John O. Brennan said Russia may have compromising information on President Trump, setting off furious speculation about whether the former spy chief was basing that assertion on inside information.
WASHINGTON — John O. Brennan, the former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, said Wednesday that he thought Russia may have some kind of compromising information on President Trump, setting off furious speculation about whether the former spy chief was basing that assertion on inside information.
In an appearance on Wednesday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Mr. Brennan, who served as C. I. A. director from 2013 to 2017, speculated that Russians “may have something on him personally” when he was asked if he thought Mr. Trump was afraid of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.
“The Russians, I think, have had long experience with Mr. Trump, and may have things that they could expose,” he added.
Mr. Brennan was running the C. I. A. when a salacious dossier surfaced in 2016 that claimed the Russians had compromising information on Mr. Trump. If there were any current or former American officials who might know if there was truth behind the allegations in the dossier, Mr. Brennan would most likely be one of them. And his comments came the day after a phone call Mr. Trump made to Mr. Putin congratulating him for winning an election raised new questions about the president’s relationship with Russia.
As C. I. A. director, Mr. Brennan was never known as particularly chatty around the news media or in public. And since leaving office, Mr. Brennan has taken to starting conversations with journalists by telling them, “I’m not going to be an anonymous source for any stories.”
But last weekend, Mr. Brennan — in response to Mr. Trump’s praise for the firing of the former deputy director of the F. B. I., Andrew G. McCabe — issued a remarkable condemnation of the president. “When the full extent of your venality, moral turpitude, and political corruption becomes known, you will take your rightful place as a disgraced demagogue in the dustbin of history,” Mr. Brennan wrote on Twitter.
Mr. Brennan’s pointed criticism of Mr. Trump on MSNBC and on Twitter was hardly unique. From the outset of the Trump presidency, a litany of retired intelligence officials — the kind of people who have traditionally shied away from criticizing presidents, even in retirement — have come forward to criticize Mr. Trump.
The former officials have included those like Mr. Brennan who served under Democrats and others who served under Republicans, such as Michael Hayden, who ran both the C. I. A. and the National Security Agency under President George W. Bush. Nearly all insist they have no desire to wade into partisan politics, but are genuinely alarmed by what they see as Mr. Trump’s fundamental disregard for the rule of the law and his impetuous approach to nation’s security.
So Mr. Brennan’s latest accusations on Wednesday quickly became fodder for news articles, social media conspiracy theories and hours of speculation on cable news channels. And his remarks seemed to go beyond what he had said publicly in January 2017, five days before he stepped down as C. I. A. director, when he had said the dossier was “unsubstantiated” and his criticism of Mr. Trump was relatively mild.
“I don’t think he has a full appreciation of Russian capabilities, Russia’s intentions, and actions that they are undertaking in many parts of the world,” Mr. Brennan said then in an appearance on Fox News .
But later in the day on Wednesday, Mr. Brennan explained that his comments were speculation based on Mr. Trump’s words and deeds, as well as how Mr. Putin’s government has operated at home and abroad — but not on any inside knowledge.
“I do not know if the Russians have something on Donald Trump that they could use as blackmail,” he said in a written response to questions from The New York Times.
“When asked the question, I have pointed out the perplexing submissiveness of Mr. Trump toward Mr. Putin — despite continued evidence of malign Russian activities,” Mr. Brennan added. “I do not know why he refuses to call out Russia; that is a question that can only be answered by Mr. Trump.”
Along with Mr. Brennan, who is a paid contributor to NBC and MSNBC, other retired officials with contributor deals included James Clapper Jr., the former director of national intelligence; Steven L. Hall, the former director of Russia operations at the C. I. A.; and Jeremy Bash, a former C. I. A. and Pentagon official.
Mr. Hayden, in an interview, made the case for former intelligence officials becoming talking heads of a sort, saying he believed that it was important for Americans to understand what the country’s intelligence agencies did and did not do. He also said he tries to bring the skills he learned as an intelligence officer to his public appearances, providing analysis based on facts.
“Lord knows CNN has enough people just throwing opinions,” said Mr. Hayden, who is a paid contributor to the network. “I try not working backward from assumption but build forward from data.”
He added, “John has a right to say what he says — I also have trouble explaining events with regard to the president and Russia.”
