Former CIA Director John Brennan has been subpoenaed to testify next month before a Florida grand jury as part of a Justice Department investigation into whether former law enforcement and intelligence officials conspired against President Donald Trump, one of his lawyers said Monday.
Ken Wainstein, an attorney for Brennan, disclosed in a court filing that prosecutors last Thursday presented him with a subpoena for Brennan to appear October 15 before a grand jury in Fort Pierce, Florida.
He said he was told that the subpoena relates to a “far-reaching” criminal probe examining a loosely defined theory that the government officials who have investigated Trump over the last decade — including over Russia election interference in 2016 and his more recent retention of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate — conspired to deprive Trump of his civil rights.
The Investigation
The subpoena to Brennan is among a flurry that have been issued in recent weeks. Wainstein said he was informed by a prosecutor that Brennan remains a target in a Washington-based investigation into whether he lied to Congress in 2023, a claim the former CIA director and his attorneys have consistently denied.
Subpoenas demanding testimony before a grand jury in that false statements probe were issued in spring, then abruptly withdrawn in favor of voluntary interviews.
The subpoena was delivered on the same day that Joe diGenova, the prosecutor who had been leading what is casually known as the “grand conspiracy” investigation, abruptly resigned amid what a person familiar with the matter has described as displeasure from the Justice Department and White House over the pace and management of the probe.
The Prosecution Team
The Justice Department has not publicly announced a replacement for DiGenova. The member of the investigative team with whom Wainstein spoke was Kurt Olsen, a lawyer who unsuccessfully pushed the Justice Department in 2020 to back Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election had been stolen from him.
The subpoena was disclosed hours ahead of a court hearing in Washington in a lawsuit brought by Brennan. The former CIA director is seeking a court order that would require the preservation of all records from the investigations targeting him, saying such documents would be essential for him to challenge any potential indictment on vindictive prosecution grounds.
The Bottom Line
Former CIA Director John Brennan has been subpoenaed to testify before a Florida grand jury as part of a Justice Department investigation into whether former officials conspired against President Trump. Brennan remains a target in a separate probe into whether he lied to Congress. The subpoena comes amid a leadership shakeup in the investigation and as Brennan seeks to preserve records for a potential vindictive prosecution challenge.
