Sen. Ron Johnson suggested a change of court venue from Washington if legal action is taken against former CIA Director John O. Brennan or ex-FBI Director James B. Comey related to potential wrongdoing in the Trump-Russia probe.
Mr. Johnson of Wisconsin and fellow Republican Sen. Charles E. Grassley of Iowa investigated the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane probe of Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign’s debunked ties to Russia.
“Take a look at the jury pool here in Washington, D.C. Are they ever going to convict a Democrat?” Mr. Johnson asked. “Democrats have harassed Donald Trump, so probably not. If you want a fair trial, you’d have to have a different venue.”
He said, “I think the evidence is there, whether a jury is willing to take a look at it honestly. I don’t know, but these are bad men. These are very bad men who put America through unbelievable political turmoil. Hopefully, they’ll be held accountable for their actions.”
Mr. Johnson said of Mr. Brennan and Mr. Comey that he “thought they were criminals for some time” and hopes the Justice Department could prove it, adding that he thinks the two are “awful human beings.”
It’s uncertain if a grand jury indictment would happen as a result of any inquiry. Ed Martin, who was appointed to lead the Justice Department’s “weaponization” task force, told reporters in May that if there is not enough evidence to charge certain individuals, they would be shamed instead.
“If they can be charged, we’ll charge them,” Mr. Martin said before he left his post as interim U.S. attorney in Washington.
“But if they can’t be charged, we will name them. And we will name them, and in a culture that respects shame, they should be people that are ashamed.”
The FBI has launched criminal investigations into Mr. Brennan and Mr. Comey over potential wrongdoing related to the Russia hoax, including possible perjury to Congress, DOJ sources have reportedly said.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe sent evidence of possible wrongdoing by Mr. Brennan to FBI Director Kash Patel to investigate for potential prosecution.
Mr. Brennan said Wednesday that he is “clueless” about what the Justice Department and FBI authorities could be investigating.
“Quite frankly, I don’t know what is true, you know. There’s so many things that get out into the media bloodstream, and it’s interesting that it was, I think, Fox News and the New York Post that are reporting things like this. So I don’t know whether or not there’s any validity to it,” Mr. Brennan said to MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace.
Mr. Ratcliffe reportedly sent the referral a week after he released a “lessons-learned review” of the steps taken in the intelligence community assessment titled “Russia’s Influence Campaign Targeting the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election” this past May.
The review focused on whether Russian President Vladimir Putin “aspired” to help Mr. Trump win his first election.
The investigations dominated the president’s first term, even though he vehemently denied any connection to the Kremlin and special counsel Robert Mueller found no collusion with Russia.
In a social media post after the release of the memo, Mr. Ratcliffe said the president “has trusted me with helping to end weaponization of US intelligence.”
He said the report “underscores that the 2017 [Intelligence Community] Assessment was conducted through an atypical & corrupt process under the politically charged environments of former Dir. Brennan & former FBI Dir. Comey.”
In a subsequent post, he said Mr. Brennan, Mr. Comey and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper “manipulated intelligence and silenced career professionals — all to get Trump.”
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.