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Blank Pages and Secret Meetings: Declassified FBI Notes Expose Jack Smith's Team at CIA Headquarters With John Brennan

By The Everything of Everything | October 7, 2026 | Government / Politics

The Meeting That Wasn't Supposed to Be Known

Declassified documents released this week by the White House reveal that two assistant special counsels working under Jack Smith traveled to CIA headquarters in McLean, Virginia in November 2023 for a face-to-face meeting with former CIA Director John Brennan — a disclosure that directly contradicts, or at minimum severely complicates, sworn testimony Smith gave to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

According to Fox News, the records show Smith's team was preparing Brennan as a potential expert witness on National Defense Information ahead of the federal classified documents prosecution of Donald Trump. The stated purpose was procedural: no classified documents were shared during the session. But the fact that Smith's office was consulting one of the most politically charged intelligence figures in recent American history — the former CIA chief who oversaw early counterintelligence operations related to Trump's 2016 campaign — has ignited a fresh firestorm over the independence of the entire prosecution.

Smith had testified before the Senate that he had not met Brennan. The newly declassified records do not show Smith personally attended the November 2023 session; his two deputies did. Critics argue the distinction is semantic at best and deliberately misleading at worst.

The Blank Pages Problem

What may matter more than the meeting itself is what was not written down about it.

As American Partisan and RVM News both report, the FBI agents present at the Brennan meeting left their notes almost entirely blank. Two separate agents' note pages contain nothing beyond the date, location, Brennan's name, and a list of government attendees. Every line that would normally capture substance — what was discussed, what Brennan said, what guidance he offered — is empty.

This is not standard practice. The Justice Department's own written guidance on documenting witness interactions requires substantive notes. FBI agents conducting witness interviews routinely produce Form 302s, detailed summaries that become part of the official investigative record. The blank pages suggest either a deliberate decision to keep the session off the books, an unusually informal arrangement that circumvented normal protocols, or both.

The Western Journal describes investigators calling the omission "jarring," noting that blank agent notes in a high-profile federal prosecution are nearly without precedent in modern Bureau practice.

Congressional Reaction and Broader Stakes

Republican lawmakers moved quickly. Rep. Jim Jordan, chair of the House Judiciary Committee, is now calling for the prosecution of Jack Smith himself, according to Life Zette, arguing that the concealment of the Brennan meeting and the evasive Senate testimony constitute obstruction.

The Brennan dimension is significant beyond paperwork concerns. Brennan's name has been central to Republican allegations that the original Russia investigation was politically motivated. Declassified materials released in prior years showed Brennan briefing Obama White House officials in 2016 about a Clinton campaign plan to tie Trump to Russia. For Smith's prosecution team to seek Brennan out as a potential expert witness — without disclosing it fully — hands critics a ready-made narrative: that the Biden-era special counsel's office was operationally connected to the same intelligence figures Trump's allies have long accused of conspiring against him.

The Washington Examiner reported separately that the same document dump also revealed Smith's team monitored calls between Trump's chief of staff Susie Wiles and Trump's lawyers and tracked the movements of Melania and Barron Trump — details that are feeding a broader portrait of a prosecution that, in the eyes of its critics, crossed the line from legitimate law enforcement into targeted political surveillance.

Smith's office has not issued a public response to the newly declassified materials as of publication.

Key Takeaways

• Declassified White House documents confirm Jack Smith's two assistant special counsels met former CIA Director John Brennan at CIA HQ in November 2023 to discuss his potential role as an expert witness in the Trump classified documents case.
• FBI agents' notes from the meeting are almost entirely blank, violating standard Bureau documentation practices and raising questions about whether the session was deliberately kept off the official record.
• Jack Smith testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee that he had not met Brennan; critics argue the deputy-level meeting was omitted from his testimony in a manner that is misleading, if not perjurious.
• The political fallout is accelerating: Rep. Jim Jordan is calling for Smith's prosecution, and the broader document release — which also reveals surveillance of Trump family members — is hardening Republican demands for a full accountability investigation into the Biden-era Justice Department.

Sources:

• Ex-Obama spy chief prepped for anti-Trump trial by Biden-era special counsel's team — Fox News
• Jack Smith team secretly met ex-CIA chief John Brennan in 2023, but FBI agents left notes blank — American Partisan
• Jack Smith's Secret Brennan Meeting Exposed as FBI Notes Turn Up Blank — RVM News
• Investigators Make Jarring Discovery in FBI Notes on Jack Smith - John Brennan Meeting — Western Journal
• Jim Jordan Demands Jack Smith Prosecution After Latest Bombshell Document Dump — Life Zette
• Jack Smith team tracked Susie Wiles calls and kept tabs on Trump lawyers — Washington Examiner
• Ex-Obama spy chief prepped for anti-Trump trial — WFMD