The Justice Department began withdrawing several subpoenas Monday night in its investigation of former CIA Director John Brennan, days after serving them over the weekend. The subpoenas had ordered former government officials and current and former intelligence agency officials to appear in coming weeks before a grand jury in Washington.
The witnesses were being asked about the Obama administration's decision to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 election, and the department is still weighing whether Brennan should be charged with making false statements about his and the CIA's role in launching the Russia probe.
The retreat marks a quick turn in a case that has moved through Washington and Miami at the same time. The Brennan inquiry is part of a broader grand conspiracy investigation into the opening of the Russia probe, run by a prosecutorial team in the U.S. attorney's office in Miami, while the grand jury work was being handled in Washington.
Career prosecutor Maria Medetis Long was removed from the Brennan probe last week after, colleagues said, she told supervisors there was not sufficient evidence to bring charges against Brennan. Christopher-James DeLorenz, who had previously worked in the office of then-Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and was a law clerk to Florida federal judge Aileen Cannon until August 2024, is now involved in the matter.
FBI agents involved in the probe have told lawyers for witnesses that the investigation will now seek voluntary interviews instead of grand jury questioning, and Justice Department and FBI officials now believe it is better for experienced FBI agents to conduct those interviews first. Joe DiGenova agreed to pull back the subpoenas for now.
The shift fits a larger effort tied to President Donald Trump's push to go after the architects of the Russia probe, but it also reflects the resistance inside the department to moving ahead on thin evidence. For now, the subpoenas are gone, and the investigation is moving from compelled testimony to a softer approach that may be harder to sell in court.
