#Former CIA boss John Brennan questioned for eight hours by John Durham

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Former CIA Director John Brennan
AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File

Former CIA director John Brennan sat for more than eight hours of testimony at CIA headquarters in Washington where he faced questions by US attorney John Durham.

Durham was tasked last April by the Justice Department to probe the origins of the “Crossfire Hurricane” FBI investigation which looked into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

President Trump has long maintained that the FBI probe was a deep state witch hunt. The grilling came just days after former FBI attorney Kevin Clinesmith pleaded guilty to falsifying emails which he later used to request a surveillance warrant on Trump foreign policy advisor Carter Page.

Brennan, who led the CIA during President Obama’s second term, has become a ferocious Trump critic since leaving public office, frequently attacking the president in cable news appearances. Trump has responded by revoking his security clearance.

Nick Shapiro, a spokesman for Brennan, said his boss was happy to participate and “not a subject or a target” of any criminal investigation. He added that Brennan was only being questioned as a “witness to events that are under review.”

“Brennan welcomed the opportunity to answer Mr. Durham’s questions related to a wide range of intelligence-related activities undertaken by CIA before the November 2016 presidential election as well as the Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) published in early January 2017,” Shapiro said.