FRIDAY, JULY 31 , 2020. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ RE A
BY SHANE HARRISIn the fall of 2018, when former
CIA director John Brennan decid-
ed to write his memoir, he asked
the agency for his official records,
including his notes and any docu-
ments that he had reviewed and
signed that were classified. The
CIA, where Brennan had worked
for nearly 30 years, said no.
It was a break with decades of
tradition. The CIA routinely lets
former directors review classified
files when writing books about
their careers. Their manuscripts
are scrutinized to ensure they
don’t expose any national secrets.
After months of “haggling,”
Brennan learned that the CIA was
following the orders of the man he
had spent the previous two years
publicly excoriating — President
Trump, who in August 2018 “had
issued a directive... that pur-
portedly forbids anyone in the
intelligence community from
sharing classified information
with me.”
Brennan recounts his battles
with the president in the memoir
he eventually wrote, with limited
access to unclassified and heavily
redacted material: “Undaunted:
My Fight Against America’s Ene-
mies, at Home and Abroad.” The
Washington Post reviewed por-
tions of the book, which is sched-
uled to be published on Oct. 6.
T rump’s directive appears tai-
lored to one of his most promi-
nent critics. In tweets, op-eds and
television appearances, Brennan
has denounced Trump as a unique
threat to U.S. national security
and democracy, once labeling his
comments at a joint news confer-
ence in Helsinki with the presi-
dent of Russia as “treasonous,” a
comment that even some of Bren-
nan’s friends and fellow Trump
detractors said went too far.
Trump has accused Brennan of
being a leading figure in a “deep
state” conspiracy to undermine
his campaign and discredit his
election.
B ut national security experts
said they’d never heard of a presi-
dent targeting a former high-
ranking official this way, critic or
otherwise.
“It’s unprecedented, as far as I
know,” said Mark Zaid, a lawyer
who has represented government
whistleblowers and former intel-
ligence agency employees who
have written books.
“This is demonstrative, once
again, of a vindictive, political
president whose actions have
nothing to do with actual national
security decisions,” Zaid said.
White House spokesman Judd
Deere acknowledged that Trump
had issued the directive. “ThePresident has constitutional au-
thority to control access to classi-
fied information, which he exer-
cised here in view of Mr. Bren-
nan’s erratic behavior and the
President’s belief that access to
classified information should be
solely for the benefit of the gov-
ernment and the American peo-
ple,” Deere said.
In August 2018, the same
month that Brennan says Trump
issued his order, the president
said he was revoking Brennan’s
security clearances.
Trump accused Brennan of
making “a series of unfounded
and outrageous allegations —
wild outbursts on the Internet
and television — about this Ad-
ministration,” according to a
statement then-White House
press secretary Sarah Sanders
read to reporters at a briefing.
Trump’s threat turns out to
have been an empty one. “My
security clearances have never
been revoked because there is no
legal basis to do so,” Brennan
writes.
In January of this year, Bren-
nan says, he wrote to the current
CIA director, Gina Haspel, after
learning about the president’s or-
der to keep him from receiving
classified information. “It is im-
possible to avoid the conclusion
that the Agency’s refusal to grant
my request reflects the current
administration’s desire to punish
and retaliate against me for
speaking out as a private citizen —
an abuse of power designed to
chill the exercise of my First
Amendment rights,” he argued.
Brennan says Haspel never re-
sponded to his letter or contacted
him to discuss the situation, a
silence he found “very disappoint-
ing” given their years working
together at the CIA.
“So much for my fervent hope
that interactions with my succes-
sors would be unencumbered by
Washington’s partisan waters,”
Brennan writes, in a dig at Haspel,
who current and former officials
say has made it her practice to
stay on Trump’s good side.
The CIA declined to comment
on Brennan’s book or the presi-
dent’s directive.
Elsewhere in the memoir,
Brennan recounts his first meet-
ing with President-elect Trump,
at a Jan. 6, 2017, briefing at Trump
Tower in New York about Russia’s
interference in the 2016 election.
Brennan was joined by FBI Direc-
tor James B. Comey, National In-
telligence Director James R. Clap-
per Jr. and National Security
Agency Director Mike Rogers.
Brennan writes that he had
“serious doubts” Trump would
guard the classified informationhe was about to receive from the
country’s intelligence chiefs, in
light of his “public praise of
WikiLeaks,” which had published
Democratic emails stolen by Rus-
sian intelligence agencies, and his
“strange obsequiousness toward
Vladimir Putin,” the Russian pres-
ident.
“I had decided beforehand that
I would share the full substance of
CIA intelligence and analysis on
Russian interference in the elec-
tion without providing any specif-ic details on the provenance of our
knowledge,” Brennan writes.
Trump, he said, seemed more
interested in challenging the in-
telligence assessment than in un-
derstanding the threat from Rus-
sia.
“Trump’s alertness never faded
during the briefing, but his de-
meanor as well as his questions
strongly revealed that he was un-
interested in finding out what the
Russians had done or in holding
them to account,” Brennan writes.
