The Justice Department on Monday night began withdrawing several subpoenas that had been issued just days prior in a criminal probe of former CIA Director John Brennan and a purported conspiracy by the Obama administration to embarrass President Donald Trump, according to three people familiar with the matter.
The dramatic shift in plans revealed some confusion and disorder in the controversial Justice Department investigation, which career prosecutors have privately criticized as lacking evidence and being politically motivated to please Trump.
The subpoenas, which were served over the weekend, had sought the scheduled testimony of witnesses purportedly with knowledge of the Obama administration’s decision to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 election. The subpoenas were touted by Trump administration allies as a sign of progress the Justice Department was making in a top political priority for the president: to go after the architects of the Russia probe that eventually became special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Trump’s campaign and Trump himself.
The subpoenas had ordered that former government officials and some current and former intelligence agency officials appear in coming weeks for questioning before a grand jury in Washington, where Trump’s Justice Department is looking to charge Brennan with making false statements about his and the CIA’s role in launching the Russia probe. FBI agents involved in the probe told lawyers for witnesses that they believe the investigation will now seek voluntary interviews from the officials instead, according to two of the people, who requested anonymity due to the sensitive nature of an ongoing probe.
The probe into Brennan, a senior national security and intelligence analyst for MS NOW, is part of a larger “grand conspiracy” investigation into the opening of the Russia probe, all run by a prosecutorial team in the U.S. attorney’s office in Miami. But the recent loss of critical prosecutorial experience appears to have contributed to the whiplash decision to subpoena witnesses this weekend in Washington in the Brennan investigation and then withdraw them days later, according to the people.
A veteran career prosecutor in Miami who had been overseeing the Brennan probe, Maria Medetis Long, was removed from that role last week after she told colleagues she had informed her supervisors that there was not sufficient evidence to bring charges against Brennan. A remaining prosecutor on the investigation, Christopher-James DeLorenz, had previously been an official in the office of then-Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and was a law clerk to Florida federal judge Aileen Cannon until August 2024. DeLorenz has limited experience in federal prosecutions.
Lawyers involved in the case have been told that Justice Department and FBI officials now think it is preferable for experienced FBI agents to conduct interviews first, rather than having a prosecutor with less experience rush to formally question them before a grand jury, according to the people.
The Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment on Monday evening.
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Carol Leonnig is a senior investigative reporter with MS NOW.
Lisa Rubin is MS NOW’s senior legal reporter and a former litigator.
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