John Brennan’s spokesperson, Nick Shapiro made the claim that John Brennan was told that he was not the target of the Durham investigation. However neither Brennan nor Durham has been quoted as saying that happened. We only have the word of someone who was not in the room during the questioning.
But, let us suppose that was the truth. If Brennan was a target of the investigation then he could not be compelled to testify under the Fifth Amendment against self incrimination. So what would be the use of having him answer questions at all? Simple. Durham already has a good idea of what went down and Brennan may lie to shade over some of the facts.
And once you have him for perjury, you can investigate more and suddenly he is a target. That’s what they did with OJ Simpson. He was initially told that he was not a target and once they got him to lie, he became a target. A smart man like John Durham would know about a trick like this. And in eight hours, there was plenty of opportunity to lie.
A target is defined as a subject that can be indicted and convicted based on evidence that has already been gathered. That is a very subjective distinction. And of course, the prosecutor can decide later that the person is now a target.
A grand jury subpoena is a court order, under threat of contempt, to appear and answer questions under oath without the presence of counsel. If a person is already a “Target”, the subpoena intrudes upon their Fifth Amendment right to remain silent and to be represented by counsel while undergoing “custodial” interrogation — they are under subpoena after all. Witnesses before the grand jury are allowed to assert their Fifth Amendment right, but it forces them to assert that right before the grand jurors considering charges against them. The government is not allowed to call a criminal defendant to take the stand in his trial and force him to assert his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent in front of the jury. It is deemed prejudicial, and suggest to the jury that the defendant has something to hide. The same principle applies to calling a “Target” in front of a grand jury and forcing them to assert their right to remain silent in front of the grand jurors without counsel present.
So, if John Brennan isn’t at least a potential “target,” why was he not called to explain historical events to the grand jury?