A federal grand jury has issued subpoenas to former CIA Director John Brennan and former senior FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page as part of a renewed review into how the 2016 Trump–Russia investigation was launched, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.
Roughly 30 subpoenas were issued in recent weeks. The investigation is being overseen by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of Florida. Prosecutors have requested documents related to the drafting of the early 2017 intelligence community assessment that concluded Russia interfered in the 2016 election in favor of then-candidate Donald Trump.
Strzok and Page played central roles in the FBI’s original Trump–Russia inquiry before Special Counsel Robert Mueller was appointed. Their involvement has been heavily scrutinized after messages between them showed strong opposition to Trump during the 2016 campaign. Brennan, who led the CIA during the Obama administration, has defended the intelligence agencies’ handling of the matter.
The new grand jury activity revives long-standing concerns raised by Trump allies who argued that the original probe was politically driven. Revelations over the past several years have demonstrated that intelligence was skewed and even as far back as the second Obama administration, public statements by officials were at odds with internal assessments that downplayed the role of Russia’s interference.
Prior government reviews did not result in criminal charges against intelligence officials, but questions have nonetheless persisted over how the investigation began, who authorized key steps, and the accuracy of early intelligence assessments. Special Counsel John Durham charged individuals connected to the probe, the Steele dossier and the Hillary for America campaign with lying to the FBI.
The Department of Justice has not commented publicly on the grand jury proceedings, and it remains unclear whether the review will lead to any charges.
The subpoenas represent the most serious effort in years to re-examine the origins of the investigation that dominated national politics for much of the Trump presidency.
