The rise and fall of John Brennan

The Hill ^ | 07/26/25 10:30 AM ET | by Jonathan Turley, opinion contributor

[RandFan]

In 1980, a graduate student at the University of Texas at Austin saw an ad for the Central Intelligence Agency on a bus. John Brennan decided to apply, thinking that such a job would satisfy his “wanderlust.”

This month, the “wanderlust” of John Brennan came to an end, as the former CIA director stands accused of false testimony regarding the Russian collusion investigation.

Ironically, Brennan was first selected for his honesty — at least in part. During his entry polygraph, Brennan admitted that he had voted for the communist party candidate for president in 1976. He was impressed that the agency took him anyway.

That honest young man seems like a faint and tragic echo of the man today. When Obama picked Brennan to be the CIA director, he had become the ultimate Democratic insider and loyalist. And it would be choosing loyalty over honesty that would prove Brennan’s undoing.

Newly declassified information contradicts Brennan’s testimony before Congress on the origins of the now-debunked Russian collusion conspiracy theory. There is a particular focus on the intelligence community assessment commissioned by President Barack Obama in December 2016, which suggested that Russia had interfered in the 2016 presidential election to help Donald Trump.

Obama ordered the assessment after a prior assessment found no evidence of collusion or influence on the election in Trump’s favor. But Obama’s White House effectively quashed that finding from seasoned CIA analysts. To create a new version, Brennan handpicked new analysts, who effectively flipped the earlier finding on its head without any credible basis in the record.

The new assessment relied, to a significant degree, on the Steele dossier, a widely discredited report paid for by Hillary Clinton’s campaign that contained unfounded allegations about Trump.

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TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Front Page News; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 1976; 202507

[HYPOCRACY]

“During his entry polygraph, Brennan admitted that he had voted for the communist party candidate for president in 1976. He was impressed that the agency took him anyway.”

That’s when he realized the CIA was all fellow travelers.

[rbg81]

Brennan was a communist. That was his first, and last, moment of honesty.

[RandFan]

Only because of the lie detector

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Turley glosses over the infamous "Steele Dossier." The Hillary Clinton campaign and the DNC, through multiple cutouts, paid to have the bogus "Steele Dossier" fabricated. It was largely a work of fiction. They paid the law firm Perkins Coie, which in turn hired Fusion GPS. Fusion GPS then contracted Christopher Steele’s Orbis Business Intelligence to produce the dossier fiction. Perkins Coie paid Fusion GPS $1.02 million in fees and expenses, of which $168,000 went to Orbis for Steele’s work.

[Tijeras_Slim]

One can hope the end of his fall is a hard stop.

[Tell It Right]

My first thought was “This is The Hill”? Then I realized it’s tagged as “opinion”, which is The Hill’s way of saying it’s probably accurate.

[laplata]

During his entry polygraph, Brennan admitted that he had voted for the communist party candidate for president in 1976. He was impressed that the agency took him anyway.”

And that’s one of the reasons Obama chose him.

[Zathras]

Sounds like the DungHill and Obama have picked the guy to throw under the bus.

[bitt]

p

[cgbg]

Brennan has not “fallen”.

He has not been indicted for anything.

He has not been convicted of anything.

(He should be—but the question is whether this is all talk or the DOJ can get it done.)

[Ann Archy]

They are going to need a BIGGER BUS!

[glorgau]

Prosecute and have him burn his fortune on lawyers as he has done to so many others. Then put him in prison and burn more fortune on appeals.

No mercy.

[central_va]

His final “fall” should be blind folded in front of a brick wall.

[SomeCallMeTim]

In 1976! That was Carter or Ford. Neither was that exciting. But both were decent enough guys on opposite sides of the political spectrum. If you couldn’t find either acceptable, you were really on the extreme.

[chuckee]

The problem the administration has if they decide to charge these Democrat operatives is the DC Federal Circuit is the one with jurisdiction with politicized judges and dishonest crap Dem juries ready to let them go as soon as they are charged regardless of the law or evidence. Kind of the reverse of what happens to Republican defendants

[ChildOfThe60s]

But both were decent enough guys on opposite sides of the political spectrum.

I have never agreed with that assessment of Carter. I believed from the beginning he was duplicitous and just a little slimy.

And, as the passage of time demonstrated, he was nasty and vindictive.

My opinion, of course. I was 24 the year of that election and Carter disturbed me enough to go gun shopping.

[BobL]

“During his entry polygraph, Brennan admitted that he had voted for the communist party candidate for president in 1976. He was impressed that the agency took him anyway.”

There it is, with no political litmus test for people in sensitive positions, ANY COUNTRY would get destroyed from the inside. How we avoided it, so far, is pure luck, with a lot of help from Trump!

[dvan]

Brennan was a communist. That was his first, and last, moment of honesty.

He's also a Muslim which isn't any better.

[Robert357]

Brennan and his ilk, should all spend the rest of their lives in a federal prison (not one of country club prisons, but one that supplies “hard time.”).

I think that in the prosecution of such treasonous criminals and important witness might be Admiral Mike Rogers, former NSA head. He (without notifying Obama) went to Trump and warned him that his New York campaign headquarters and Transition Team headquarters building was being bugged by Obama agencies. In short he was being spied upon.

I would wager that NSA could provide a lot of details on the treason that was being run from the Obama White House.