The Justice Department began pulling several subpoenas it had issued days earlier in a probe of former CIA Director John Brennan. Officials are reportedly asking for voluntary interviews instead of testimony before a grand jury, sources told the Associated Press.
The news comes as the DOJ appointed former Trump attorney Joseph diGenova to lead the federal investigation into Brennan and the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation. DiGenova is a former U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., who represented Trump during Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. He has spent years publicly accusing Brennan of misconduct in connection with how the Russia probe was launched, allegations Brennan has repeatedly denied.
Last year, the House Judiciary Committee referred former Brennan to the DOJ after he made false statements during his interview before the Committee in 2023. In his letter to then-Attorney General Pam Bondi, Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) wrote that Brennan “made numerous willfully and intentionally false statements of material fact contradicted by the record established by the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) and the CIA.
“Making false statements before Congress,” Jordan wrote, “is a crime that undermines the integrity of the Committee’s constitutional duty to conduct oversight.”
Documents related to the Brennan investigation were sent to federal prosecutors in March. The House Intelligence Committee’s decision followed months-long review of Brennan’s handling of classified intelligence during the Obama administration.
Brennan’s security clearance was revoked by President Trump in 2018. Trump cited Brennan’s “erratic conduct and behavior” and what he called a pattern of making “a series of unfounded and outrageous allegations — wild outbursts on the internet and television.”
