Election security

Obama spymasters point fingers amid Russia probe review: ‘Throwing each other under the bus’

The launch of a formal inquiry into the origins of the Russia investigation -- being led by one of the Justice Department’s toughest prosecutors -- has touched off a new round of behind-the-scenes finger-pointing among Obama administration officials who could have some explaining to do about efforts to surveil the Trump campaign.

A key dispute that flared this week concerns whether then-FBI Director James Comey or then-CIA Director John Brennan -- or both of them -- pushed the unverified Steele dossier containing claims about President Trump and his relationship to Russia. The dossier’s more sensational claims were never substantiated by Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team.

“Amazing—James Comey says that in 2016, John Brennan insisted on including the dossier in their IC assessment. But Brennan says: no no, COMEY wanted to use the dossier,” North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows, a Republican who has long demanded answers about the origins of the probe, tweeted Thursday in reference to a prior Fox News report.

Meadows added: “They know the truth is coming. And now they're all throwing each other under the bus.”

Sources familiar with the records told Fox News that a late-2016 email chain indicated Comey told bureau subordinates that Brennan insisted the dossier be included in the intelligence community assessment on Russian interference, known as the ICA. That email chain has not been made public.