>John Brennan crafted the narrative of Russian election hacking and was the architect.
No, he didn't. Mook and Podesta came up with the Russian hacking story. During his presidency, Bill Clinton interfered with Russia's elections helping Boris Yeltsin to win a second term despite being very unpopular. Yeltsin ran against a candidate who Putin supported. So, Putin had some motive to seek revenge against Hillary. Podesta would have known all this as he was a high-level staffer in BC's administration.
In the beginning, I don't think the goons spying on the Trump campaign had a cover story. Keep in mind they thought HRC was a shoe in to win. Most likely they thought he was dirty just like almost every other rich person. After discovering he wasn't, they panicked and had to make up stories. The Russia hacking one was thrown together haphazardly not well-planned.