign or not, to work on their behalf, again, either in a witting or unwitting fashion.”

The former CIA director told lawmakers that while there were contacts, he had not obtained evidence of “collusion” between Trump’s team and Moscow.

The former spy chief said there were enough indications to warrant an investigation by the FBI.

“But I know that there was a sufficient basis of information and intelligence that required further investigation by the bureau to determine whether or not US persons were actively conspiring and colluding with Russian officials,” the former CIA chief said.</s>Washington (CNN) Nearly three years ago, John Brennan, acting CIA director at the time, found himself apologizing to the Senate intelligence committee and acknowledging that the CIA had spied on senators' computers after previously vehemently denying the claims.

Now, Brennan, who has been out of the role since January, is testifying about his own concerns about espionage from Russia via possible contacts with the Trump campaign.

In his most direct comments on the matter, Brennan told lawmakers on the House Intelligence Committee Tuesday that he had grown concerned last year that Moscow was trying to influence the Trump presidential campaign, saying, "Russia clearly had a preference for Trump."

Brennan had previously alluded to such fears, telling Fox News' Chris Wallace in mid-January that he didn't think then-President-elect Donald Trump has "a full appreciation of Russian capabilities, Russia's intentions," and that Trump's public displays of contempt for the US intelligence community could undermine national security. The remarks were made after Trump rejected intelligence agencies' reports of claims that Russia had compromising information on him.

Brennan, a top CIA official in the Bush administration, has found himself at the center of political controversy before, most notably over his changing points of view on torture.

As he sought confirmation as the agency's director under Obama, his positions as a torture skeptic were on full display, but he later gravitated to a staunch supporter of many interrogation practices -- a change that frustrated many Democrats.

During a rare 2014 news conference , Brennan defended harsh interrogation techniques as providing "useful" information to authorities, including intel used in the raid that led to the death of Osama bin Laden. But he said it is "unknowable" what information could specifically be attributed to those techniques.

Brennan's comments came shortly after a Senate panel released a blockbuster 528-page report detailing "enhanced interrogation techniques" -- including mock executions, "rectal rehydration," sleep deprivation and beatings -- in interrogations in the mid-2000s.

He admitted that some CIA officers' actions were "not authorized, were abhorrent and rightly should be repudiated by all. And we fell short in holding some officers accountable for their mistakes."

Brennan later lead an internal CIA overhaul to the agency's overall structure in 2015 in order to better deal with current threats -- a main focus being on cybersecurity.

In the unclassified version of a memo outlining the overhaul, Brennan said the changes were "driven by two fundamental shifts" in the current national security landscape - an increasing array of complex issues facing policy makers in Washington, as well as the "unprecedented pace and impact of technological advancements," the memo said.

Brennan, 61, is a New Jersey native who speaks Arabic and studied at the American University in Cairo, Egypt while earning an undergraduate degree from Fordham University. He later earned a master's in government from the University of Texas.

He joined the CIA in 1980, starting a career that saw him work as a Near Eastern and South Asian analyst, a Saudi Arabia station chief and leader of the agency's terrorism analysis. He was the CIA's daily intelligence briefer at the White House during President Bill Clinton's administration and served as former CIA Director George Tenet's chief of staff.

After serving as interim director of the National Counterterrorism Center, Brennan left government to become president of The Analysis Corporation, a security consulting firm.

During then-Sen. Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign, Brennan served as an intelligence adviser. Once Obama won, Brennan was considered a shoo-in for CIA director, but he withdrew his name amid criticism of his support for the use of torture in George W. Bush's administration.

Instead, he became Obama's deputy national security adviser. When the job of CIA director opened again in early 2013, Brennan was Obama's choice -- despite the concerns of left-leaning groups like the American Civil Liberties Union.

He was confirmed on a 63-44 vote and was sworn in on March 8, 2013.</s>In testimony Tuesday morning before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, former CIA Director John Brennan revealed publicly for the first time that he was “concerned” about contacts between Russian officials and people involved in the Trump campaign.

“I encountered and am aware of information and intelligence that revealed contacts and interactions between Russian officials and U.S. persons involved in the Trump campaign that I was concerned about because of known Russian efforts to suborn such individuals,” Brennan said, answering pointed questions from South Carolina Representative Trey Gowdy. “And it raised questions in my mind about whether Russia was able to gain the cooperation of those individuals.”

Brennan continued, saying that he doesn’t know whether any collusion actually took place: “But I know that that there was a sufficient basis of information and intelligence that required further investigation by the bureau to determine if US persons were actively conspiring, colluding with Russian officials.”

Subscribe to Newsweek from $1 per week

The back-and-forth between the two men was tense at times, as Gowdy pressed Brennan on the issue.

“Did you see evidence of collusion, coordination, conspiracy between Donald Trump and Russian state actors?” Gowdy asked.

“I saw information and intelligence that was worthy of investigation by the bureau to determine whether such cooperation and collusion was taking place,” Brennan responded.

“That doesn’t help us a lot. What was the nature of the information?” Gowdy shot back, employing less of the respectful decorum than most of his colleagues used when addressing Brennan.

“It’s classified, and I’m happy to talk about it in the classified session,” Brennan said.

“And that would have been directly between the candidate and Russian state actors?”

“That’s not what I said. I’m not going to talk about any individuals,” Brennan said, as the two men began to interrupt one another.

Twitter was quickly filled with opinions on whether Gowdy had accidentally elicited a response he didn’t want.

“Rep Gowdy stepped into it. He got an answer from Brennan he didn't want,” tweeted Twitter user @ritacolleen.

“Big mistake by Gowdy- he allowed Brennan 2 draw a line under the fact that Trump associates had numerous contacts with Russia,” tweeted Twitter user @PeachyCheryl.

But others thought Gowdy got the upper hand in the encounter.

“Brennan knows that Gowdy knows that Brennan is full of shit. That's why Brennan is shaking when Gowdy is questioning,” tweeted @politicccs.

In his opening statement, Brennan described the brazenness of Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Former CIA Director John Brennan tells the House Intelligence Committee he knew of contacts between Trump associates and Russian officials, but is not sure collusion existed. Brennan said he warned the Russian intelligence service last August against meddling in the U.S. election.