Outgoing CIA Director John Brennan pushed back against President-elect Donald Trump\u2019s criticism, saying Monday that he did not leak the unsubstantiated intelligence memo saying the Russian government has compromising information about Mr. Trump.
\u201cWas I a leaker of this? No,\u201d Brennan told The Wall Street Journal in a Monday interview at CIA headquarters.
\u201cFirst of all, this is not intelligence community information,\u201d Brennan continued, noting that the memo in question had been circulating in government and media circles for \u201cmany months\u201d and saying he hasn\u2019t read it.
\u201cI would have no interest in trying to give that dossier any additional airtime,\u201d Mr. Brennan said.
He added that the FBI, not the CIA, made the decision to let Mr. Trump know of the memo\u2019s existence.
\u201cThe feeling was wanting to make sure that given the very salacious nature of it, the president-elect was at least aware of it so he could take it into account and do what needs to be done,\u201d he said.
The memo, compiled by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele, detailed alleged ties between the Trump campaign and Russian officials, and said the Russians had information about Mr. Trump and his activities that could be potentially compromising.
In a Sunday tweet, Mr. Trump questioned whether Brennan was \u201cthe leaker of fake news.\u201d His social media posts came after Brennan criticized Mr. Trump on \u201cFox News Sunday,\u201d warning him about the effects of his sustained criticism of the intelligence community and his stance toward Russia.
\u201cI think he has to be mindful that he does not have a full appreciation and understanding of what the implications are of going down that road,\u201d Brennan said.
He also said that once Mr. Trump is inaugurated things will be different for him — and that he\u2019ll have responsibilities beyond just \u201ctalking and tweeting.\u201d<\/p>\n

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