Former CIA director John Brennan tells MS NOW he believes Iran over President Trump

Former CIA Director John Brennan said he believed the Iranian regime over President Donald Trump during an interview on MS NOW on Monday, as the panel discussed the president’s comments about conversations with the regime to end the war.

MS NOW’s Symone Sanders-Townsend asked Brennan about the president revealing Monday that there have been conversations with Iran, and Iran’s parliamentary speaker saying that there have been no negotiations between the two. Townsend acknowledged the Iranian regime was known to lie but said to Brennan, “I’m confused! What is going on? Help me, calm me down.”

“Well, I tend to believe Iran more than I do Donald Trump, because he could not acknowledge the truth even when it is — he’s slapped in the face with it repeatedly,” Brennan responded. “And it’s clear that, you know, he is flailing right now. He’s trying to figure out how he’s going to get out of this debacle that he has created.” 

“And so he’s going to make these claims about negotiations; that the Iranians now are sending signals that they really want to make a deal, and indicates they’re going to make a deal on our terms,” he continued. “I don’t think anything close to the truth is in that statement.”

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Brennan added that the administration may be talking to people indirectly, but he added, “I don’t believe there’s anybody speaking authoritatively right now on behalf of the Iranian government with the Trump administration.”

CNN reported on Tuesday that an “Iranian source” acknowledged there had been “outreach” between the U.S. and Iran. The source reportedly told CNN that they have not reached the level of full-on negotiations.

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MS NOW host Michael Steele, a former head of the Republican National Committee, also said he thought Trump was lying.

“I think Donald Trump is doing what Donald Trump always does, and that is talking out of his behind,” he said.

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“Believing a terrorist regime that has chanted ‘Death to America’ for decades over the United States of America is shameful and Trump Derangement Syndrome at work,” Anna Kelly, a White House spokeswoman, told Fox News Digital in a statement.

Trump announced a pause on strikes against Iran on Monday, citing “very good and productive conversations” between the U.S. and Iran tied to a broader framework that includes nuclear disarmament.

Iranian officials quickly rejected the claim that negotiations were underway, dismissing Trump’s comments as “psychological warfare” and accusing Washington of using the appearance of diplomacy to buy time.

Trump revoked Brennan’s security clearance in January 2025. Brennan was one of the signatories of the Hunter Biden laptop letter that claimed Hunter Biden’s laptop had the “earmarks” of a Russian operation.

Brennan is also being investigated by the FBI over wrongdoing allegedly related to the Trump-Russia probe.

Fox News’ Morgan Phillips contributed to this report.