goo.gl/fTLBZcCIA Director John Brennan testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, June 16, 2016, before the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on the Islamic State. Brennan said that the Islamic State remains “formidable” and “resilient,” is training and attempting to deploy operatives for further attacks on the West and will rely more on guerrilla-style tactics to compensate for its territorial losses in the Middle East. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) 

The Twitter-sniping between President Trump and former CIA director John Brennan has reached fever pitch today.

It started yesterday. Since Thursday, there have been successive stories in the Washington Post and New York Times revealing that the FBI had engaged in extensive surveillance against the Trump campaign–at least one informer was used and “national security letters” were obtained on four campaign staffers in a surveillance operation that started soon after Trump clinched the nomination and extended until after his inauguration–and perhaps in what would be described as an information operation had it been undertaken by a foreign intelligence service. This culminated yesterday with President Trump demanding an investigation and the Department of Justice directing the DOJ IG to pursue that inquiry.

This is Brennan’s response to Trump’s demand for an investigation:

Senator McConnell & Speaker Ryan: If Mr. Trump continues along this disastrous path, you will bear major responsibility for the harm done to our democracy. You do a great disservice to our Nation & the Republican Party if you continue to enable Mr. Trump’s self-serving actions. https://t.co/uAhgL6wfIC

— John O. Brennan (@JohnBrennan) May 20, 2018

This is sort of bizarre. I mean the left and a substantial part of the NeverTrump movement has been telling us from Day One that President Trump should welcome Robert Mueller’s investigation…unless he has something to hide. Because, you know, no harm was ever done by allowing a bloody-fanged prosecutor to dig around in your personal affairs. I’d think the FBI would be having a celebration over the investigation as it gives them a chance to get the truth out.

By this morning, President Trump had taken notice of Brennan’s existence.

“John Brennan is panicking. He has disgraced himself, he has disgraced the Country, he has disgraced the entire Intelligence Community. He is the one man who is largely responsible for the destruction of American’s faith in the Intelligence Community and in some people at the….

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 21, 2018

….top of the FBI. Brennan started this entire debacle about President Trump. We now know that Brennan had detailed knowledge of the (phony) Dossier…he knows about the Dossier, he denies knowledge of the Dossier, he briefs the Gang of 8 on the Hill about the Dossier, which….

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 21, 2018

…they then used to start an investigation about Trump. It is that simple. This guy is the genesis of this whole Debacle. This was a Political hit job, this was not an Intelligence Investigation. Brennan has disgraced himself, he’s worried about staying out of Jail.” Dan Bongino

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 21, 2018

All of the particulars here are basically true thought the details have been slightly mangled. It was Brennan who pushed the Russia collusion narrative and stood alone in claiming that Russia intervened to assist Trump, rather than to merely hurt Clinton. We know Brennan lied to Congress when he said the Trump dossier was not a significant factor in the counterintelligence assessment. We know that Brennan salted the Presidential Daily Brief with items from the dossier thereby ensuring that not only Obama saw the allegations but that most of the senior administration leadership saw them.

If I had uncritically published a fake Russia conspiracy theory for two years, I’d be panicking and acting out too.

— Mollie (@MZHemingway) May 21, 2018

And will the DOJ IG find that CIA had any part in this operation that was executed overseas? Because the CIA is forbidden by law from carrying out operations targeting US citizens or resident aliens.

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