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*'''Early August.'''  Clinton campaign attorney [[Michael Sussmann]] met with [[Christopher Steele]] to advise him of a supposed connection between Trump Tower and the Russian Alfa Bank; Sussmann's time was billed to the [[2016 Hillary Clinton campaign|Clinton Campaign]].<ref>Tr. of Interview at 74–75, H. Permanent Select Comm. on Intelligence Interview of Michael Sussmann (Dec. 18, 2017), https://www.dni.gov/files/HPSCI_Transcripts/2020-05-04-Michael_Sussmann-MTR_Redacted.pdf; Tr. of Steele Dep. at 1–2.</ref>

*'''Early August.'''  Clinton campaign attorney [[Michael Sussmann]] met with [[Christopher Steele]] to advise him of a supposed connection between Trump Tower and the Russian Alfa Bank; Sussmann's time was billed to the [[2016 Hillary Clinton campaign|Clinton Campaign]].<ref>Tr. of Interview at 74–75, H. Permanent Select Comm. on Intelligence Interview of Michael Sussmann (Dec. 18, 2017), https://www.dni.gov/files/HPSCI_Transcripts/2020-05-04-Michael_Sussmann-MTR_Redacted.pdf; Tr. of Steele Dep. at 1–2.</ref>

*'''First week of August.''' [[CIA]] dir [[John Brennan]] contacted Deputy National Security Advisor [[Avril Haines]] via telephone, as he had received intelligence in relation to President [[Vladimir Putin]]. An envelope which contained “eyes only” instructions was sent by courier from the Central Intelligence Agency to the [[White House]]. The contents of the envelope were shown to four people: President [[Barack Obama]], and three of his senior aides, most likely [[Chief of Staff]] [[Denis McDonough]], [[National Security Advisor]] [[Susan Rice]] and deputy Avril Haines. Within the envelope was information from a valuable source, Oleg Smolenkov,<ref>https://consortiumnews.com/2019/09/14/the-spy-who-failed/</ref>  that Director John Brennan had used to ascertain certain information, a source which he intentionally kept away from the Presidential Daily Brief. This was because, by 2013, the Presidential Daily Brief was being received by over 30 recipients. According to ''[[The Washington Post]]'', "The intelligence captured Putin’s specific instructions on the operation’s audacious objects — defeat or at least damage the Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, and help elect her opponent, Donald Trump.”  Brennan created a secret task force at the Central Intelligence Agency’s Headquarters, which was composed of several dozen analysts from the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The Working Group reported to two different groups:  

*'''First week of August.''' [[CIA]] dir [[John Brennan]] contacted Deputy National Security Advisor [[Avril Haines]] via telephone, as he had received intelligence in relation to President [[Vladimir Putin]]. An envelope which contained “eyes only” instructions was sent by courier from the Central Intelligence Agency to the [[White House]]. The contents of the envelope were shown to four people: President [[Barack Obama]], and three of his senior aides, most likely [[Chief of Staff]] [[Denis McDonough]], [[National Security Advisor]] [[Susan Rice]] and deputy Avril Haines. Within the envelope was information from a valuable source, Oleg Smolenkov,<ref>https://consortiumnews.com/2019/09/14/the-spy-who-failed/</ref>  that Director John Brennan had used to ascertain certain information, a source which he intentionally kept away from the Presidential Daily Brief. This was because, by 2013, the Presidential Daily Brief was being received by over 30 recipients.  

::(1) President Barack Obama and less than 14 senior United States Government officials.

 

::(2) A team of operations specialists at the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.<ref>https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/world/national-security/obama-putin-election-hacking/?utm_term=.e0ebd1a1dbf5</ref>  

::*According to [[fake news]] reporting of the ''[[The Washington Post]]'', "The intelligence captured Putin’s specific instructions on the operation’s audacious objects — defeat or at least damage the Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, and help elect her opponent, Donald Trump.”  Brennan created a secret task force at the Central Intelligence Agency’s Headquarters, which was composed of several dozen analysts from the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The Working Group reported to two different groups:  

:::(1) President Barack Obama and less than 14 senior United States Government officials.

:::(2) A team of operations specialists at the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.<ref>https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/world/national-security/obama-putin-election-hacking/?utm_term=.e0ebd1a1dbf5</ref>  

::*The Crossfire Hurricane investigation team, in conjunction with a number of agents at the Eastern District of Virginia (EDVA) under US Attorney [[Dana Boente]], reported to the Working Group,<ref>https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/16/us/politics/crossfire-hurricane-trump-russia-fbi-mueller-investigation.html</ref> including the CIA. During this time, they investigated the four main targets of Crossfire Hurricane, Papadopoulos , Carter Page, Michael Flynn  Paul Manafort  and they also investigated Roger Stone as part of their expanded WikiLeaks investigation.

::*The Crossfire Hurricane investigation team, in conjunction with a number of agents at the Eastern District of Virginia (EDVA) under US Attorney [[Dana Boente]], reported to the Working Group,<ref>https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/16/us/politics/crossfire-hurricane-trump-russia-fbi-mueller-investigation.html</ref> including the CIA. During this time, they investigated the four main targets of Crossfire Hurricane, Papadopoulos , Carter Page, Michael Flynn  Paul Manafort  and they also investigated Roger Stone as part of their expanded WikiLeaks investigation.

::*As part of the secrecy surrounding the Working Group and Crossfire Hurricane, the Crossfire Hurricane team was provided their own source of funding, and they worked in a secure area, titled the “war room”, within FBI Headquarters, which required special clearance to enter.<ref>https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/fbis-russia-investigation/story?id=47346117</ref>

::*As part of the secrecy surrounding the Working Group and Crossfire Hurricane, the Crossfire Hurricane team was provided their own source of funding, and they worked in a secure area, titled the “war room”, within FBI Headquarters, which required special clearance to enter.<ref>https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/fbis-russia-investigation/story?id=47346117</ref>