CIA's Brennan rejects Donald Trump's criticism, says dossier didn't come from intel community

close

Video

Sen. McCain on Trump's feud with CIA director Brennan

Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee weighs in on 'The First 100 Days'

John Brennan, the outgoing Central Intelligence Agency director, rejected President-elect Donald Trump’s suggestion that he may have leaked the unsubstantiated dossier that claimed Russia had compromising allegations about Trump.

“First of all, this is not intelligence community information,” Brennan said Monday. Brennan said he did not read the document and, according to the Wall Street Journal, gave it no particular credence.

Trump blasted outgoing director on social media Sunday after Brennan said Trump does not have a “full understanding” of Russia’s power and threat to the world.

“I don’t think he has a full understanding of Russian capabilities and the actions they are taking on the world,” Brennan told “Fox News Sunday.”

He also suggested that Trump lacks a “full appreciation” of Russia’s aggression or about why President Obama imposed sanctions on the Kremlin for meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

“Mr. Trump has to understand that absolving Russia is a road that he needs to be very, very careful about moving down,” Brennan said.

Trump responded with a two-tweet message that criticized the CIA's record under Brennan and questioned whether the director had leaked a dossier of unverified allegations that Russia spies had obtained compromising personal and financial information about Trump.

TRANSITION OF POWER

The day after the dossier's contents were published by BuzzFeed, Trump posted on Twitter that intelligence agencies "should never have allowed this fake news to 'leak'" before asking "Are we living in Nazi Germany?"

Brennan was reportedly indignant that Trump attacked his fellow spies, according to The Journal. He mentioned Trumps tweet on Nazi Germany in particular.

“Tell the families of those 117 CIA officers who are forever memorialized on our wall of honor that their loved ones who gave their lives were akin to Nazis,” Brennan said. “Tell the CIA officers who are serving in harm’s way right now and their families who are worried about them that they are akin to Nazi Germany. I found that to be very repugnant, and I will forever stand up for the integrity and patriotism of my officers who have done much over the years to sacrifice for their fellow citizens.”