Former CIA Director John Brennan said on Thursday special counsel Robert Mueller’s report shows “very egregious conduct” by President Trump on the issue of obstruction of justice.
On a phone call into MSNBC on Thursday, Brennan offered his analysis of the report released by the Justice Department on Thursday. Brennan said he was comforted by the thoroughness of Mueller’s investigation and was pleasantly surprised by the amount of the report that was left unredacted. He also said he still believes that the report shows clear evidence that Trump obstructed the course of the investigation.
On the phone with @MSNBC John Brennan says the Mueller Report proves “very egregious conduct ” by Trump on the issue of obstruction of justice.
“This conduct was unethical, unprincipled, dishonest and I would say it really does back up criminal corruption,” he said. pic.twitter.com/d6HcefwhSV
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) April 18, 2019
“[The] amount of information that relates to collusion and obstruction activity is really quite extensive in this report. I think by anyone’s account, you can identify all the things that were going on between individuals associated with the Trump campaign and interactions and meetings with Russians. It was quite — quite, I think, enlightening from the standpoint of the things that we’ve seen in press reports by the special counsel’s report,” Brennan said.
“[The] extent and nature of what I would say are the very egregious conduct of Donald Trump that’s included in the report. Especially on the obstruction side,” he added. “This conduct was unethical, unprincipled, dishonest, and I would say it really does back up criminal corruption, trying to get people to mislead and not tell the truth for a very legitimate ongoing law enforcement investigation.”
Brennan, who has previously insisted there is proof that Trump and his campaign associates colluded with agents of the Russian government to interfere in the outcome of the 2016 election, said the redacted report released Thursday leaves more questions about Trump’s ethics.
“So this gives additional, you know, basis for the concerns that Donald Trump is going to abuse the presidential authorities that he holds,” he concluded.
Attorney General William Barr delivered a copy of the redacted Mueller report to Congress on Thursday before releasing a copy to the general public. The report concluded that neither Trump nor his campaign colluded with Russia. It also said that it did not find enough legal standing to conclude that Trump obstructed justice and recommended no further indictments.
