The FBI has reportedly launched a criminal probe into two Obama appointees–including the agency’s own former director–over their involvement in the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 elections.
The probe, which Justice Department sources leaked to Fox News Digital, is targeting Former FBI Director James Comey and former CIA Director John Brenna over false statements they allegedly made to Congress. News of the investigation came as the Trump administration scrambles to quell a furious backlash over its handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case, with prominent MAGA figures calling for Attorney General Pam Bondi to be fired.
The Brennan probe was opened after CIA Director John Ratcliffe referred evidence against him to FBI Director Kash Patel, according to Fox News. The sources also told Fox that the Comey investigation was underway, though no details were provided.
The FBI declined to comment. The Daily Beast has also reached out to the CIA and the Justice Department.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt hailed the investigation in an interview on Jesse Watters Primetime.
“I’m glad to hear it, because both of these disgraceful individuals turned against our Constitution and our country, and I’m sure they did, in fact, lie to Congress,” she said. “It’s up to the Department of Justice to investigate that and to prosecute them if they did.”
“What we have seen is corruption at the highest levels against President Trump,” she claimed. “He prevailed, and the truth must come out… That’s what the president believes in and I’m glad to see the Department of Justice is opening up this investigation.”
Former President Barack Obama appointed Comey as FBI director and Brennan as CIA director in 2013. Both former officials have earned the ire of Trump for their involvement in the Russia interference probes.
Last week, a CIA review found flaws in a U.S. intelligence assessment indicating that Russian President Vladimir Putin tried to influence the 2016 presidential election between Trump and Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.
However, the CIA said the review “does not dispute the quality and credibility” of the highly classified report that the authors of the assessment used to arrive at their conclusion.
The report about the probe into Comey and Brennan came amid intense pressure on the Trump administration about disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. A published Justice Department memo found no evidence to support claims that the convicted sex offender was murdered or kept a “client list.”
MAGA conspiracy theorists have long rejected the official explanation of Epstein’s 2019 suicide in a federal prison while awaiting trial. Patel and his deputy, Dan Bongino, had openly questioned the official narrative before joining the FBI, while Bondi claimed in February that Epstein’s client list—which her DOJ now says does not exist—was sitting on her desk “right now to review.”
“In February, I did an interview on Fox that is getting a lot of attention because I was asked a question about the client list,” Bondi said at a Cabinet meeting Tuesday. “And my response was, ‘It is sitting on my desk to be reviewed,’ meaning the files, along with the JFK, MLK files as well. That is what I meant by that.”
President Trump also angrily reacted to questions about Epstein at the meeting. “Are you still talking about Jeffery Epstein?” Trump asked in response to one reporter’s question. “This guy’s been talked about for years.”
“We have Texas, we have this, we have all of the things, and are people still talking about this guy, this creep?” Trump said, referring to the deadly floods in Texas. “That is unbelievable.”
