Brennan Subpoenaed for October 15 Grand Jury in Florida

A court filing revealed ex-CIA Director John Brennan must testify before a Fort Pierce grand jury on October 15 in the DOJ's 'grand conspiracy' probe.

A court filing revealed Monday that former CIA Director John Brennan has been subpoenaed to testify before a federal grand jury in Fort Pierce, Florida, on October 15. The subpoena was presented last Thursday and requires Brennan to appear before the grand jury in the Southern District of Florida, where the Justice Department is running a 'far-reaching' investigation into whether officials who probed Trump over the past decade conspired to deprive the president of his civil rights.

The timing is striking: the subpoena was signed the day before the lead prosecutor quit. Wainstein argued in court that diGenova's departure sent 'a very clear message' about the case, noting diGenova had been the 'strongest champion' of a case against Brennan and had once called him a 'traitor.' Daily Mail reports that diGenova's exit followed frustration from DOJ leaders over the pace of the probe, and MEAWW News reports a tense call between diGenova and Attorney General Todd Blanche preceded the resignation, alongside disputes over a secure SCIF room and staffing. diGenova told the New York Post, 'If you want indictments where there's no evidence, you have an ethical problem,' before telling the Associated Press his remarks were taken out of context and that 'there's plenty of evidence in all of these cases.'

Brennan occupies two positions in the Justice Department's inquiries. Prosecutors told his legal team he remains a 'target' of a narrower investigation into whether he lied to Congress about the intelligence community's 2016 assessment of Russian election interference — an allegation Brennan and his lawyers have called false. He is also a 'subject' of the wider 'grand conspiracy' probe, which Olsen described as including 'issues at Mar-a-Lago and beyond.' NBC News reported in May that the FBI had interviewed current and former CIA officers as part of the investigation. Brennan's team is now fighting in court to force the Justice Department to preserve all records and communications about the investigations, citing the administration's use of disappearing Signal messages.

Wainstein told U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb that the preservation order is essential because any Signal messages about the case will disappear, making it impossible to later argue the prosecution is vindictive and selective. 'The government is not going to disclose what it's destroying,' he said, adding there was 'a lot of really underhanded stuff going on' and calling the use of the Fort Pierce courthouse 'a pretty unprecedented example of judge shopping,' since Trump appointee Aileen Cannon is the sole judge there. The Justice Department countered that Brennan lacks standing because he has not been charged, and Judge Cobb did not immediately rule on the request.

Following diGenova's departure, the investigation is being run by U.S. Attorney Jason Reding Quiñones of the Southern District of Florida, with support from Main Justice, according to a person familiar with the matter cited by NBC News. A DOJ spokesperson told the Daily Mail that Quiñones will oversee the probes 'along with the many prosecutors' in the district who have been working on the investigation.

Brennan's testimony is preliminarily set for October 15 before the Fort Pierce grand jury, and Judge Cobb has yet to rule on the records preservation injunction. The subpoena is part of a flurry recently issued in the wide-ranging probe, which has produced dozens of subpoenas over the past year but, according to MEAWW News, no criminal prosecutions so far. Wainstein said the preservation records would be a 'fertile source' of information for any future vindictive-prosecution defense, and he warned that personnel at the DOJ have received 'a very clear message' about expectations. Whether charges follow — and whether any records survive to test the case's motivation — will shape the next phase.