The officials who built, authorized, and sustained the political intelligence operation against a sitting president — documented from congressional testimony, inspector general reports, and court records.
What follows is not speculation about motives. It is a documented account of what specific officials did — in their official capacity, with the resources of the United States government — and what the formal record shows about those actions. Every finding cited below comes from a federal inspector general, a congressional investigation, a court filing, or a declassified intelligence document.
Brennan was the central figure in the intelligence community's assessment of Russian election interference and one of the most aggressive public voices promoting the collusion narrative after leaving office. He stated publicly on multiple occasions that he had seen evidence of Trump-Russia collusion.
Brennan's own handwritten notes, declassified by DNI Ratcliffe in 2020, show he briefed President Obama in July 2016 about intelligence suggesting Clinton had approved a plan to manufacture the Russia collusion narrative as a distraction from her email server scandal. Brennan then referred the matter to the FBI — which opened Crossfire Hurricane. Mueller found no collusion. The Durham Report found the investigation lacked a verified predicate.
Brennan's security clearance was revoked by President Trump in 2018. He has never been charged. He continues to appear regularly as an intelligence analyst on cable news.
Clapper co-signed the January 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment attributing election interference to Russia and expressing "high confidence" in its conclusions. He became a prominent media voice promoting the collusion narrative through 2019.
Clapper testified to Congress in March 2017 that he had seen no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia — directly contradicting his cable news statements. He was also referred to DOJ by congressional investigators for allegedly misleading Congress in 2013 about NSA bulk collection of Americans' phone records. He was never charged for either matter.
Comey oversaw both the Clinton email server investigation — which he concluded without a criminal referral — and the Crossfire Hurricane investigation into the Trump campaign. He was fired by President Trump in May 2017.
The DOJ Inspector General found that Comey violated FBI policy by leaking classified memos to a Columbia University professor to trigger appointment of a special counsel. The IG found he set a "dangerous example" for FBI employees. Separately, the IG found that the Clinton investigation deviated from standard procedures in ways that benefited the subject. Comey was never charged.
McCabe was the number two official at the FBI during the critical period of both the Clinton investigation and the opening of Crossfire Hurricane. He was fired two days before he would have been eligible for his full pension.
The DOJ Inspector General found that McCabe lied to federal investigators on four separate occasions — including lying to Comey himself — about leaking information to the Wall Street Journal. He was referred for criminal prosecution. DOJ declined to charge him in 2020. He now works as a CNN analyst.
Strzok was the lead FBI agent on Crossfire Hurricane and was subsequently assigned to the Mueller special counsel team. He was removed from Mueller's team after the DOJ Inspector General discovered his text messages with FBI lawyer Lisa Page.
Text messages between Strzok and Page, reviewed by the DOJ IG, documented explicit anti-Trump sentiment and a reference to an "insurance policy" against a Trump presidency — sent while Strzok was lead agent on the investigation targeting Trump's campaign. In one message, when Page asked if Trump could actually win, Strzok replied: "No. No he won't. We'll stop it." Strzok was fired from the FBI in 2018.
Clinesmith was the FBI attorney responsible for processing FISA warrant renewals for surveillance of Carter Page, a Trump campaign associate. His conduct was the clearest documented act of evidence falsification in the entire Crossfire Hurricane saga.
Clinesmith altered an email from the CIA — changing language indicating that Carter Page was a CIA source to language suggesting he was not — and submitted the altered document to the FISA Court to obtain a surveillance warrant. He pleaded guilty to making a false statement. He received probation and community service. His law license was temporarily suspended and later reinstated.
Clinton operated a private email server during her tenure as Secretary of State, transmitting classified information through an unsecured system. When the FBI investigation was opened, her team destroyed evidence under congressional subpoena.
The FBI found 110 emails containing classified information on Clinton's server. After a congressional subpoena was issued, her team used BleachBit to destroy approximately 33,000 emails and physically destroyed mobile devices. Separately, Clinton's campaign and the DNC paid Fusion GPS through law firm Perkins Coie to commission the Steele Dossier — the fabricated intelligence document that formed the basis of the FISA surveillance of the Trump campaign. The FEC fined the Clinton campaign and DNC for misreporting those payments. No criminal charges were filed for the server or the dossier funding.