The Department of Justice is preparing to issue a series of grand jury subpoenas as part of a South Florida-based investigation into former CIA Director John Brennan and the probes by the CIA and FBI into Russian interference in the 2016 election, MSNBC has learned.
The investigation is being supervised by the U.S. attorney in South Florida, Jason Reding Quiñones, in consultation with Justice Department senior staff in Washington, according to a source familiar with the matter.
The Florida-based inquiry comes two years after a special counsel appointed by then-Attorney General Bill Barr concluded a lengthy and exhaustive investigation that found no criminal wrongdoing by Brennan or any other major figure connected with the Russian election interference matter. Barr had appointed the special counsel in late 2020, during the first Trump administration.
A White House spokesman confirmed the existence of the grand jury investigation in August after Fox News reported that Attorney General Pam Bondi ordered the probe based on a criminal referral from Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.
The fact that subpoenas are being prepared has not previously been reported. Among the topics of interest in the new investigation is the preparation of the 2017 intelligence assessment into Russian election interference. That also was investigated by special counsel John Durham, who found no wrongdoing in its preparation.
Conservative attorney Mike Davis, who advises the White House and the Justice Department, has said in recent weeks that a Florida grand jury will consider whether top Obama and Biden officials engaged in a massive conspiracy to violate Donald Trump’s civil rights through the Russia investigations and the probes by special counsel Jack Smith.
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