House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan on Tuesday asked the Justice Department to pursue criminal charges against former CIA Director John Brennan, alleging he lied to Congress about the Steele dossier’s role in a 2017 intelligence assessment on Russian election interference.
Jordan, a Republican from Ohio, said Brennan’s 2023 testimony before the committee was “willfully and intentionally false” and contradicted by CIA records and findings from the House Intelligence Committee.
“Making false statements before Congress is a crime that undermines the integrity of the Committee’s constitutional duty to conduct oversight,” Jordan wrote.
Trump and his Republican allies have intensified what critics call a campaign of retribution against his political enemies, using the Justice Department and his allies in Congress to target former officials and rivals from his first term. In recent months, Trump has publicly pressured prosecutors to bring cases against figures including former FBI Director James Comey, New York Attorney General Letitia James and Brennan, all of whom played roles in investigations or legal actions involving him.
The president has replaced several top federal prosecutors with loyalists, including one of his former personal attorneys, and praised indictments against his critics as “justice finally being served.”
The moves have alarmed legal experts and some members of both parties, who warn that Trump is eroding the Justice Department’s independence and weaponizing it to settle political scores. Supporters argue that he is holding accountable officials who misused their power during investigations into his 2016 campaign.
The resulting prosecutions and referrals — often announced by Trump allies in Congress — have deepened divisions in Washington and raised concerns that the criminal justice system is being wielded as a political tool heading into the 2026 election season.
What is the Steele Dossier?
The Steele dossier is a collection of unverified intelligence reports compiled in 2016 by Christopher Steele, a former British spy who was hired by a research firm working for Democrats during the U.S. presidential campaign. The memos contained a series of explosive — and largely unsubstantiated — allegations about Donald Trump’s ties to Russia, including claims that the Kremlin had compromising information on him and that members of his campaign had coordinated with Russian operatives to influence the election.
The dossier circulated widely among journalists, intelligence officials and lawmakers in late 2016 and early 2017. Portions of it informed early investigative steps in the FBI’s Russia probe, though many of its central claims were never corroborated. U.S. intelligence agencies later concluded that Russia did interfere in the 2016 election, but the more sensational allegations in the Steele dossier — particularly those of personal or financial blackmail — remain unproven and, in some cases, discredited.
The document became a political flashpoint: Democrats defended it as a warning sign of possible foreign compromise, while Republicans accused investigators of relying on unverified opposition research to justify surveillance of Trump associates.
Updates: 10/21/25, 2:37 p.m. ET: This article was updated with new information.
