DOJ Moves to Subpoena Ex-CIA Head Brennan on Trump-Russia Probe

The US Justice Department is moving to subpoena former US officials who worked on the investigation into whether anyone associated with Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign conspired with Russia to interfere in that year’s election, according to people familiar with the matter.

The US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida is taking steps to send subpoenas to former CIA Director John Brennan and others, according to the people, who asked not to be identified discussing ongoing law enforcement operations. Prosecutors have also moved to send subpoenas to former FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, according to one of the people.

John Brennan

Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

Prosecutors are interested in the period from the summer of 2016 through the November presidential election that year and into the early weeks of Trump’s first term, another person familiar with the situation said. The government is asking for information related to the intelligence community’s assessments in connection with the investigation into whether Russia interfered in that election, the person said.

The subpoenas don’t list specific criminal statutes under investigation, the person said.

Fox News Digital reported the subpoenas earlier. The US attorney’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Lawyers for Brennan and Page declined to comment. A lawyer for Strzok didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Justice Department opened a criminal investigation over the summer into claims that national security officials participated in a conspiracy in late 2016 and early 2017 to link Trump to Russia’s election interference and undermine his legitimacy, Bloomberg News reported in August.

Read More: Trump Ally Pushing Conspiracy Case Says Grand Jury Empaneled

Attorney General Pam Bondi directed prosecutors to use a grand jury to investigate claims made by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard that officials working under former President Barack Obama “manufactured and politicized intelligence to lay the groundwork for what was essentially a years-long coup against President Trump.”

Trump allies have been demanding the Justice Department investigate what they believe is a sweeping conspiracy against Trump that began with the Russia investigation and continued through probes led by Special Counsel Jack Smith into Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his handling of classified documents after he left the White House in 2021.

A new grand jury will be empaneled in Florida in January that Trump allies expect will be used to investigate the allegations of a long-running Democratic conspiracy against the president, Bloomberg News has reported.

Read More: Trump Ally Pushing Conspiracy Case Says Grand Jury Empaneled

It wasn’t immediately clear what new ground the investigation might cover compared to previous look-back efforts.

During Trump’s first term, the Justice Department appointed a special counsel, John Durham, to investigate whether government officials broke laws in how they conducted the Russia investigation. Although Trump and his allies claimed at the time that Durham would uncover a grand conspiracy, he never did.

In the end, Durham obtained a guilty plea from one low-level FBI lawyer who falsified part of a surveillance application. Durham used a grand jury to bring charges against two non-governmental individuals, but they were quickly acquitted at trials.

--With assistance from Jimmy Jenkins.

To contact the reporters on this story:
Chris Strohm in Washington at cstrohm1@bloomberg.net;
Myles Miller in New York at mmiller899@bloomberg.net;
Zoe Tillman in Washington at ztillman2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Sara Forden at sforden@bloomberg.net

Ben Bain

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