Brennan to Reid: Trump is Trying to ‘Manipulate and Suppress Any Information’ Detrimental to His Reelection

Former CIA Director John Brennan had a busy day today, releasing an opinion piece for the Washington Post and going on MSNBC and appearing on Joy Reid’s show, The ReidOut.

He had been tapped by those outlets in response to the news that the DNI will no longer offer in-person briefings to congressional intelligence committees about election security and foreign election interference.

We reported earlier on how Jim Jordan as criticized House Democrats for being more concerned about pushing the “Russia hoax” than “stepping up and stopping riots” and this was a big part of that.

When Adam Schiff appeared on CNN, he was asked if he had ever leaked anything and he denied that he ever had. The decision by the Trump administration to halt the in-person briefings stemmed in part from concerns over leaks, according to an agency official.

In Brennan’s op-ed to the Washington Post, he claimed that President Trump will suffocate the intelligence community to get reelected.

“It will be up to other leaders of the intelligence community as well as members of Congress to push back aggressively against the authoritarian whims of Trump. The oath they swore to the Constitution of the United States demands it,” he said in the piece.

“It will be up to other leaders of the intelligence community as well as members of Congress to push back aggressively against the authoritarian whims of Trump. The oath they swore to the Constitution of the United States demands it.” https://t.co/f9QEdIokJu

— John O. Brennan (@JohnBrennan) August 31, 2020

He echoed those words to Reid and said that he is “concerned that Donald Trump continues to try to manipulate and suppress any information that could be detrimental to him and his re-election prospects.”

Brennan criticized the pick of John Ratcliffe as the DNI. Ratcliffe had sent letter informing the chairs and ranking members of the House and Senate intelligence committees of the change.

Brennan ended the segment by saying that “It’s very worrisome as we have more than 60 days left before the election and I just worry about what Donald Trump plans to do in that time.”

Ratcliffe wrote in the letter, “I believe this approach helps ensure, to the maximum extent possible, that the information ODNI provides the Congress in support of your oversight responsibilities on elections security, foreign malign influence, and election interference is not misunderstood nor politicized. It will also better protect our sources and methods and most sensitive intelligence from additional unauthorized disclosures or misuse.”