U.S. Attorney's Office Reassigns Prosecutor in Brennan Investigation

Prosecutor Removed

The U.S. attorney's office for the Southern District of Florida removed a prosecutor from a criminal investigation into whether former CIA Director John Brennan lied to Congress. The prosecutor informed lawyers with clients involved in the matter late this week that she was off the case.

The prosecutor informed U.S. Attorney Jason Reding Quiñones that she did not believe there was enough to build a case. CNN first reported that the prosecutor was removed after resisting pressure to quickly bring charges against Brennan.

A Justice Department spokesperson confirmed the personnel shift, stating that attorneys are moved around on cases as a matter of routine practice so offices can most effectively allocate resources.

An attorney is now assigned to the case. The attorney was a law clerk for U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon during the investigation into President Trump's retention of classified records and most recently worked as an adviser in the deputy attorney general's office. The attorney recently left Washington to serve as an assistant U.S. attorney in Miami.

Investigation Origins and Allegations

The probe into Brennan was sparked by a referral from the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee last October.

The referral was over allegations that Brennan lied to Congress about the CIA's role in crafting the intelligence assessment into Russia's efforts to meddle in the 2016 presidential election. Chairman Jim Jordan claimed in the referral that Brennan falsely denied that the CIA relied on a dossier prepared by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele during the drafting of the intelligence assessment.

The Steele dossier contained salacious allegations against then-candidate Donald Trump that have not been verified. The Brennan inquiry centers in part on his congressional testimony, including statements made in 2023 to the House Judiciary Committee. Rep.

Jim Jordan (R-OH) alleged Brennan provided false or misleading testimony regarding the Steele dossier and the development of the intelligence assessment. The referral that helped spark the investigation came from Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH).

Prosecutors are probing whether Brennan committed perjury when testifying under oath about these events before Congress in 2023.

Ongoing Developments and Related Probes

The investigation has recently accelerated, with federal agents planning to interview roughly a half-dozen witnesses, including former intelligence officials involved in drafting the 2017 assessment.

Intelligence assessment that found Russia interfered in the 2016 election to help Donald Trump. Investigators have issued multiple rounds of subpoenas seeking documents and testimony tied to the origins of the Trump-Russia inquiry.

A former CIA official is set to be interviewed by federal prosecutors and FBI agents in early May as part of the Justice Department's ongoing investigation. The former CIA official is a witness, not a target of the probe, and has been interviewed more than once.

The former CIA official was asked about the decision to include the Steele dossier in the annex to the Intelligence Community Assessment released in 2017 and about a disagreement that CIA officials had with Brennan over the Obama administration's conclusions that Russia's meddling in the 2016 election was aimed at helping Hillary Clinton and hurting President Donald Trump.

The 2017 intelligence community assessment concluded that Russia sought to influence the 2016 election specifically to help Trump.

The U.S. attorney's office in Miami is investigating a separate referral from the Director of National Intelligence, who claimed in the referral that Brennan and other Obama-era officials manufactured the 2017 assessment. The U.S. attorney's office in Miami is separately reviewing documents in connection with former special counsel Jack Smith's investigation into President Trump.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence sent criminal referrals to the DOJ involving both former Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson and the whistleblower. Newly declassified transcripts revealed that the intelligence community whistleblower whose complaint triggered Trump’s first impeachment had prior contact with congressional Democrats before filing the allegation, a detail not disclosed on the original complaint form.

The records shed new light on the role of former Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson in advancing the complaint to Congress.