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Citing a "high-level source," Republican Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul charged in a bombshell Twitter post late Wednesday that anti-Trump ex-CIA Director John Brennan "insisted that the unverified and fake Steele dossier" be included in a classifiedintelligence community report on Russian interference in the 2016 elections -- a decision that ultimately lent credibility to the dossier and may have played a key role in fomenting unfounded fears of Russia collusion for two years.

Paul called on Brennanto testify under oath immediately, as Republicans continue to aggressively seek outthe origins of the collusion narrative.Fox News had not independently verified Paul's source, and Brennan has not replied to Fox News' requests for comment.

Fox News is told Paul's tweet specifically accused Brennan of pushing to incorporate the dossier into theJanuary 2017 official intelligence community assessment (ICA)from the FBI, CIA, and NSA that Russia worked to interfere in the 2016 election.

However, the dossier is notreferenced in the unclassified summary of the ICA report that has been publicly released. Former Director of National Intelligence (DNI) James Clapper previously testified that the dossier was not ultimately used in the ICA at all.

CNN reported on Jan.12, 2017, based on anonymous sources, that intelligence officialsbriefed Trump on Jan. 6, 2017 with a "synopsis" ofthe contents of thedossier, which was written by ex-British spy Christopher Steele. Among the claims in the discredited dossier were that the Russian government hadhumiliating and compromising information concerning Trump.

Sen. Rand Paul called Monday for President Trump to revoke former CIA director John Brennan's security clearance. (Reuters)

Although the decision to brief Trump on the dossier and the intelligence community's reliance on it, then-FBI Direct James Comey would later testify, wasostensibly intendedto make Trumpaware of potential blackmail risks, the unexplained and nearly immediate leak of the meetinglegitimized the dossier's significance and prompted a cascade of unfounded media-driven theories about what purportedly compromising information the Russian government may have on the president.

FOX NEWS EXCLUSIVE: INTERNAL TEXTS SHOW DOJ CONCERNS OVER 'BIAS' OF DOSSIER AUTHOR BEFORE CRUCIAL WARRANT APPLICATION

For example, Vanity Fair article alleged:"The fact that the nations top intelligence officials chose to present a summary version of the dossier to both President Obama and President-elect Trump, asCNN reportsthey did last week, indicates that they may have had a relatively high degree of confidence that at least some of the claims therein were credible, or at least worth investigating further."

Shortly afterward the CNN report, BuzzFeed News published the dossier. Steele, whose anti-Trump views are now well-known, was working for Fusion GPS -- a firm hired by the Hillary Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee.

"BREAKING: A high-level source tells me it was Brennan who insisted that the unverified and fake Steele dossier be included in the Intelligence Report," Paul wrote on Twitter on Wednesday."Brennan should be asked to testify under oath in Congress ASAP."

Information from the author of thediscredited dossier was also used in October 2016 to support a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant to surveil then-Trump aide Carter Page.

Just nine days before the FBI applied for the warrant to monitor Page, bureau officials were battling with a senior Justice Department official who had "continued concerns" about the "possible bias" of a source pivotal to the application, according to internal text messages obtained last week by Fox News. (Sources tell Fox News theDOJ stonewalled congressional investigators by not releasing those text messages last year.)

Fox News is told the texts were connected to the ultimately successful Page application, which relied in part on information from Steele. In its warrant application, the FBI incorrectly assured the FISA court on numerous occasionsthat other sources independently corroborated Steele's claimsbut did not clearly state that Steele worked for a firm hired by Hillary Clinton's campaign.

Other newly obtainedtext messagesbetween former Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe and bureau lawyer Lisa Page revealed a high-level meeting among senior intelligence officials was held weeks before President Trumps inauguration during a critical period for theRussia probe.

WHY BRENNAN, CLAPPER'S HIGH-LEVEL MEETING -- REVEALED BY TEXTS OBTAINED BY FOX NEWS -- WAS SO UNUSUAL

In a Dec. 12, 2016, text reviewed by Fox News, Page wrote to McCabe: "Btw, [Director of National Intelligence James] Clapper told Pete that he was meeting with [CIA Director John] Brennan and Cohen for dinner tonight. Just FYSA [for your situational awareness]."

