Outgoing CIA chief warns Trump to watch his words

The unsubstantiated dossier about Trump, Russia and possible compromising material -- compiled by a former British MI6 intelligence agent doing opposition research for Trump’s campaign opponents -- also said Moscow had incriminating video of the president-elect

The fact that intelligence agencies had offered Trump a synopsis of the dossier -- which was later published in full online by BuzzFeed -- lent the allegations credence.

But Brennan said the intelligence community was only "making sure that the president-elect was aware that it was circulating."

"I think there are some very salacious allegations in there -- again, unsubstantiated," he said, adding it was "a responsibility in the minds of the intelligence directors" to inform Trump as well as the Obama WhiteHouse of the report.

Brennan bristled at Trump’s likening of the US intelligence community to Nazi Germany, calling it "outrageous."

"I do take great umbrage at that," the outgoing spy chief said.

Pence blamed the scandal on "media bias," in an interview with CBS.