MS NOW EXCLUSIVE: Former CIA Director targeted by Trump SPEAKS OUT after SUING Trump and DOJ

[0:01] Sometimes intelligence is good, and sometimes you look at Comey and you look at Brennan and you look at Clapper, and I'm supposed to believe that intelligence? I never believe that intelligence. [0:11] You look at Brennan and you look at Clapper, and you get some real beauties. [0:16] Well, I think Brennan is interesting. [0:18] How involved was John Brennan? [0:20] Totally involved. He was totally involved. John Brennan was one of the architects, in my opinion. [0:28] Hi again, everybody. It's now 5 o'clock in the East. Suffice to say, he has been obsessed for years now. [0:33] Trump has been attacking and criticizing former director of the CIA, John Brennan, for years. [0:40] Going after him seems to be one of Trump's greatest obsessions, but these are not just hollow sneers and complaints. [0:48] Trump has weaponized the government he now leads to go after his perceived opponent. [0:54] Today marks a significant development in that story. [0:57] Director Brennan is today going on the offense, but first, a quick refresher. [1:01] Director Brennan, following decades of public service in the CIA, served as the agency's director from 2013 to 2017, [1:11] during those years under President Barack Obama. [1:13] The director became a target of Donald Trump's, ostensibly for his role in the intelligence assessment [1:20] that stated that Russia interfered in the 2016 election with the aim of helping Donald Trump win. [1:26] Since then, Donald Trump has railed against John Brennan, as well as others involved in that assessment. [1:33] He has revoked John Brennan's security clearance, and two investigations have been launched into the former director of the CIA. [1:41] One is over allegations that Director Brennan lied to Congress in 2023 about the intelligence assessment. [1:47] It was a referral from the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Trump ally Jim Jordan. [1:53] The other is a case that Brennan is part of some sort of grand conspiracy that Caroline Levitt has talked about from the podium of the White House briefing room to keep Trump out of office. [2:06] Brennan has denied any wrongdoing in both cases. [2:09] Today, Director Brennan, who is an MSNOW senior national security and intelligence analyst, [2:15] is joining us for an exclusive interview to discuss his latest move, which is to sue Donald Trump and the Justice Department. [2:23] Director Brennan has asked a judge to force DOJ to preserve all of its records. [2:27] Administration officials from the acting attorney general to the FBI director and the counselor overseeing the Brennan investigations have been publicly declaring Director Brennan a criminal, [2:40] not only before securing a conviction in court, but even before a full investigation and indictment. [2:47] And certain officials in the Department of Justice are engaging in demonstrably irregular prosecutorial activity [2:53] in order to gin up a case that will satisfy the president's direction. [2:58] Director Brennan expects that he will forcefully challenge any eventual eventual indictment as a product of an unconstitutionally vindictive and selective prosecution. [3:09] Given the government's questionable recent history with respect to its record preservation and other legal obligations, however, [3:17] Director Brennan has a well-founded concern that those records and communications will not be preserved [3:23] until such time as the court can review them for evidence of unconstitutional vindictiveness. [3:29] About Brennan's lawsuit, the New York Times writes this, [3:32] quote, [3:32] The request for a judicial order requiring officials to keep records about a case that has not even been filed was somewhat unusual, [3:40] and yet it reflected just how abnormal Trump's revenge campaign has become in recent months. [3:46] As the president's attempts to use the courts to go after his adversaries have become more aggressive, [3:52] so too have the reciprocal efforts by defense lawyers who have sought to fight the inquiries at every at ever earlier stages of the investigative process. [4:02] Firing back at Donald Trump's revenge campaign is where we begin this hour with former director of the CIA, John Brennan. [4:08] Thank you for being here and having this conversation with us. [4:11] Absolutely, Nicole. Thanks for having me on. [4:13] So, what made you sort of take a different legal strategy? [4:22] Because the facts have always been the same, and I just want to ask you to go over the facts of the smears and the alleged investigations into you [4:31] as they've been unearthed by Trump ally John Durham, by Marco Rubio, who was the senator in charge of the Intelligence Committee, [4:39] when it comes to that 2016 intelligence assessment. [4:43] Yeah. Well, Nicole, clearly I didn't come to the decision to launch this lawsuit against the Trump administration, [4:50] President Trump, and the Department of Justice lightly. [4:52] But as you and I have talked numerous times over the past 18 months, [4:56] Donald Trump has been engaged in this campaign to punish individuals he considers his enemies. [5:01] And I am being targeted by Donald Trump because I fulfilled my obligations in 2016 as director of the CIA [5:09] to expose Russian interference in that presidential election of that year. [5:15] And there was an intelligence community assessment that was put out by the FBI, CIA, NSA, [5:20] and the Office of Director of National Intelligence that chronicled exactly what Vladimir Putin and the Russians were doing. [5:26] Well, obviously Donald Trump didn't like that. [5:27] But also he has condemned me because I have spoken out publicly since I left office [5:33] when I see that things that Donald Trump is doing are wrongheaded [5:37] or that are just reflecting, I think, the incompetence as well as the corruption of his administration. [5:44] So clearly over these last 18 months, it's not just me, it's other individuals as well. [5:49] It's Jerome Powell, it's Jim Comey, it's others, Letitia James, [5:54] who have also been targeted and most egregiously, he's not just condemning us publicly with his rhetoric. [6:01] He is leveraging the tremendous authorities of the Department of Justice in very corrupt, unethical, [6:07] and I would argue illegal ways to use those authorities to launch these investigations against individuals. [6:14] Now, there are two