“It was also my clear impres-
sion,” he continues, “that he was
seeking most to learn what we
knew and how we knew it. That
deeply troubled me, as I worried
about what he might do with the
information he was being given.”
Trump repeatedly tried to de-
flect blame from Russia, Brennan
writes, asserting on several occa-
sions, “It could have been the
Chinese.”
“We each took turns debunking
his counterclaims,” Brennan
writes, noting that the intelli-
gence directors were unanimous
in their conclusions that Russia
had engaged in “an intense, deter-
mined, and broad-based effort” to
interfere in the election.
As the briefing wrapped up,
Trump turned to Brennan for
what he describes as one lastattempt to discredit the CIA’s
findings.
“Anyone will say anything if
you pay them enough,” the presi-
dent-elect said.
“I stared at Trump, shook my
head in disgusted disagreement
and bit my tongue nearly hard
enough to draw blood,” Brennan
writes. He said he kept silent in
the hope of not spoiling the in-
coming president’s relationship
with the CIA.
Days later, Trump would com-
pare intelligence officials to “Na-
zis” and accuse them of trying to
destroy his reputation, after news
accounts revealed Trump had also
been briefed on a report by a
former British intelligence officer
alleging that Russia had compiled
incriminating information about
Trump from his earlier travels in
the country.
From that point on, the intelli-
gence community, and Brennan
in particular, became one of
Trump’s favorite political foils.
Looking back, Brennan regrets
that he didn’t challenge Trump in
their first and only conversation.
“It was one of the few times in
my professional career that I suc-
cessfully suppressed my Irish
temper when dealing with a poli-
tician,” he writes. “I wish I hadn’t.”
[email protected]Brennan says Trump blocked access to his CIA records, notes
MELINA MARA/THE WASHINGTON POST
Former CIA director John
Brennan, a vocal critic of the
president, also tells in his
memoir of their first meeting.
The book i s due o ut O ct. 6.BY ROBYN DIXONmoscow — F ormer U.S. Ma-
rine Trevor Reed was convicted
of endangering Russian police
with violence and sentenced to
nine years in prison by a Moscow
court Thursday, over a drunken
incident he says he does not
remember.
Reed, 29, traveled to Moscow
last summer to spend time with
his girlfriend, Alina Tsybulnik,
and to study Russian. But a night
out that went horribly wrong saw
the Texan arrested last August
while drunk and taken into cus-
tody.
Reed, a student at the Univer-
sity of North Texas, told journal-
ists the case was “clearly politi-
cal.” The U.S. ambassador in
Russia, John Sullivan, described
the evidence used to convict
Reed as “ridiculous.”
“Today, US citizen Trevor Reed
was convicted and sentenced to 9
years in a Russian prison based
on evidence so ridiculous that
even the judge laughed in court.
This was theater of the absurd,”
Sullivan tweeted after the ver-
dict.
Reed attended a party for his
girlfriend’s colleagues Aug. 15
where he was encouraged to
drink a large amount of vodka,
according to a statement posted
by Reed’s family on a website
about his case.
“He has no memory of the
evening past drinking vodka and
being asked to toast many times,”
the statement said. In the early-
morning hours of Aug. 16, he
shared a ride home with some
people from the party, became
nauseated and asked to stop the
car.
“When the car stopped, he
exited the vehicle and started
running around near a busy
boulevard late at night,” the
statement said. Tsybulnik’s co-
worker called the police to assist,
then left the scene. The family
statement said Reed should have
been taken to a medical facility
instead of being detained.
Police said he resisted arrest
as officers tried to calm him
down during an argument withtwo women.
According to the police case,
Reed was placed in a police car
but attacked the driver, tore his
uniform, hit another policeman,
caused the car to swerve and
created a hazard on the road.
Reed was held in a c ell over-
night. By the time Tsybulnik
arrived to pick him up the next
morning, Reed had been charged
with using violence to endanger
the life or health of a government
official performing his duties,
which carries up to 10 years in
jail.
Reed pleaded not guilty. He
said he could not remember the
events of that night.
A website set up by his father,Joey Reed, cites flaws in evi-
dence. For example, traffic video
footage did not show the vehicle
swerving, nor did witnesses in
the car following the police car to
the station see it swerve, it says.
Reed has been in detention
since August. He told journalists
Monday that he had lost 44
pounds and felt constantly tired.
“Based on the evidence in my
case, I think it’s clear what the
outcome should be,” he said.
His case follows that of anoth-
er former Marine, Paul Whelan, a
corporate security officer who
was convicted of spying last
month after a secret trial and
sentenced to 16 years jail.
Sullivan called the Whelancase “a mockery of justice.”
Russian media outlets have
cited officials hinting at the pos-
sibility of a prisoner exchange
involving Whelan and two Rus-
sian prisoners in the United
States, international arms traf-
ficker Viktor Bout and Konstan-
tin Yaroshenko, convicted of con-
spiracy to import cocaine into
the United States.
Whelan’s lawyer, Vladimir
Zherebenkov, said last month
that his client did not plan to
appeal because he was hoping to
be part of an exchange.
