New reporting from the New York Times posted Wednesday provides more context for former CIA director John Brennan's testimony Tuesday that he saw intelligence that warranted further inquiry by the FBI. NYT writes:
American spies collected information last summer revealing that senior Russian intelligence and political officials were discussing how to exert influence over Donald J. Trump through his advisers, according to three current and former American officials familiar with the intelligence.
The conversations focused on Paul Manafort, the Trump campaign chairman at the time, and Michael T. Flynn, a retired general who was advising Mr. Trump, the officials said. Both men had indirect ties to Russian officials, who appeared confident that each could be used to help shape Mr. Trump’s opinions on Russia. [...]
The information collected last summer was considered credible enough for intelligence agencies to pass to the F.B.I., which during that period opened a counterintelligence investigation that is ongoing. It is unclear, however, whether Russian officials actually tried to directly influence Mr. Manafort and Mr. Flynn.
During testimony Tuesday at a House Intelligence hearing, Brennan said he was alarmed by the information he was seeing and described a hypothetical slow drift toward treason that makes even more sense in light of the above reporting.
"Frequently, people who go along a treasonous path do not know they are on a treasonous path until it is too late,” he said.
The more we learn about what the intelligence community knew even as American voters were kept totally in the dark, the more obvious it becomes that our institutions, however well intentioned, failed us. When the Trump-Russia investigation is over and everything is out, no matter what the findings, the lack of transparency and reporting on the topic in the midst of the election will be debated for years to come.