Federal authorities arrested the son of former CIA director John Brennan on Friday, accusing him of possessing dozens of sexually explicit images of minors.
Kyle Brennan, 40, of Warrenton, Virginia, faces one count of transportation of child pornography, a crime punishable by a minimum five-year prison sentence should he be convicted.
He remained in federal custody Friday, and his attorney did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Court filings in the case, filed in federal court in Alexandria, indicated the investigation that led to his arrest began with local authorities more than two years ago, before the FBI took an interest in the case last month.
According to the complaint, investigators with the Warrenton Police Department and Fauquier County Sheriff’s Office began scrutinizing the younger Brennan in the spring and summer of 2024, after receiving a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about an online account traced to Brennan’s name.
They seized Brennan’s cellphone in July 2024 as part of that inquiry.
Then, last month, the sheriff’s office referred the investigation to the FBI, the complaint says. A sheriff’s office spokesperson did not immediately respond to questions about the decision to call in federal authorities.
Federal agents obtained a warrant to review data from the phone and allegedly recovered more than 80 additional sexually explicit photos of underage girls, the complaint says.
Around the same time, Justice Department officials were subpoenaing Brennan’s father, a vocal critic of President Donald Trump who served as CIA director under President Barack Obama. That subpoena sought John Brennan’s testimony before a grand jury in Florida as part of a sprawling Justice Department inquiry targeting several of Trump’s perceived political foes. Prosecutors have yet to file any charges in that probe.
Trump has repeatedly called for the former CIA director to be charged with a crime, alleging that the elder Brennan lied to Congress in 2023 about an intelligence community assessment that found that Russia had sought to influence the outcome of the 2016 U.S. presidential race in favor of then-candidate Trump. John Brennan has repeatedly denied any allegation of wrongdoing.
Kyle Brennan, who made an initial appearance in federal court in Alexandria on Friday, was expected to remain in custody pending a detention hearing scheduled for Wednesday.
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