Trump-shared Brennan story shows a meeting, not political direction

Donald Trump shared the headline and link to a Fox News article on Truth Social on 29 October, without adding his own comment. The article, published on 7 October, said former CIA director John Brennan had been “prepped” for an “anti-Trump trial” by special counsel Jack Smith’s team.

An FBI memo describes a meeting at CIA headquarters on 3 November 2023 between Brennan, FBI agents and special counsel staff. Its stated purpose was to discuss expert testimony about national defence information for a forthcoming trial. No documents were shown, the memo says.

Fox News and Just the News link the meeting to the classified-documents case against Trump. The memo’s case number is partly redacted, and it does not name Trump or Smith. Two released pages of handwritten notes have identifying headings and redactions but no visible account of the discussion. They do not establish whether Brennan agreed to testify, was selected as a witness or was coached.

Fox reported that two assistant special counsels attended. DeClassified Now, which analysed the memo, says it lists that title three times; the names are redacted.

The meeting took place while a trial was being planned. A July 2023 court order scheduled it for May 2024 and set an 8 November 2023 deadline for prosecutors to disclose their experts. Trump faced 32 counts of wilfully retaining national defence information, as well as obstruction-related charges. Those were allegations, not findings of guilt.

The trial never took place. In July 2024, Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed the indictment, ruling that Smith’s appointment was unlawful. She did not decide whether Trump had committed the alleged offences. Smith dropped the appeal concerning Trump after his 2024 election victory; the Justice Department later dropped the appeal concerning his two co-defendants.

What Smith told the Senate

At a Senate hearing on 29 September 2026, committee chairman Chuck Grassley asked whether Smith had ever received “consultation or counsel” from Brennan. Smith replied: “I’ve never met John Brennan.” Asked later whether he had ever spoken to him, Smith said he had no recollection of a conversation.

Grassley told Fox that the meeting amounted to consultation with Smith and his team, and called Smith’s answer “highly evasive and misleading, at minimum”. His original question was broader than whether the two men had met. Smith’s answer did not directly resolve whether advice had reached him indirectly; the memo does not settle that question either.

Brennan, who led the CIA under Barack Obama, has publicly criticised Trump. That is relevant to assessing him as a potential witness, but a meeting with prosecutors does not establish that his views directed the case. Smith has said his decisions were based on the facts and law, and that neither President Joe Biden nor Attorney General Merrick Garland tried to influence him.