John Brennan Subpoenaed as Part of DOJ Investigation

An attorney for John Brennan on Sept. 14 said the former CIA director was subpoenaed to testify next month before a grand jury as part of a Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation into whether former intelligence and law enforcement officials illegally conspired against President Donald Trump.

In a court filing submitted to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, attorney Kenneth L. Wainstein confirmed that Brennan was asked by a federal prosecutor this past week to testify before a federal grand jury in Fort Pierce, Florida, on Oct. 15.

Wainstein said in a declaration to the court that he and other Brennan attorneys participated in a conference call with several prosecutors to discuss the grand jury subpoena for Brennan. DOJ senior attorney Kurt Olsen indicated to the defense team that there are several “viable” investigations into Brennan, Wainstein said.

That includes the one in Fort Pierce that includes “issues at Mar-a-Lago and beyond” regarding whether Trump “had his civil rights violated,” he wrote.

Paraphrasing Olsen, Wainstein added that he was told of an “additional investigation relating only to Director Brennan’s statements before Congress in the District of Columbia” and that Brennan is being targeted in a narrower investigation that Olsen described as being “still viable.”

“The issues in the narrower investigation might also be part of the larger investigation,” Wainstein wrote, also referring to what Olsen said.

The subpoena was delivered on the same day that Joe diGenova, the prosecutor who had been leading the collusion investigation, resigned from the department.

“It was an honor and privilege to serve the president and the department,” diGenova said, declining to give details on why he stepped down.

His inquiry investigated the 2017 U.S. intelligence finding that Russia sought to boost Trump’s first presidential campaign in 2016. It also probed later inquiries by former special counsel Jack Smith, including Trump’s retention of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort and his challenge of the 2020 election results.

No criminal charges have emerged from the Florida investigation.

While speaking to Politico, diGenova suggested that he does not want to move quickly on any case he’s involved in.

“I take my time when I bring cases,” diGenova said. “Whatever the facts show, they show. However long that takes to do it properly, it takes. Sometimes it takes longer than some people want, and they want things done faster, and that’s just not possible sometimes. So, as a result, there are disagreements about timing, and that happens all the time in the Department of Justice.”

Brennan has denied any wrongdoing. His lawyers sued the DOJ in July, asking a court to force officials to preserve documents tied to the investigations.

His lawsuit said the department had undertaken grand jury work in recent months but had not formally indicted Brennan. His legal team alleged in a filing that “this Administration has adopted a policy of using criminal process and prosecution to punish the President’s perceived adversaries.”

In the Monday court filing, Wainstein indicated that he got a grand jury subpoena that was signed by diGenova and wrote emails to him before he resigned from the position.

Brennan served as President Barack Obama’s CIA head from 2013 to 2017, and he is now a commentator for NBC News and MSNBC. Since Trump’s rise to political prominence, Brennan has frequently used his commentary to criticize the president.

The DOJ did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.

Kimberly Hayek contributed to this report.