Justice Department prosecutors main an investigation into former CIA Director John Brennan are going through rising pressure from prime Justice officers to bring felony charges against him after the division has flailed in making an attempt to punish President Donald Trump’s perceived enemies, individuals briefed on the matter advised NCS in latest days.
Prosecutors within the Miami US legal professional’s workplace have been main the Brennan probe, which relates to testimony the ex-intelligence chief gave to Congress in 2023 and the Russia investigation years earlier, issuing two rounds of subpoenas to a number of witnesses.
Yet the push for charges has run into profession prosecutors elevating issues in southern Florida, with some viewing the potential case as comparatively weak.
Brennan’s legal professionals have been bracing for a potential indictment for months now, which has not materialized.
Justice officers and US Attorney Jason Reding Quiñones made a push in January to bring a case against him, in accordance to two individuals briefed on the matter, however some profession prosecutors within the Southern District of Florida resisted the pressure.
Those profession prosecutors are going through a brand new wave of pressure now, one of many sources mentioned, and are struggling to delay bringing the case to a grand jury.
At first, the prosecutors gathered paperwork late final 12 months from Brennan and other former intelligence officers. The subpoenas particularly sought details about a 2017 intelligence report on Russian meddling within the election that Brennan labored on, and which he spoke about in his 2023 congressional testimony.
A second spherical of subpoenas went in January to a number of former authorities officers and sought years of paperwork, together with authorities data on the 2016 Russia investigation the individuals would now not have entry to, two individuals acquainted with the investigation advised NCS lately. At least one former intelligence group official has been interviewed within the probe, one supply mentioned.
Though Brennan may nonetheless face grand jury exercise, the investigation additionally may crumble.
His legal professionals have mentioned accusations of perjury, as an example, are with none benefit.
A Justice Department spokesperson declined to remark for this story, saying it doesn’t touch upon ongoing investigations.
Several of the probes launched into the actions of the president’s political foes have failed when introduced to a grand jury during the last 12 months. Other investigations have been opened however have but to lead to felony charges — hanging for months over the heads of their targets.
But even instances that by no means materialize will be disruptive to topics’ lives, as individuals who imagine they’re being investigated by prosecutors and a grand jury are frightened of hurt to their public reputations.
Lawyers’ charges add up, although some individuals in Trump’s most politically charged felony instances are receiving low- or no-cost authorized assist or monetary backing from others, in accordance to a number of sources within the authorized trade in DC.
While that’s true in any administration, the Trump Justice Department has extra aggressively pursued Democratic political figures or people Trump and other prime administration officers have mentioned publicly they’d like to cost.
Trump in November known as Brennan, Former FBI Director Comey and a number of other others a part of “Obama’s Russia HOAX Treason Club”, in a social media publish shortly after Comey was indicted.
And FBI Director Kash Patel has co-opted an identical public message.
“We’re going to continue to make people like Comey and Brennan and Clapper and Page and Strzok and so many others answer for what I believe are their acts of criminal conduct,” Patel mentioned on a latest podcast, naming a bunch who will not be going through any charges presently, however but whom Trump has publicly attacked repeatedly. (Former FBI agent Peter Strzok, lawyer Lisa Page and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper have been key figures within the investigations into Trump’s 2016 marketing campaign.)
In a handful of districts with politically charged instances, well-respected profession investigators and prosecutors have been fired en masse and changed with extra keen however much less skilled line investigators.
Closing lingering instances or probes that Trump needs to succeed has its personal set of penalties for prosecutors or other Justice Department legal professionals.
Federal prosecutors in Virginia tried to bring felony charges twice against Comey and thrice against New York Attorney General Letitia James, and people charges have both been tossed by judges or rejected by grand juries.
A grand jury refusing an indictment is traditionally a extremely uncommon consequence — although it’s taking place extra often in politically charged instances Trump needs to pursue.
A grand jury in Washington, DC, lately denied the Justice Department’s try to criminally cost Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly and 5 other members of Congress due to a video they taped reminding army and intelligence officers they’re allowed to refuse orders they imagine go against the regulation.
“It was a grand jury of anonymous American citizens who upheld the rule of law and determined this case should not proceed,” mentioned Rep. Elissa Slotkin, one other member whom the Justice Department tried and failed to cost. “Whether or not (US Attorney Jeanine) Pirro succeeded is not the point. It’s that President Trump continues to weaponize our justice system against his perceived enemies.”
Several other Trump political foes have been the topic of investigative inquiries that haven’t materialized into charges.
In latest weeks, federal regulation enforcement has been revisiting the work of former prosecutors whose work in the end grew to become a part of the instances against Trump below particular counsel Jack Smith, in accordance to a number of individuals and a critical public statement from Patel.
NCS has beforehand confirmed investigative exercise by the Justice Department across the monetary papers of Rep. Adam Schiff and Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook, and into Senate testimony by Federal Reserve by Chair Jerome Powell.
And Republicans on Capitol Hill have added to who the Justice Department could think about investigating subsequent, by referring a former particular counsel’s workplace prosecutor of Trump and a former star witness after January 6 for potential felony charges.
None of these individuals have been charged.
“This unprecedented action should be seen in the broader context of the administration’s threats and ongoing pressure,” Powell mentioned in a video assertion after receiving a felony subpoena, stating Trump’s unhappiness with the Fed-controlled mortgage rates of interest.
