Exposing John Brennan's Secret CIA Trump Task Force? by Larry C Johnson

I was chatting last night with a retired CIA colleague, a person well connected to many folks still working at our former employer, and he dropped a bombshell--he had learned that John Brennan set up a Trump Task Force at CIA in early 2016. 

This is definitely something Prosecutor John Durham should explore. A "Task Force" normally is a short term creation comprised of operations officers (i.e., guys and gals who carry out espionage activities overseas) and intelligence analysts. The purpose of such a group is to ensure all relevant intelligence capabilities are brought to bear on the problem at hand.

While a "Task Force" can be a useful tool for tackling issues of terrorism or drug trafficking, it is not appropriate or lawful for collecting on a U.S. candidate for the Presidency. But Brennan did it, so I'm told, and it had the blessing of the Director of National Intelligence Jim Clapper. 

The Task Force members were handpicked. The job was not posted. Instead, people were specifically invited to join up. Not everyone accepted the invitation, and that is now a problem for John Brennan. If those folks are talking to Durham's folks then Brennan's days are numbered.

Brennan reportedly took it upon himself to recruit foreign intelligence organizations, such as MI-6, the Aussies, the Italians and the Israelis, to help in spying on Trump and his campaign. He sold it as a "counter-intelligence" mission citing his fear that Trump was a Russian puppet. And these foreign services agreed to help. But they did more than passive collection. They helped create and implement covert actions, such as entrapping Michael Flynn as a foreign agent and cultivating and ensnaring George Papadopoulos.

The case officers on the task force managed the tasking and monitoring of actions with the foreign services. This included travel overseas. The Task Force also apparently was involved in working with Ukraine to help manufacture intel that could be used against Paul Manafort. The point is, this Task Force was working furiously on a broad front to go after Donald Trump and his campaign team. Most importantly, there is documentary evidence on specific task officers were directed to carry out. And there are also financial records--e.g., money was spent to fund travel overseas and to pay cooperating assets.

I think Durham's investigators will discover that Azra Turk, the honey pot sent to a meeting with George Papadopoulos, was a member of the Brennan Task Force. It also is highly likely that elements of this task force played a key role in the drafting of the January 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment on Russian Interference in the US Presidential Election.

I am also hearing that CIA Director Gina Haspel is cooperating. She was the CIA Chief of Station in London when this Task Force was up a running but my friend says she was kept out of the loop. She and Brennan have a history and it is not friendly. Brennan blocked her from getting a top assignment in what used to be known as the "Directorate of Operations." So no love lost between the two.

The gamechanger is that the elevation of this matter as a criminal investigation, along with Attorney General Bill Barr's full authority to access and review all classified information, means that any attempt to cover this up will lead to obstruction of justice charges. This is one of the main reasons CIA personnel are lawyering up.

 

Comments

[j]

On another note, it appears that Joe Biden's SUPER PAC is being financed by Corporate Lobbyists for Weapons Makers, the Health Care Industry, Republic of Azerbaijan, etc.

Take a look:
https://theintercept.com/2019/10/25/joe-biden-super-pac/

[Flavius]

Brennan, Clapper, Comey: they have provided a valuable lesson should anyone be paying attention. They have given us a text book illustration of how not to work a case. The Watergate investigation was not worked out of the executive suites. In fact the sole whiff of political taint in the handling of that case emanated from the executive suite with aptly named Deep Throat (AD Mark Felt). At the grunt level of investigation the ratio of politics to work approximates 0/100; at the executive level of concern the ratio is 20/80 if we're lucky. Did the Agency with John Brennan at the helm form a Get Trump squad composed mostly or exclusively of like minded politicians? Who would be surprised, the Bureau effectively did. The painful to read Strzok-Page tweet record is pretty dispositive in that regard. When Comey opted to run the Clinton e mail case out of HQ under the political thumb of the DOJ, he went off the well established road and into a political thicket that only got thicker and more impenetrable. The disaster became inevitable. Brennan, Clapper, Comey: they have a lot to answer for.

