Obama-era intelligence officials acknowledged that they had no "empirical evidence" of a conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia in the 2016 election, but continued to publicly push the "narrative" of collusion.
The House Intelligence Committee, in 2017, conducted depositions of top Obama intelligence officials, including Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, national security advisor Susan Rice and Attorney General Loretta Lynch, among others.
The officials’ responses in the transcripts of those interviews align with the results of former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation – which found no evidence of criminal coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia in 2016, while not reaching a determination on obstruction of justice.
Their testimony has come back into the spotlight amid revelations that former CIA Director John Brennan and former FBI Director James Comey are under criminal investigation for potential wrongdoing related to the Trump–Russia probe, including allegedly making false statements to Congress, Justice Department sources exclusively told Fox News Digital.
The transcripts, from 2017 and 2018, revealed top Obama officials were questioned by House Intelligence Committee lawmakers and investigators about whether they had or had seen evidence of such collusion, coordination or conspiracy – the issue that drove the FBI's initial case and later the special counsel probe.
"I never saw any direct empirical evidence that the Trump campaign or someone in it was plotting/conspiring with the Russians to meddle with the election," Clapper testified in 2017. "That’s not to say that there weren’t concerns about the evidence we were seeing, anecdotal evidence.... But I do not recall any instance where I had direct evidence."
Lynch also said she did "not recall that being briefed up to me."
"I can't say that it existed or not," Lynch said, referring to evidence of collusion, conspiracy or coordination.
But Clapper and Lynch, and Vice President Joe Biden, were present in the Oval Office on July 28, 2016, when Brennan briefed Obama and Comey on intelligence he’d received from one of Hillary Clinton's campaign foreign policy advisors "to vilify Donald Trump by stirring up a scandal claiming interference by the Russian security service."
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"We’re getting additional insight into Russian activities from (REDACTED)," Brennan’s handwritten notes, exclusively obtained by Fox News Digital in October 2020, read. "CITE (summarizing) alleged approved by Hillary Clinton a proposal from one of her foreign policy advisers to vilify Donald Trump by stirring up a scandal claiming interference by the Russian security service."
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 reported on the CIOL in October 2020, which stated: "The following information is provided for the exclusive 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 public from her use of a private email server."
The FBI did not open an investigation into the matter, and instead, continued with its counterintelligence investigation into whether candidate Trump and members of his campaign were colluding or coordinating with Russia to influence the 2016 campaign.
Days after the Brennan meeting to brief Obama, Biden, Comey, Clapper and Lynch on July 31, 2016, the FBI opened the original Trump–Russia investigation, which was referred to inside the bureau as "Crossfire Hurricane."
Meanwhile, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power, according to the transcript of her interview to the House Intelligence Committee, was asked whether she had or saw any evidence of collusion or conspiracy.
Power replied: "I am not in possession of anything – I am not in possession and didn’t read or absorb information that came from out of the intelligence community."
When asked again, she said: "I am not."
Obama national security advisor Susan Rice was asked the same question.
"To the best of my recollection, there wasn’t anything smoking, but there were some things that gave me pause," she said, according to her transcribed interview, in response to whether she had any evidence of conspiracy. "I don’t recall intelligence that I would consider evidence to that effect that I saw… conspiracy prior to my departure."
When asked whether she had any evidence of "coordination," Rice replied: "I don’t recall any intelligence or evidence to that effect."
When asked about collusion, Rice replied: "Same answer."
Former deputy national security advisor Ben Rhodes was asked the same question during his House Intelligence interview.
"I wouldn’t have received any information on any criminal or counterintelligence investigations into what the Trump campaign was doing, so I would not have seen that information," Rhodes said.
When pressed again, he said: "I saw indications of potential coordination, but I did not see, you know, the specific evidence of the actions of the Trump campaign."
Meanwhile, former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe was not asked that specific question but rather questions about the accuracy and legitimacy of the unverified anti-Trump dossier compiled by ex-British intelligence officer Christopher Steele.
McCabe was asked during his interview in 2017 what was the most "damning or important piece of evidence in the dossier that" he "now knows is true."
McCabe replied: "We have not been able to prove the accuracy of all the information."
"You don’t know if it’s true or not?" a House investigator asked, to which McCabe replied: "That’s correct."
After Trump’s 2016 victory and during the presidential transition period, Comey briefed Trump on the now-infamous anti-Trump dossier, containing salacious allegations of purported coordination between Trump and the Russian government. Brennan was present for that briefing, which took place at Trump Tower in New York City in January 2017.
The dossier was authored by Steele. It was funded by Clinton’s presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee through the law firm Perkins Coie.
But Brennan and Comey knew of intelligence suggesting Clinton, during the campaign, was stirring up a plan to tie Trump to Russia, documents claim. It is unclear whether the intelligence community, at the time, knew that the dossier was paid for by Clinton and the DNC.
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But the false statements portion of the new investigation into Brennan and Comey stems from a newly declassified email to Brennan from the former deputy CIA director in December 2016, which said that including the dossier in the ICA in any capacity jeopardized "the credibility of the entire paper."
"Despite these objections, Brennan showed a preference for narrative consistency over analytical soundness," the new CIA review stated. "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 report.’"
But Brennan testified the opposite before the House Judiciary Committee in May 2023.
"The CIA was very much opposed to having any reference or inclusion of the Steele dossier in the Intelligence Community Assessment," Brennan testified before the 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."
CIA officials 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 simply "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 in June 2020, Ratcliffe, while serving as director of national intelligence, declassified a footnote of the 2017 ICA, which revealed that the reporting of Trump dossier author Steele only had "limited corroboration" regarding whether then-President-elect Trump "knowingly worked with Russian officials to bolster his chances of beating" Hillary Clinton and other claims.
The footnote, also known as "Annex A" of the 2017 ICA, exclusively obtained by Fox News Digital in June 2020, spanned less than two pages and detailed reporting by Steele – a document that helped serve as the basis for controversial Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants obtained against former Trump campaign aide Carter Page.
The footnote made clear the internal concerns officials 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 2016 on Russian influence efforts aimed at the US presidential election," the annex read. "We have only limited corroboration of the source’s reporting in this case 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 network."
"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."
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 FISA.
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His report, released in late 2019, found that there were "significant 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 allegations against Page that were included in Steele’s reporting.
Ratcliffe referred evidence of wrongdoing by Brennan to FBI Director Kash Patel for potential prosecution, DOJ sources told Fox News Digital.
The sources said the referral was received and told Fox News Digital that a criminal investigation into Brennan was opened and is underway. DOJ sources declined to provide further details. It is unclear, at this point, if the investigation spans beyond his alleged false statements to Congress.
As for Comey, DOJ sources told Fox News Digital that an investigation into the former director is underway, but could not share details of what specifically is being probed.
The 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 potential prosecutorial options.
The FBI and CIA declined to comment.
Neither Brennan nor Comey immediately responded to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
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