FBI launches investigations against former FBI and CIA directors

(Patria) - The FBI has launched criminal investigations against former CIA Director John Brennan and former FBI Director James Comey, Fox News Digital reported on Tuesday, citing sources.

The investigations are related to alleged irregularities connected to past government probes into claims of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. elections, in which President Donald Trump defeated former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the report said, as relayed by Reuters.

The scope of the criminal investigations against Brennan and Comey is unclear, the report added. CIA Director John Ratcliffe, nominated by Trump, referred Brennan, who served in that role under former President Barack Obama, for potential criminal prosecution, according to the report.

A criminal investigation does not necessarily result in charges. Brennan did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment. Comey was not immediately available. Fox said its sources were from the Department of Justice but did not specify the number of sources.

"I am glad to see the Department of Justice opening this investigation," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in an interview on Fox News' "Jesse Watters Primetime" show.

The investigations are reportedly focused on two former officials who have long drawn the ire of Trump and his supporters due to their role in the probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Comey led the FBI when authorities in 2016 began a criminal investigation into alleged coordination between Trump's campaign and the Russian government aimed at influencing the election. Trump fired Comey in 2017 at the start of his first term after Comey publicly confirmed that Trump was under investigation. The investigation was then taken over by former Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who found no evidence of a criminal conspiracy between Trump's 2016 campaign and Russia.

Trump has opposed the investigation for years and repeatedly dismissed it as a "Russian hoax."

Brennan led the CIA when the U.S. intelligence community, in a report released in January 2017, assessed that Russian President Vladimir Putin attempted to influence the 2016 U.S. election in favor of Trump.

A CIA report released last week revealed shortcomings in the preparation of the 2017 assessment but did not dispute its core conclusion.

During Trump's first term, the Department of Justice appointed a special counsel, John Durham, to examine any lapses in the FBI's Russia investigation. Durham brought charges against three lower-level individuals who worked on the investigation or provided information to investigators but found no evidence of a conspiracy to target Trump.