Brennan was one of the loudest and most virulent voices to trumpet the Russian collusion theory over the past two years, asserting falselyjust weeks ago that Special Counsel Robert Mueller was likely planning to indict members of the Trump administration's family in a scene reminiscent of the"ides of March and the assassination of Julius Caesar.

Paul had supported the White House's decision to revokeBrennan's security clearance last year. Trump administration officials said Brennan was implying improperly that he had insider information to bolster his outlandish accusations. In the same interview in which he told MSNBC that an "ides of March" redux may soon materialize, MSNBC host Lawrence O'Donnell even remarked at one point, "You have the inside knowledge." Brennan attempted to dismiss that suggestion.

After the news that Mueller found no evidence of Trump-Russia collusionafter an exhaustive probe lasting nearly two years, Brennan offered a meek mea culpa.

I don't know if I received bad information, but I think I suspected there was more than there actually was, Brennan told MSNBCs Morning Joe.

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He added: I am relieved that its been determined there was not a criminal conspiracy with the Russian government over our election."

Brennan said he was not all that surprised that the high bar of criminal conspiracy was not met" -- although, according to Attorney General William Barr, Mueller in fact found no evidence of such a conspiracywhatsoever.

Fox News' Catherine Herridge contributed to this report.

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Rand Paul: 'Source' says John Brennan pushed discredited ...

Sen. Rand PaulRandal (Rand) Howard PaulGOP shifts focus to investigating Obama officials Hillicon Valley Presented by NCTA Huawei lashes out, says US has 'loser's attitude' | Koch group attacks Warren plan for tech crackdown | New bipartisan push to end NSA surveillance program Lawmakers introduce bipartisan bill to end NSA's mass phone data collection program MORE (R-Ky.)said Wednesday that lawmakers should investigate former President Obama, suggesting that he could have played a role in the years-long Russia investigation that concluded over the weekend.

In a tweet, the senator suggested that Congress should probe the origins of the now-concludedspecial counsel investigation into Russian election interference and possible ties with the Trump campaign, seemingly suggesting that Obama was involved in the FBI probe that predated it.

"I agree with @kimguilfoyle Time for Congress to investigate. What did President Obama know and when? How did this hoax go on for so long unabated?" Paul asked.

I agree with @kimguilfoyle Time for Congress to investigate. What did President Obama know and when? How did this hoax go on for so long unabated? https://t.co/fgJZaqR6cI

Obama reportedly was informed by the FBI in 2016 thatthe bureauwas investigating Russian attempts to interfere in the 2016 election, but, according to former Vice President Biden's telling,Obama was warned against going public with the investigation by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnellAddison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnellThe Memo: GOP frets as Trump squanders advantages GOP shifts focus to investigating Obama officials Ocasio-Cortez shuts down town hall audience member after they call GOP lawmaker a 'moron' MORE (R-Ky.).

Obama, during his tenure,said he confronted Russian President Vladimir Putin aboutRussian interference in the 2016 election. The former president, according to The New York Times, saidhe toldPutin to cut it out, there were going to be serious consequences if he did not.

The FBI's probe of the campaign began following comments former Trump campaign adviser George PapadopoulosGeorge Demetrios PapadopoulosGOP shifts focus to investigating Obama officials Papadopoulos on working for Trump: 'I wouldn't change a thing' Five things to watch at Trump's Michigan rally MORE reportedly made to Australian diplomats about Russia's theft of emails from the Democratic National Committee in May 2016.

The New York Times reported in 2018 that Papadopoulos's comments led to the FBIs counterintelligence investigation into Russian interference, which evolved into the special counsel probe after President TrumpDonald John TrumpMigrants cleared from enclosure beneath El Paso bridge after outcry North Korea calls for probe into 'terror attack' on embassy in Spain Buttigieg: 'I have enormous respect' for Hillary Clinton MORE fired former FBI Director James ComeyJames Brien ComeyWhat did Mueller know? Dems worry Mueller findings could expand executive power Questions mount over Mueller, Barr and obstruction MORE in 2017.

Trump and his allies have repeatedly attacked the Mueller investigation as a partisan effort toundermine his presidency.

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Rand Paul: 'Time for Congress to investigate' Obama | TheHill

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) blocked a resolution Thursday that called for the public release of Special Counsel Robert Muellers report after Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), a 2020 presidential hopeful, asked for unanimous consent in the Senate for the resolution. The measure passed the House by a 420-0 vote last month.