[plantman]

Did Brennan convene his "task force" before Papadopolous's allegedly asked for dirt on Hillary Clinton? If so, then Papadopolous's conversations (with the Australian diplomat) were NOT the real origin of the investigation. (which is what we've been told from the beginning) In other words, Russiagate did NOT start with Papadopolous, but with Brennan! Papa was merely the pretext to intensify the spying on the Trump camp.

Also, we have been told for more than a year that the FBI started the investigation, but did it?

No, it didn't. Comey is just the fall-guy for Brennan.

This article suggests that it started with the CIA...Not only did it start with the CIA BUT it also started with hand-picked allies of Brennan's. This whole thing sounds like an off-book black-ops that recruited foreign intel subcontractors to due Brennan's bidding.

But why was Brennan so determined to "take down" Trump? Was it merely partisanship or personal animus, or was there something else??

Yeah, there was something else. Trump was spouting detente with Russia, but Brennan despised Russia, after all, it was Russia that defeated Brennan's jihadists in Syria and dashed his hopes of toppling Assad.

Isn't that really why Brennan hates Trump??

[Larry Johnson]

I don't know what is going on in Brennan's mind. This Task Force was set up in late January/early February. It was involved in the plot to go after Papadopoulos. Brennan did this in consultation with Obama and Clapper. Was not acting on his own.

[Factotum]

I refer everyone to search, read and archive this "WaPo exclusive" article titled: Obama’s secret struggle to punish Russia for Putin’s election assault By Greg Miller, Ellen Nakashima and Adam Entous June 23, 2017"

How does this clearly CYA article published back in June 23, 2017 relate to what is unfolding now about this alleged secret task force? Has it been hiding in plain sight ever since this exculpatory article was published? Or are these separate matters..

[Larry Johnson]

Good catch. I forgot about that. This absolutely was the work of that Task Force. They were trying to keep it outside of normal channels.

[smoke]

Scott Ritter has recently expanded on that WaPo report.

He provides some context about espionage procedures, changes under Brennan, and problems being experienced in the CIA's Moscow operation, during the time that Smolenkov would have had access to top secret documents.

His analysis reminds anyone of the "stovepiping" of intelligence before the invasion of Iraq.

His speculation on scenarios is less persuasive, esp with respect to motivations of Russia, if they were, indeed, pushing the narrative.

It would be easier to understand a Russian interest in driving a wedge between US intel and the prez, if there are those within the Russian power structure who, as in US, wish to diminish chances for any Russian-US rapprochement and prefer the heightened level of distrust.

In any case, Ritter's analysis does not paint Brennan in a good light. But it might give him a chance of walking away only bruised, as the promoters of faulty Iraq intel did.

https://consortiumnews.com/2019/09/14/the-spy-who-walked-away/

[oldman22]

quote
The sequence Powell lays out shows that a team of “high-ranking FBI officials orchestrated an ambush-interview of the new president’s National Security Advisor, not for the purpose of discovering any evidence of criminal activity—they already had tapes of all the relevant conversations about which they questioned Mr. Flynn—but for the purpose of trapping him into making statements they could allege as false.”

https://thefederalist.com/2019/10/25/sidney-powell-drops-bombshell-showing-how-the-fbi-trapped-michael-flynn/

[turcopolier]

smoke

Clandestine HUMINT operations cannot be "shared" outside the cell structure in which they are run. To do otherwise is to court disaster from leaks. HUMINT products can be shared so long as the risk of deduction of the source from the product is judged. Before 9/11 the IC HUMINT agencies had opportunities to penetrate AQ but did not take them because of the lack of imagination and courage of the HUMINT leaders. As for analysis, the problem before 9/11 was not a lack of sharing data between agencies. They were all well connected electronically. The problem was that there was not enough data because of the timidity of the collection leaders and their damned lawyers.