“This new threat is not about my testimony last June or about the renovation of the Federal Reserve buildings,” he added. “Those are pretexts.”
Naming and shaming
The Fed chair’s public messaging in response to an open felony investigation has change into a part of the playbook in Washington to publicize a grand jury inquisition.
In previous administrations, Justice Department and administration officers have been much less keen to touch upon uncharged issues or individuals who may very well be topic to an investigation. Cases may linger quietly for years.
That is just not the case now. Trump himself has posted names on social media repeatedly of individuals he’d like to see his Justice Department indict, and the legal professional basic and other senior leaders of the Justice Department have repeatedly commented on ongoing investigations.
In January, Trump hosted US attorneys on the White House, the place he complained concerning the gradual tempo of investigations into a lot of individuals, together with officers from earlier administrations in addition to Democratic officers who he mentioned unfairly focused him, NCS has beforehand reported. Shortly after, Powell made public that prosecutors’ subpoenas went to the Federal Reserve.
In one other latest instance, a senior Justice Department official advised NCS that prosecutors are probing whether or not former aides within the White House could have used an autopen for actions not licensed by then-President Joe Biden. The message got here lower than a day after the New York Times mentioned an investigation into Biden’s use of autopen was possible over.
Biden is just not below investigation himself, the official mentioned, as presidents have broad protections for the actions they take whereas in workplace following a Supreme Court determination in 2024 broadening presidential immunity.
One significantly politically motivated Justice official, Ed Martin, has pushed for a number of of the latest investigations against political foes, together with one over autopen use.
Martin has specified he believes topics ought to be named and shamed, even when they’re by no means charged with a criminal offense.
“There are some really bad actors, some people that did some really bad things to the American people. And if they can be charged, we’ll charge them. But if they can’t be charged, we will name them,” Martin mentioned final 12 months. “And in a culture that respects shame, they should be people that are shamed.”
Some of these investigations that officers like Martin as soon as championed have appeared to crumble. A renewed perjury cost against Comey, as an example, faces an even more difficult future.
“Putting on evidence and a trial is messy. It’s just easier to announce an investigation … It’s easier to use the integrity of the department to slime people,” Aaron Zelinsky, a former prosecutor who has been a previous whistleblower about Trump and obtained an inquiry from Martin final 12 months, lately advised NCS. “The process is the punishment.”
The lingering open investigations are additionally fueling protection methods.
“Taking a page from Trump’s own unsavory and unethical style, his DOJ has become a willing political weapon eager to name and shame the president’s foes and targets before any evidence is gathered, or even charges filed,” Abbe Lowell, a outstanding protection lawyer who has collected high-profile shoppers who may face politically charged instances below Trump.
Lowell presently represents a number of high-profile individuals this Trump Justice Department has investigated, charged or tried to cost. They embody: James in New York; the Federal Reserve’s Cook; Rep. Jason Crow, who was among the many members of Congress a grand jury declined to cost; journalist Don Lemon; and John Bolton, the nationwide safety adviser in Trump’s first time period in workplace.
Lowell, too, has taken a extra aggressive and public strategy defending shoppers he has who imagine they could be investigated.
He’s additionally usually teased the potential for asking for felony charges to be dismissed as a result of he alleges the Justice Department has unfairly singled out individuals to cost. Those sorts of makes an attempt to have a case dismissed are exceedingly troublesome to win in courtroom, however have gotten extra traction in entrance of some judges in latest months.
The push to cost Brennan, the previous CIA director, for his official work in 2016, is a part of a broader effort by Quiñones, the US legal professional within the Southern District of Florida who has sought to set up himself as a Trump loyalist since taking workplace final 12 months.
Brennan’s attorneys simply earlier than Christmas made the weird transfer of writing to the chief decide in Miami with their accusations of unfair grand jury exercise. The legal professionals mentioned they believed Quiñones was trying to examine Brennan via a Fort Pierce, Florida-based grand jury, below the path of Trump-appointed Judge Aileen Cannon. Cannon in Ft. Pierce beforehand dismissed the felony case against Trump.
Yet if Brennan have been to be charged, it could be in Washington, DC, in accordance to individuals briefed on the matter. There, prosecutors would face a grand jury that could be a lot much less keen to indict a former administration official that Trump publicly criticizes.
Prosecutors have targeted on allegations from congressional Republicans that Brennan made false statements in testimony to Congress in 2017 and 2023 concerning the Intelligence Community Assessment.
Brennan testified that the CIA was not concerned with the now-discredited Steele file — which alleged that the Trump marketing campaign colluded with the Kremlin to win the 2016 election — and its inclusion within the Intelligence Community Assessment. Republican lawmakers have claimed that Brennan was actually conscious of the file’s inclusion within the report.
Brennan has denied any wrongdoing.
“Not surprisingly, this unrelenting presidential pressure to pursue political targets without regard to the law or facts has resulted in an unprecedented spike in the incidence of irregular prosecutorial conduct, especially in relation to grand jury investigations and charging decisions relating to matters of political interest to the President,” Brennan’s attorneys wrote within the December letter to Southern District of Florida Chief Judge Cecilia Altonaga.
NCS’s Paula Reid contributed to this report.