But Sullivan last month
brushed off chances of a prisoner
swap in comments after the
Whelan verdict.“I know that others in the
Russian government have sug-
gested this idea, but we don’t
trade people,” the ambassador
added. “We focus on individual
justice.”
A third American, 52-year-old
investor Michael Calvey, was de-
tained in February 2019 on suspi-
cion of “fraud carried out by an
organized group,” a crime that
carries up to 10 years in prison.
His private equity firm, Baring
Vostok Capital Partners, believes
he was arrested because of a
commercial dispute at a bank,
Orient Express, in which the firm
holds a stake. Calvey is under
house arrest in Moscow.
[email protected]Russian court sentences ex-U.S. Marine to 9 years in prison
DIMITAR DILKOFF/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
Trevor Reed, charged with attacking Russian police, stands in a cage for defendants at a Moscow court. Reed’s sentence stems from a
drunken night last summer that he says he cannot remember. He pleaded not guilty and has said the case against him is “clearly political.”BY ANN E. MARIMOWA federal appeals court in
Washington will take a second
look at a judge’s effort to scruti-
nize the Justice Department’s de-
cision to drop its case against
President Trump’s former nation-
al security adviser Michael Flynn.
The full U.S. Court of Appeals
for the D.C. Circuit agreed Thurs-
day to revisit U.S. District Judge
Emmet G. Sullivan’s plan to exam-
ine the politically charged matter,
reviving the unusual case testing
the limits of the judiciary’s power
to check the executive branch.
The court’s brief order set oral
arguments for Aug. 11. The deci-
sion to rehear the case before a full
complement of judges wipes out
the June ruling from a three-judge
panel that ordered Sullivan to im-
mediately dismiss the case and
said Sullivan was wrong to ap-
point a retired federal judge to
argue against the government’s
move to undo Flynn’s guilty plea.
In May, Sullivan refused to go
along with the government’s re-
quest to end the criminal case
against Flynn, who twice pleaded
guilty to lying to federal agents
about his contacts with Russia’s
ambassador in Washington be-
fore Trump took office in 2017.
Instead, Sullivan asked retired
federal judge John Gleeson to ar-
gue against the Justice Depart-
ment’s request. That prompted
Flynn’s attorneys to take the rare
step of asking the appeals court to
intervene midstream, and they ac-
cused Sullivan of bias.
The judge then retained a high-
profile trial lawyer to represent
him before the appeals court.
The order from the court
Thursday suggests that the judges
are seeking a narrowly focused
argument on the question of
whether Flynn should have wait-
ed to appeal until after Sullivan
rendered a decision. The court
told lawyers on both sides to be
prepared at oral argument to ad-
dress whether Flynn had “no oth-
er adequate means to attain the
relief” he sought from the appeals
court.
A majority of the 10 D.C. circuit
judges to consider Sullivan’s re-
quest for rehearing agreed to the
en banc review. The order does not
state the vote of individual judges
but indicates that Judge Gregory
Katsas, who previously worked in
Trump’s White House Counsel’s
Office, did not participate.
The initial ruling against Sulli-
van from the three-judge panel
cut short his plans to hold a hear-
ing to examine the government’s
decision.
Judge Neomi Rao, writing for
the majority, found that “this is
not the unusual case where a more
searching inquiry is justified.”
In his dissent, Judge Robert L.
Wilkins said it was unprecedent-
ed and premature for the appeals
court to shut down Sullivan’s re-
view. Sullivan, he wrote, should
have an opportunity to evaluate
the Justice Department’s change
of heart.
Trump celebrated the initial
ruling in a tweet and told report-
ers Flynn was “treated horribly.”
Flynn’s attorneys had urged the
full appeals court to let the initial
dismissal order stand.
“The district court has hijacked
and extended a criminal prosecu-
tion for almost three months for
its own purposes,” Flynn attor-
neys Sidney Powell and Jesse Bin-
nall told the court.
“To allow Judge Sullivan to de-
lay and generate litigation against
a criminal defendant is unconsti-
tutional,” they added, because the
“Executive Branch has exclusive
authority and absolute discretion
to decide whether to prosecute a
case.”
Flynn, 61, was the highest-level
Trump adviser convicted in for-
mer special counsel Robert S. Mu-
eller III’s investigation of Russian
interference in the 2016 election.
Flynn initially pleaded guilty and
cooperated with Mueller’s inqui-
ry.
Instead of proceeding to sen-
tencing, Attorney General Wil-
liam P. Barr in January ordered a
review of Flynn’s case. He then
moved to drop the prosecution,
saying new evidence showed that
the FBI interview of Flynn was
conducted without “any legiti-
mate investigative basis.” There-
fore, any lies Flynn told about his
contacts with Russia did not
amount to a crime, he said.
Flynn’s case has energized the
president and his supporters, who
say Flynn was set up by anti-
Trump investigators in the FBI.
But many current and former Jus-
tice Department officials view the
reversal as a troubling sign of the
department bending to pressure
from Trump to protect his close
advisers and friends.
[email protected]
Spencer Hsu contributed to this
report.
Flynn case to be
reheard by full
court, annulling
previous ruling
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