grand jury investigations underway in the Southern District of Florida [6:18] where I have been subpoenaed. [6:20] I have complied completely with the requests from the government, [6:24] despite the speciousness of these investigations and the lack of any evidence indicating any wrongdoing on my part. [6:31] But I have come to believe in talking to my lawyers that we can't trust the Department of Justice [6:36] to carry out its duties in the manner that it has done over the past centuries [6:42] in terms of a presumption of regularity, [6:45] that the courts will give the Department of Justice and U.S. government [6:48] the presumption that it is carrying out its obligations responsibly and with integrity. [6:54] But it has not, in terms of forum shopping and judge shopping [6:58] and having individuals and professional prosecutors who have resigned [7:02] rather than pursue investigations that have no basis, in fact. [7:06] So if they're doing this, I also am concerned, and my lawyers are very concerned, [7:11] that any type of records that might, in fact, expose what they are doing are not being kept. [7:17] They have, you know, openly, you know, decried or have condemned the obligations [7:23] to fulfill their obligations under the Presidential Records Act. [7:27] They are using different apps to conceal their messaging, like signal apps. [7:32] Things are automatically deleted. [7:33] And this is in contravention of long-held requirements [7:37] that the government is supposed to keep these records. [7:39] So again, it looks as though, with the appointment of Joe DiGenova [7:43] and continued investigations and, you know, the effort underway in Florida, [7:47] that there could be an indictment of me, despite whatever speciousness undercourges it. [7:53] And so we don't want to wait until that point. [7:55] And so this is a lawsuit that basically compels, is asking the court [8:00] to compel the government to preserve all those records [8:03] that they have within the Department of Justice, White House, other agencies [8:07] that relate at all to the investigations into me, [8:11] so that if, in fact, there is some effort here to circumvent the law [8:16] and to abuse the authorities of the Justice Department, [8:19] it will be available to the court if, in fact, there is going to be this indictment. [8:24] Don't you already have a smoking gun in the things Donald Trump has said about you? [8:31] I mean, tell me what the records would prove, [8:35] and is it that your lawyers will argue that should you be indicted, [8:41] it's all a vindictive prosecution? [8:44] Yes. [8:45] Well, as well known, in the Southern District of Florida, [8:49] a very competent, respected professional prosecutor [8:52] either stepped aside or was pushed aside [8:55] because she was not willing to go forward with an indictment [8:58] or any type of effort to try to obtain an indictment from a grand jury. [9:02] And they said, reportedly, she said, [9:04] there's no evidence there to support such indictment. [9:07] And we also see that this has been shopped around, [9:09] and the complaint makes clear, you know, in different districts, [9:12] whether it be in Virginia or in Pennsylvania, [9:15] and it's clearly that there is not an appetite [9:18] on the part of those Department of Justice employees [9:21] who continue to adhere to their obligations. [9:24] But it's not stopped Donald Trump and the Department of Justice. [9:27] And so, again, the fact that this investigation is still ongoing, [9:30] and there was just a recent, you know, press reporting [9:33] about what DeGeneva's team is doing [9:36] in terms of, you know, additional interviews [9:38] and people are being interviewed. [9:39] And I'm not just doing this on behalf of myself. [9:41] Yes, I'm the sole target of these two investigations down in Florida. [9:45] But I'm doing it on behalf of others who are being harassed [9:49] and who are being subjected to the same type of punishment and condemnation. [9:54] And we have to stand up against Donald Trump and the abuses of authority [9:58] and the fact that the Department of Justice is being exploited in this way. [10:02] So what I'm trying to do is, you know, align myself with those universities, [10:06] those law firms, those individuals who really are pushing back. [10:09] And I realize that this is going to, you know, [10:12] irritate the Department of Justice or the Trump administration, [10:15] but it's the right thing to do. [10:16] And I think in light of what's going on in this country [10:19] and all the abuses of power and all the corruption that is going on, [10:22] people have to stand up because it's John Brennan today, [10:25] but it's going to be, I think, many others tomorrow. [10:27] A judge in the case of, I think, Kilmer Arbrego-Garcia [10:33] found that it was essentially a crime declared [10:37] and then reverse engineered by Todd Blanch specifically. [10:40] Are you, what are you seeking from Todd Blanch [10:44] and the Department of Justice? [10:45] Well, again, what this, there's a complaint [10:48] and then there's a preliminary motion [10:50] for there to be an immediate sort of injunction [10:52] that will, again, compel the government, [10:55] Department of Justice and other agencies [10:56] that are noted in the complaint [10:58] to immediately preserve all records, [11:02] all documents, emails, text messages, whatever else, [11:06] correspondence that might have gone back and forth [11:07] between the Department of Justice Maine [11:09] and down in the Southern District of Florida [11:10] to preserve all of those records [11:13] because we're going to need them [11:15] in the event that there is going to be [11:16] some type of indictment or charges against me. [11:20] I really want the courts to know [11:23] that this is an effort that has been cooked up again [11:26] as part of this punishment campaign [11:29] that Donald Trump has engineered. [11:30] And the fact that you have individuals, [11:32] unfortunately, his loyalists, [11:34] who are willing to go along with him, [11:36] I am just so glad [11:37] that there are still individuals of integrity [11:39] within the Department of Justice, [11:41] within the U.S. Attorney's officers, [11:43] officers who are saying no. [11:44] You know, they're saying, [11:45] no, we're not going to do this [11:46] because it's inconsistent, again, [11:48] not only with their authorities, [11:49] but also with American values.