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The House Judiciary Committee has officially referred former CIA Director John Brennan to the Department of Justice for criminal prosecution.

Getting into it: The referral, which came from Chair Jim Jordan (R-OH), accuses Brennan of knowingly making false statements under oath during a May 11, 2023, transcribed interview with the House Judiciary Committee. At the core of the allegations is Brennan’s denial that the CIA used or relied upon the Steele dossier (an unverified set of intelligence reports) when drafting the 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) on Russian interference in the 2016 election.

In the letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi, Jordan wrote that Brennan “falsely denied that the CIA relied on the discredited Steele dossier in drafting the post-election Intelligence Community Assessment,” and “falsely testified when he told the Committee that the CIA opposed including the Steele dossier in the ICA.” Jordan cited classified annexes and CIA memos that he says show Brennan overruled objections from senior intelligence officials who raised concerns about the dossier’s credibility. According to the referral, Brennan told skeptical officers, “Yes, but doesn’t it ring true?” and insisted on including the material despite what Jordan calls “legitimate tradecraft concerns.”

Further supporting his case, Jordan noted that Brennan made similar claims in 2017 during testimony before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI), stating then that the Steele dossier “was not in any way used as a basis for the Intelligence Community assessment.” Although that earlier testimony falls outside the statute of limitations, Jordan cites it as evidence of “a pattern of Brennan’s willingness to lie to Congress.”

The referral argues that such actions violate 18 U.S.C. § 1001, which criminalizes knowingly making false or fraudulent statements in matters within the jurisdiction of the federal government.

Brennan has not yet issued a formal response to this specific referral, but in the past, he has defended the integrity of the 2017 ICA and denied any wrongdoing. He has also accused Trump and his allies of weaponizing the Justice Department to retaliate against political opponents and career officials who played roles in the Russia investigation.