The South Florida US attorney\u2019s office is recruiting prosecutors and restructuring its chain of command in preparation for a grand jury investigation expected to target former Justice Department officials and others involved in cases against President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n
Under the leadership of a Trump-loyalist US attorney, Jason Reding Qui\u00f1ones<\/a>, the Miami-based office has been inviting current staff and outside lawyers to join the new investigative team to be housed within its national security unit, said four people familiar with the situation.<\/p>\n The exact scope of the grand jury effort\u2014which one of the individuals described as \u201cspecial counsel oversight\u201d\u2014remains unclear.<\/p>\n A federal judge recently empaneled a new grand jury<\/a> to convene Jan. 12 in Fort Pierce, Fla. That prompted close Trump allies to strongly indicate<\/a> this will be the venue to review what they allege is a broad Democratic conspiracy to thwart Trump, including Russian collusion claims and indictments over Mar-a-Lago documents and election interference.<\/p>\n Scott Strauss, a law school classmate of Reding Qui\u00f1ones who worked with him as a South Florida federal prosecutor, is playing a potentially significant role in the plans, said the people, who spoke anonymously to avoid reprisal.<\/p>\n Less than two years into the job, Strauss was pushed out of the US attorney\u2019s office for trying to launch baseless 2020 voting fraud conspiracy investigations, the individuals added. He proceeded to help lead Florida Gov. Ron Desantis\u2019 election crimes office in 2022. <\/p>\n People close to the office are waiting to learn if Strauss will return to head up the grand jury project, or if a respected career prosecutor currently running the national security section will remain in charge of it. Strauss recently asked at least one attorney from outside the office to join the South Florida grand jury team, three people familiar with the matter said.<\/p>\n A DOJ spokesperson declined to comment.<\/p>\n An email to Strauss\u2019 currently listed work account<\/a> bounced back, suggesting he\u2019s switched jobs. Strauss declined to comment via text message, including on whether he\u2019s in the process of returning to DOJ.<\/p>\n Two of the office\u2019s recently-hired line prosecutors abruptly resigned under duress after being asked this week to join the grand jury investigation, said three individuals. <\/p>\n They exited following a tense meeting in which superiors accused them of leaking information about their new assignment to the media or discussing it with colleagues.<\/p>\n MAGA Pressure<\/p>\n The national security unit has long been organized as a section within the office\u2019s criminal division, but Reding Qui\u00f1ones this week informed staff that he stripped the criminal chief\u2019s authority by ordering the national security group to start reporting directly to the US attorney\u2019s executive office, according to a Nov. 3 email obtained by Bloomberg Law.<\/p>\n That announcement came 14 hours after prominent MAGA influencer Jack Posobiec denounced the criminal chief, Peter Forand, on X<\/a> for donating $2,300 to the 2024 Kamala Harris presidential campaign and other Democratic causes.<\/p>\n Forand will \u201cbe in charge of\u201d of the newly empaneled grand juries \u201cto investigate Crossfire Hurricane and the Mar-a-Lago raid conspiracy,\u201d Posobiec posted. \u201cCan Forand be trusted to fairly investigate the Biden regime and Jack Smith if he\u2019s friends with them and donates thousands of dollars to them?\u201d<\/p>\n About two hours after Reding Qui\u00f1ones emailed out the new leadership structure, Posobiec referenced his earlier Forand criticism in a new post<\/a> to his 3.2 million followers: \u201cUPDATE: Hearing good things on this.\u201d<\/p>\n Forand, who former colleagues say has operated as a nonpartisan prosecutor willing to implement any administration\u2019s objectives, had previously been removed from an office directly outside of Reding Qui\u00f1ones\u2019 executive suite to a different part of the building, three people said.<\/p>\n That office space is now occupied by a newly hired chief of staff to the US attorney\u2014an unusual position under any top prosecutor. That chief of staff, Jim Poland, is an FBI agent on detail, who\u2019s overseeing the office\u2019s \u201cnon-litigation and administrative functions,\u201d Reding Qui\u00f1ones wrote to staff Nov. 3.<\/p>\n As his team lays the groundwork for the January grand jury, Reding Qui\u00f1ones has been taking extra precautions in warning staff about keeping office business confidential.<\/p>\n Late last month, Reding Qui\u00f1ones messaged all employees\u2014flagged with a red high-priority notice\u2014to remind them about DOJ rules forbidding unauthorized communications with the press, according to a copy of the note obtained by Bloomberg Law.<\/p>\n The two resigning assistant US attorneys\u2014one a registered Republican and the other a military veteran\u2014were both considered promising prosecutors inside the office, said three people. <\/p>\n Trump Adviser<\/p>\n The Miami office\u2019s preparations come as Mike Davis, an influential Trump legal adviser, has called for his friend, Reding Qui\u00f1ones, to investigate what he\u2019s termed \u201clawfare Democrats\u201d under a Reconstruction-era \u201cconspiracy against rights<\/a>\u201d statute designed to combat the Ku Klux Klan. <\/p>\n \u201cFor the last three-and-a-half years since the Mar-a-Lago raid I have very publicly called for a grand jury in Fort Pierce,\u201d Davis told Bloomberg Law on Thursday. He added, \u201cI hope my very good friend Jason Reding Qui\u00f1ones\u201d will hold them accountable for the \u201cRussian collusion hoax\u201d and the \u201cMar-a-Lago raid.\u201d<\/p>\n Reding Qui\u00f1ones was sworn into office in August, after serving as a state trial court judge in Miami-Dade County. <\/p>\n He\u2019s pushed the South Florida district\u2014one of the largest and most historically significant US attorney\u2019s offices in the country\u2014closer to the president\u2019s agenda. His mission statement includes the phrase \u201crestore impartial justice.\u201d <\/p>\n