CIA director warned Russian security service chief about interference in election
Last edited Tue May 23, 2017, 11:04 AM - Edit history (1)
Source: The Washington Post
By Greg Miller May 23 at 10:26 AM
Former CIA Director John Brennan said Tuesday that he personally warned the head of Russia’s intelligence service last year that Moscow’s interference in the U.S. election would backfire and cause severe damage to the country’s relationship with the United States.
Describing a previously undisclosed high-level conversation between Washington and Moscow, Brennan said he used a phone conversation with the head of Russia’s domestic security service, the FSB, that “American voters would be outraged by any Russian attempt to interfere in the election.”
In congressional testimony, Brennan said that such meddling “would destroy any near-term prospect of improvement” in relations between the United States and Russia. Brennan said that the FSB chief, Alexander Bortnikov, twice denied that Russia was waging such a campaign, but said he would carry Brennan’s message to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“I believe I was the first U.S. official to brace Russia on this matter,” Brennan said. His remarks came at the start of his testimony before the House Intelligence Committee as part of that panel’s ongoing investigation of a Russian influence campaign in the 2016 U.S. election, as well as whether there was collusion or coordination between Moscow and members of the Trump campaign.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/cia-director-warned-russian-security-service-chief-about-interference-in-election/2017/05/23/ebff2a7e-3fbb-11e7-adba-394ee67a7582_story.html?pushid=59244820fdd5491d00000072&tid=notifi_push_breaki
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Ex-CIA head: Intel showed contacts between Russians and Trump team
BY KATIE BO WILLIAMS - 05/23/17 10:42 AM EDT
Former CIA head John Brennan on Tuesday told lawmakers that he had seen intelligence showing that people involved in President Trump's campaign had interactions with Russian officials that “concerned” him.
He insisted that he did not know if there had been any intentional collusion between those campaign associates, who he declined to name.“But I know that there was a sufficient basis of information and intelligence that required further investigation by the bureau to determine whether U.S. persons were actively colluding,” Brennan said.
The contacts concerned him, he said, because of known Russian efforts to suborn U.S. individuals.
In response to direct questioning from Reps. Tom Rooney (R-Fla.) and Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) to provide evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, Brennan said he had “unanswered questions” when he left office about the extent to which Russian spies were successful at co-opting U.S. persons to do their bidding. But he declined to specify whether the influence he was concerned about was “witting or unwitting” — and he pushed back on the demands for “evidence.”
more
http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/334703-former-cia-head-intel-showed-contacts-between-russians-and-trump
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