[Factotum]

Key point in this"consortiumnews" linked article from smoke, setting out Brennan's hair on fire message to Obama that allegedly led to spying on Trump:

".....Little White Envelope

Sometime in early August 2016, a courier from the CIA arrived at the White House carrying a plain, unmarked white envelope. Inside was an intelligence report from Smolenkov that CIA Director Brennan considered to be so sensitive that he kept it out of the President’s Daily Brief, concerned that even that restrictive process was too inclusive to adequately protect the source. The intelligence was to be read by four people only — Obama, National Security Advisor Susan Rice, Deputy National Security Advisor Avril Haines and White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough. The document was to be returned to the courier once it had been read.

The contents of the report were alarming —Putin had personally ordered the cyber attack on the Democratic National Committee for the purpose of influencing the 2016 presidential election in favor of the Republican candidate, Donald Trump.

The intelligence report was not a product of Clement’s Europe and Eurasia Mission Center, but rather a special unit of handpicked analysts from the CIA, NSA and FBI who were brought together under great secrecy in late July and reported directly to Brennan. These analysts were made to sign non-disclosure agreements protecting their work from their colleagues. ......."

[Factotum]

"Official" Russiagate timeline stated per this linked article: SOMETIME IN EARLY AUGUST 2016

[Factotum]

smoke, this consortiumnews link has a number of gems that take on more significance today (a very interesting read- somewhat debunked by now) - esp the the use of CIA spies in the energy sector, with particular interest in energy resources found in former USSR satellite countries - opening even more intrigue about "energy expert" Hunter Biden showing up at Burisma in Ukraine, or even Carter Page as an "energy expert".

Is this why Joe Biden claimed he never talked to son Hunter Biden about his "work"? Was Hunter spying for the CIA - the question naturally now follows.

[akaPatience]

SO, a triple play: planting the seed that Trump was a Russian agent favored by Putin, establishing a predicate for spying on Trump, and blaming the DNC leak on Russia.

Good lord, even the corrupt Mueller probe didn't abide by the claim that Trump is a Russian agent.

[jd hawkins]

...and then others came along.

[jd hawkins]

"Was not acting on his own".

Just another Maxwell Smart!

[prawnik]

Because the foreign agencies know full well that Trump will not be in office forever, but their US counterparts and their successors will be around long after Trump passes into the history books.

Besides, the Brennan and Clapper know that the foreign agencies share the US IC's goals and attitude towards Trump.

[Factotum]

prawnick, why do the deep state and these foreign agencies want to get rid of duely elected GOP President Trump. What is really at stake, in specifics, please. It is not just personal antipathy.

Why does it matter so much they will resort to such extreme and allegedly extra-legal measures. Do you understand why this is of concern to the rest of us?

[TeakWoodKite]

LJ was glad to see you on the case.
Looking back on the last 4 years has been a real adventure. I was looking at the press from 2017 you got on this and apparently you are ALL KINDS OF crazy. LOL

Glad to see your spleen is still working in fine fashion. I can't tell you how relieved to hear you have given educating fools and hope you’re staying frosty. Thanks for the education, especially on open source analysis.
What many do not understand is that Obama’s “National intelligence complex” was spying on more than just Trump and there is STILL a very off-book counter-intelligence operation being run against the duly elected POTUS, like him or not. You yourself were spied on and played by the same forces and people and call many things. My favorite was that you are a “right wing conspiracy nut”.
Looking back on the article linked below from March 2017 you would have the last laugh if this was at all funny in anyway.
In truth, this type of spying by allied proxy, has been going on since I can remember. I remember Regan taking heat when it was disclosed that Canada had been spying on US citizens as a way around the laws.
Best to you and yours.

TeakWoodKite

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/cia-source-wiretapping-larry-johnson-donald-trump-fox-news-russia-today-barack-obama-gchq-a7638206.html

[TeakWoodKite]

A Wave to you and yours. Who would of thought that Trump would be treated worse than Jimmy Carter arriving in Washington