JOHN DICKERSON: The White House also said that they talked to FBI Director Comey about the investigation going on and that Comey told them or that the FBI told the White House there was nothing to these stories about Russians contacting Trump administration officials. Do you think — you know James Comey, director of the FBI. Do you think he would have weighed in on what was happening with an ongoing investigation?

BRENNAN: I have tremendous respect for Jim Comey, his competence and integrity. And it’s been my experience working with Jim that he wouldn’t do anything that was going to in any way compromise the integrity of an ongoing investigation. And that’s why anybody who claims that the facts are already known, in terms of what did or didn’t happen between Russian officials and U.S. persons during the election, I think is speaking very prematurely. But the White House needs to understand that the interaction with the FBI on criminal investigations is something that really they need to steer clear of. Certainly when I was in the White House for four years and then at the CIA, any type of engagement between the White House and the FBI about an ongoing criminal investigation was verboten. Again, not just because of the impropriety of doing it but the appearance that it would provide to folks on the outside that there might but some unwarranted interference in such an investigation.

DICKERSON: So this is not regular business. This wouldn’t have — when you were serving, the White House never called you and said, “Hey, would you help us out here? We got a story. We need some — you know, talk to some reporters”?

BRENNAN: No. I never did that on behalf of the White House request. And the White House never made a request of me in the regard. Particularly if it’s an investigation that by implication deals with some individuals who might have been associated with the individuals that currently reside in the White House.