--- title: John Brennan: CIA Director 'Concerned' About Trump Campaign description: Former CIA Director John Brennan says he had "unresolved questions" about the Trump campaign's ties to Russia. canonical: https://time.com/4790605/cia-brennan-trump-campaign-russia-congress/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-05-23T15:12:15.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T07:45:44.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Former CIA Director 'Concerned' About Contacts Between Trump Campaign and Russia og:description: "It raised questions in my mind whether or not the Russians were able to gain the cooperation." og:url: https://time.com/4790605/cia-brennan-trump-campaign-russia-congress/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8d08a95a1b106961/6988ce7e0a4a22eced9ce482/john-brennan.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2000 og:image:height: 1125 og:image:alt: Trump Russia Probe og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Former CIA Director 'Concerned' About Contacts Between Trump Campaign and Russia twitter:description: "It raised questions in my mind whether or not the Russians were able to gain the cooperation." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8d08a95a1b106961/6988ce7e0a4a22eced9ce482/john-brennan.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Former CIA Director 'Concerned' About Contacts Between Trump Campaign and Russia > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Updated: Dec 13, 2023 7:45 AM UTCPublished: May 23, 2017 3:12 PM UTC  Former CIA Director John Brennan is sworn-in on CapitolHill in Washington, Tuesday, May 23, 2017, prior to testifying before the House Intelligence Committee Russia Investigation Task Force. Former CIA Director John Brennan is sworn-in on CapitolHill in Washington, Tuesday, May 23, 2017, prior to testifying before the House Intelligence Committee Russia Investigation Task Force. Pablo Martinez Monsivais—AP  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Updated: Dec 13, 2023 7:45 AM UTCPublished: May 23, 2017 3:12 PM UTC Former CIA Director John Brennan says he had “unresolved questions” about whether members of the Trump campaign who had contact with Russians were working “on their behalf, either wittingly or unwittingly.” Testifying before the [House Intelligence Committee](http://time.com/4790053/trump-russia-cia-john-brennan-election/?iid=sr-link1) Tuesday morning, Brennan said he knew of intelligence that revealed contacts between members of the Trump campaign and Russian officials. “I was concerned about \[that intelligence\] because of known Russian efforts to suborn such individuals, and it raised questions in my mind whether or not the Russians were able to gain the cooperation of those individuals,” Brennan said. When he stepped down as CIA director on Jan. 20, Brennan said he still “had unresolved questions in my mind about whether or not the Russians had been successful in getting U.S. persons, involved in the campaign or not, to work on their behalf, again, either in a witting or unwitting fashion.” “Frequently, individuals who go along a treasonous path do not even realize they’re along that path until it gets to be a bit too late,” Brennan said of how Russia typically recruits people in the U.S. to work on its behalf. Brennan said he doesn’t know if there was collusion with the Trump campaign, but that he felt the FBI investigation into the matter was “certainly well-founded.” Brennan and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats both appeared at hearings on Capitol Hill Tuesday, one day after the [Washington _Post_ reported](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-asked-intelligence-chiefs-to-push-back-against-fbi-collusion-probe-after-comey-revealed-its-existence/2017/05/22/394933bc-3f10-11e7-9869-bac8b446820a%5Fstory.html?hpid=hp%5Fhp-top-table-main%5Ftrumprussia-629pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm%5Fterm=.19ecf7508c1c) that President Trump had privately asked Coats and National Security Agency director Mike Rogers to push back against the FBI’s investigation into his campaign’s contacts with Russia. Brennan said he was “unaware” of any efforts by Trump to sway the intelligence community on this matter. Coats, testifying before the Senate Armed Services committee, wouldn’t comment on the Washington _Post_ report specifically. “I don’t feel it’s appropriate for me to characterize discussions and conversations with the President,” he said. But he elaborated, “Any political shaping of that presentation or intelligence would not be appropriate. I have made my position clear on that to this administration and I intend to maintain that position.” Former FBI Director James Comey, who was also [reportedly](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/16/us/politics/james-comey-trump-flynn-russia-investigation.html?%5Fr=0) asked by Trump to back off an investigation related to Russian contacts with members of his campaign, was due to testify before the House Oversight and Government Reform committee Wednesday. His appearance [has been postponed](http://time.com/4789589/jason-chaffetz-james-comey-hearing-postponed/) until he can speak with the newly appointed special counsel on the Russia probe. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4790605/cia-brennan-trump-campaign-russia-congress/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4790605/cia-brennan-trump-campaign-russia-congress/"},"headline":"Former CIA Director 'Concerned' About Contacts Between Trump Campaign and Russia","datePublished":"2017-05-23T15:12:15.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-13T07:45:44.000Z","description":"Former CIA Director John Brennan says he had \"unresolved questions\" about the Trump campaign's ties to Russia.","url":"https://time.com/4790605/cia-brennan-trump-campaign-russia-congress/","keywords":["Congress","russia","White House","CIA","Donald Trump","James Comey"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8d08a95a1b106961/6988ce7e0a4a22eced9ce482/john-brennan.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8d08a95a1b106961/6988ce7e0a4a22eced9ce482/john-brennan.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Trump Russia Probe","caption":"Trump Russia Probe","creditText":"Pablo Martinez Monsivais—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/congress/","name":"Congress"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4790605/cia-brennan-trump-campaign-russia-congress/","name":"Former CIA Director 'Concerned' About Contacts Between Trump Campaign and Russia"}}]}] ```