CIA Director: Some congresspeople didn't 'appreciate the importance and gravity' of Russia's election meddling
John Brennan (screen grab)

In a memo just revealed by BuzzFeed that was sent late last year, the director of the CIA told subordinates that he believed some congresspeople didn't understand how deep Russia's election-meddling went.


According to BuzzFeed News, CIA Director John Brennan said members of Congress he briefed did not "understand and appreciate the importance and gravity of the issue."

Though Brennan did not identify the specific congresspeople he was referring to in the memo, sources familiar with the issue told BuzzFeed that it "was directed at Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Senator John Cornyn (R-TX), the Majority Whip."

Around the time the memo was published, Cornyn expressed a disbelief in the seriousness of the Russian hacking.