"We still have not seen the report, Klobuchar said on the Senate floor.I have urged the Department of Justice to release the report, and the administration should not delay in producing the report to Congress."

Sen. Paul objected to Klobuchars motion, arguing that we all want transparency, but he would like the communications of officials in the Obama administration to be released first, including those of former CIA Director John Brennan and Former FBI Director James Comey, in relation to the beginning of the Russia probe.

"We need to know was there malfeasance, was there misuse of power, did President Obama's administration get involved in an election to infiltrate the Trump campaign to trap them? he said. "What we need to discover and we do not yet know: Was President Obama involved?"

This is the third time Senate Republicans have blocked the resolution to release the Mueller report, which was turned over to the Department of Justice last week.

"We will agree to see the Mueller report as long as the other side will agree to show us the communications that took place in deciding to promote this fake allegation against the president and whether there was misuse of their office," Paul said on the Senate floor Thursday. "We based this investigation on a lie, we should investigate who the liars were."

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Rand Paul Blocks Resolution Calling for Release of Mueller ...

The president was at lunch today and he voiced his support for investigating the people who concocted this hoax, Paul told Breitbart News. He didnt use the word hoax, those are my words, but I think we should get to the bottom of this and he believes we should get to the bottom of this because this should never happen to another president. He feels that its damaging to the country, damaging to the ability to lead the country, that we basicallysomebody within the Obama administration, within the DOJ and the FBI, basically concocted an investigation, trumped it up to be something that it wasnt and then weve gone through two years of the country being stalled because of this fake investigation.

When asked specifically if former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former CIA Director John Brennan, and former National Security Adviser Susan Rice should be called to testify about their role in the matterand be subpoenaed to force their testimony if they refuse to voluntarily complyPaul said: Absolutely.We have John Brennan, who lied to us, who spied on the Senate and tapped into Senate computers, Paul said. We have James Clapper who came before the Intelligence Committee and said they werent collecting all of our phone data. So both Brennan and Clapper have been known to lie in official testimony. They should be brought forward and asked what was their part? What was their role in ginning up this dossier? Amazingly, most media outlets wouldnt even print the dossier because they thought it was so unsubstantiated. And then all of a sudden, the FBI gives it credence. Theres one interesting story out today that says still no one would print it, so then Comey gives it to President Trump and thats when its been leaked and then we have a news story saying that this dossier had been given to the president and that became the hook or the story.

The Special Counsel completed his investigation last week, and submitted a final report to Attorney General Bill Barr. In a Sunday letter to Judiciary Committee leaders in both the House and Senate summarizing Muellers findings, Barr revealed that Mueller has cleared Trump on collusionfinding that Trump and his campaign did not conspire with the Russians to interfere in the 2016 presidential election and that no other Americans did either. Mueller also revealed that he did not find enough evidence to charge Trump with obstruction of justice, and Barr confirmed that the president will not be charged in that regard.

I think its a terrible tragedy, Paul said of the investigation. It cost us $30 million, two years to go through all of this, the media has been so consumed by all of this that they have barely had time to report on any of the real news of the day. I think we shouldnt allow this to happen again to a Republican or a Democrat.

For now, the full Mueller report is not yet publicand Paul said he intends to object to its full release until such time as all the documents regarding the Obama administrations abuse of power to start this hoax investigation are also released.

My plan is to object to the release of the Mueller report and/or all of the Mueller information until they also release the complete information from the White House, DOJ, FBI, on why they chose to credit the dossier, Paul said. What were the discussions? And who was it who was promoting that the dossier was real? How did it come about? How were all these judgments made? So, the other side wants to read a million pages of Mueller report. Were going to want to read a million pages of how this whole Russian hoax got started.

This is the first part of a lengthy interview with Sen. Paul on Spygate in the wake of the Mueller probe clearing President Trump on all matters. More is forthcoming soon.

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Rand Paul: Absolutely Subpoena Obama Officials on Spygate

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., speaks during an event at the University of Chicagos Ida Noyes Hall in Chicago on Tuesday, April 22, 2014. (AP Photo/Andrew A. Nelles)

Ill never be a major fan of Rand Paul but sometimes he performs a great public service in between the the long periods he spend as an annoying twit. This is one of those times.

