Brennan: Durham ‘Skewed His Findings,’ Republicans ‘Misrepresent the Facts’ for Trump

Former CIA Director John Brennan claimed Wednesday on MSNBC’s “Deadline” that former special counsel John Durham and Republicans skewed findings and misrepresented facts.

Brennen said, “When I read the report, when it came out, I think my reaction was much like others. I was very — it was underwhelming. The Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz did a good job pointing out some of the missteps, and the tactical missteps the FBI made as it pursued this investigation. And also the Senate Intelligence Committee did a review of this.”

He continued, “John Durham did not reveal anything new. In fact, from my reading of the report, particularly those aspects I have first-hand knowledge about, I think he did intentionally misrepresent and skew his findings in order to support the basic premise of his investigation, which was what Bill Barr and Donald Trump wanted was to try to discredit the investigation that was underway into the 2016 presidential election interference.”

Discussing Durham’s congressional testimony, Brennen said, “What we heard from John Durham today, he went to great lengths to try to continue to cast his findings that were basically favorable to the GOP talking points, and I think were trying to avoid the bottom line, which was that the government and the FBI did its job in terms of trying to understand what the Russians were doing. And so, again, the fact he only had two indictments, and both of them failed to convict, I think it just shows that they’re really grasping for whatever straws they could find. But as you point out, the litany of language and arguments over the past several years, I think, really does lead one to understand just how damaging these types of politicized efforts on the part of the Trump administration have been.”

Brennen added, “Unfortunately, when I was listening to the hearing today, listening to a lot of those Republican members of Congress on the committee, they continued to misrepresent the facts as a way to justify, enable, apologize for what Donald Trump has done to this country over the past number of years.”

Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN