WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The FBI has launched criminal probes into former CIA Director John Brennan and former FBI Director James Comey, Fox News Digital reported on Tuesday, citing sources.
The probes are over alleged wrongdoing related to past government investigations about claims of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. elections in which President Donald Trump defeated former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the news report said.
The FBI, the CIA and the Justice Department had no immediate comment. Reuters has not independently verified the probes.
The scope of the criminal investigations into Brennan and Comey was unclear, the report added. Trump-nominated CIA Director John Ratcliffe referred Brennan, who served in that role under former Democratic President Barack Obama, for potential prosecution, according to the report.
A criminal investigation does not necessarily result in charges. Brennan did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Comey could not immediately be reached.
Fox said its sources were from the Justice Department but did not specify the number of sources.
The probes reportedly target two former officials who have long drawn the ire of Trump and his supporters for their role in investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Comey led the FBI when authorities began a criminal investigation in 2016 into potential coordination between the Trump campaign and he Russian government to influence the election. Trump fired Comey in 2017 early in his first term after Comey publicly confirmed Trump was under investigation.
The probe was then taken over by former Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who prosecuted several Trump associates, but found no evidence of a criminal conspiracy between Trump's 2016 campaign and Russia.
Trump railed against the investigation for years and has repeatedly dismissed it as the "Russia hoax."
A CIA review released last week found flaws in the production of a U.S. intelligence assessment on Russian meddling in the 2016 election, but it did not contest its conclusion that Russian President Vladimir Putin had sought to sway the vote in favor of Trump.
News of the investigation broke as Trump's top officials at the FBI and Justice Department faced online criticism from some Trump supporters for concluding that there was no evidence to support long-held conspiracy theories about the death of accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh, Jasper Ward and Andrew Goudsward in Washington; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Stephen Coates)
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