Citing a high-level source, Republican Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul charged in a bombshell Twitter post late Wednesday that anti-Trump ex-CIA Director John Brennan insisted that the unverified and fake Steele dossier be included in a classified intelligence community report on Russian interference in the 2016 elections a decision that ultimately lent credibility to the dossier and may have played a key role in fomenting unfounded fears of Russia collusion for two years.

Paul called on Brennan to testify under oath immediately, as Republicans continue to aggressively seek out the origins of the collusion narrative. Fox News had not independently verified Pauls source, and Brennan has not replied to Fox News requests for comment.

Fox News is told Pauls tweet specifically accused Brennan of pushing to incorporate the dossier into the January 2017 official intelligence community assessment (ICA) from the FBI, CIA, and NSA that Russia worked to interfere in the 2016 election.

What is interesting is that the dossier is NOT referenced in the unclassified intelligence summary released in January 2017, but James Comey briefed President Trump on the more salacious parts at about the same time. Brennan has claimed in public forums that the dossier was not a big deal, but, when one examines the record one sees that Brennan was pushing the dossier at various times. He seems to have used disgraced former FBI counterintelligence official Peter Strzok as his cut-out to sell the dossier within the FBI. We know, for instance, that the dossier figured prominently in the FISA warrants obtained on the hapless Carter Page. It not being mentioned is not a big deal as it wasnt widely known until BuzzFeed published it.

What makes Pauls story more credible is a recent revelation by Foxs superstar national security reporter Catherine Herridge.

When one goes back to the genesis of the Russia hoax investigation one is struck by a salient point. This is from The Hill on December 11, 2016.

A secret CIA assessment uncovered by the Washington Post Friday concluded that Russia intervened in the U.S. presidential election to help Trump win the White House.

The CIA was direct and bald and unqualified about Russias intentions to help Trump, officials who attended a House briefing told the Post.

However, an FBI officials presentation to the House Intelligence Committee was fuzzy and ambiguous, the Post added.The CIA believes Russians hacked both Democratic and Republican organizations, though only documents from Democrats were leaked and published.

According to multiple reports, the FBI still hasnt confirmed whether the RNC or other Republican groups were hacked.

The Washington Post reports the FBI is not certain that Russias interference in the election was a purposeful effort to alter the results.

During a meeting of the House Intelligence Committee, the CIA said it was sure of Russias intentions in hacking Democratic party emails, but the FBI was less certain, The Post reported.

This is Reuters on December 11:

While the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) does not dispute the CIAs analysis of Russian hacking operations, it has not endorsed their assessment because of a lack of conclusive evidence that Moscow intended to boost Trump over Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton, said the officials, who declined to be named.

The position of the ODNI, which oversees the 17 agency-strong U.S. intelligence community, could give Trump fresh ammunition to dispute the CIA assessment, which he rejected as ridiculous in weekend remarks, and press his assertion that no evidence implicates Russia in the cyber attacks.

However, by December 16, the FBI and DNI had joined the CIA assessment. We cant know why that was the casebut if we look at the antics of James Clapper and James Comey we have fertile ground for speculation. What could have caused everyone, literally everyone, to change from disagreeing with the assessment of John Brennans CIA to agreeing with in in the span of five days?

This is where Herridges reporting comes in:

In a Dec. 12, 2016, text reviewed by Fox News, Page wrote to McCabe: Btw, [Director of National Intelligence James] Clapper told Pete that he was meeting with [CIA Director John] Brennan and Cohen for dinner tonight. Just FYSA [for your situational awareness].

Within a minute, McCabe replied, OK.

Cohen is likely then-Deputy CIA Director David Cohen. Pete is a likely reference to Peter Strzok, who played a lead role in the original Russia investigation at the FBI (and with whom Page was having an affair).But two government sources told Fox News it was irregular for Clapper to be in direct contact with Strzok, who was at a much more junior level. It is not clear from the text if Strzok also attended the dinner. A lawyer for Strzok declined to comment, but did not dispute the text referred to Strzok.

So, basically the night after the CIA finds itself the odd-man out on the collusion narrative, Brennan and Clapper have dinner. Clapper tells Strzok, who is several layers beneath him in a different agency about the event. Within a couple of days the FBI and DNI are both on board with the CIAs assessment which seems to have relied upon the dossier.

Pauls call for an investigation of what the Obama administration knew about this is very much on target and President Trump should make sure it happens.

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Rand Paul Is Not Happy With the Russia Hoax and Names Who ...