- DOJ preparing grand jury subpoenas targeting former CIA Director John Brennan over his role in the 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment.
- Investigators probe claims Brennan misrepresented the Steele dossier’s influence on the ICA, following a Jim Jordan referral.
- Subpoenas could lead to testimony, indictments, and wider probes into ICA architects, risking major political and legal fallout.
Washington, D.C. — In a move that could reignite the embers of the long-smoldering Russia investigation, Department of Justice officials are on the cusp of unleashing a barrage of grand jury subpoenas aimed squarely at former CIA Director John Brennan.
Sources close to the matter tell Fox News that preparations in Miami and D.C. have reached a fever pitch, with evidence set to roll into South Florida any day now.
This escalation marks a pivotal turn in a probe that’s already ensnared Brennan’s old FBI counterpart, James Comey, and underscores the Trump administration’s unyielding push to revisit the origins of the 2016 election interference saga.
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The whispers inside the DOJ paint a picture of quiet urgency. Investigators, overseen by U.S. Attorney Jason Reding Quiñones in the Southern District of Florida, have been poring over documents and witness statements for months.
Their focus? Brennan’s fingerprints on the controversial 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) — the classified report that laid out Russia’s meddling in the presidential race and sparked endless partisan fireworks.
At issue are claims that Brennan downplayed, or outright misrepresented, the role of the infamous Steele dossier in shaping that assessment.
Compiled by ex-British spy Christopher Steele, the dossier alleged salacious ties between then-candidate Donald Trump and Moscow, and it landed in FBI hands back in 2016 like a political grenade.
This isn’t some dusty footnote from the Durham era; it’s fresh fuel for a narrative that’s divided Washington for nearly a decade. Back in early July, Fox News broke the story that both Brennan and Comey were in the crosshairs of criminal scrutiny.
Comey, already indicted on charges of making false statements and obstructing Congress, is digging in for a January trial where he’ll battle to clear his name.
But Brennan’s case feels more like a slow burn turning into a bonfire. No charges have stuck yet, but the subpoena machine grinding into gear suggests that’s about to change.
The Spark: A Congressional Bombshell
It all traces back to Capitol Hill, where House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, the firebrand Republican from Ohio, has been swinging for the fences. Just last month, Jordan dropped a referral bomb on Brennan, accusing him of “willfully and intentionally” lying under oath during a 2023 committee hearing.
Picture this: Brennan, the steely-eyed spymaster who helmed the CIA through the height of the Trump-Russia frenzy, sitting in the Rayburn House Office Building on September 3, 2025.
Under the glare of klieg lights and partisan stares, he testified that his agency never leaned on the Steele dossier for the ICA. He even claimed the CIA pushed back hard against including it.
Jordan and his allies called foul, pointing to declassified docs and insider accounts that suggest otherwise.
“John Brennan’s testimony was a masterclass in evasion,” Jordan thundered in his referral letter, a document that’s now dog-eared on prosecutors’ desks.
Those words aren’t hyperbole — they’re the legal linchpin here, echoing the kind of perjury charges that have toppled lesser figures in D.C.’s endless scandal cycle.
If the grand jury bites, it could force Brennan to the stand again, this time not before lawmakers but in a federal courtroom where the stakes are handcuffs, not headlines.
Echoes of 2016: Why This Matters Now
To grasp why this subpoena sprint feels seismic, you have to rewind to that chaotic autumn eight years ago. The Steele dossier wasn’t just tabloid fodder; it was raw intelligence that ricocheted through the halls of power.
Delivered to the FBI, it helped ignite Crossfire Hurricane, the probe into Trump’s campaign ties to Russia. Brennan, as CIA chief, was knee-deep in the ICA process — a 14-agency effort rushed out days before Trump’s inauguration.
Critics, including Trump himself, have long branded it a “hoax” cooked up to delegitimize his win. Defenders say it was sober analysis of real threats.
Fast-forward to today, and the political winds have shifted. With Trump back in the White House and a GOP Congress baying for accountability, the DOJ’s pivot feels less like justice and more like retribution to Brennan’s camp.
“This is the deep state striking back,” one anonymous GOP aide quipped off the record, though DOJ sources insist it’s by-the-book procedure.
Quiñones, the Florida-based prosecutor at the helm, brings a no-nonsense rep from his days tackling cyber fraud and public corruption.
Under his watch, the Brennan file has ballooned with ICA memos, email chains, and sworn affidavits that could unravel the ex-director’s denials.
But here’s the rub: Grand juries aren’t public spectacles. They’re secret chambers where prosecutors lay out their case, and witnesses get hauled in without fanfare.
If subpoenas fly — and sources say they’re drafted, signed, and ready — expect a parade of Brennan-era holdovers: analysts who greenlit the ICA, briefers who handled the dossier, maybe even Steele himself if extradition talks heat up.
Each one could peel back another layer on how intelligence got weaponized in the Trump era.
The Human Toll: From Power Player to Pariah?
Brennan isn’t some faceless bureaucrat. At 70, he’s the guy who stared down al-Qaeda, briefed presidents on bin Laden’s demise, and became a cable news staple railing against Trump.
His memoir, Undaunted, painted him as the ultimate insider fighting for truth amid chaos. Now? He’s holed up in Virginia, lawyered to the hilt, firing off statements that this is “political theater” designed to “intimidate” the intelligence community.
No direct quotes from him in the latest filings, but his silence speaks volumes. Contrast that with Comey, the towering ex-FBI boss whose book A Higher Loyalty made him a liberal icon overnight.
Indicted alongside Brennan in spirit, Comey’s already lawyering up for trial, arguing his actions were “zealous but lawful” probes into election meddling. Their fates are intertwined — two pillars of the Obama-era security apparatus facing the music in a Trump redux.
If Brennan joins Comey in the docket, it could cascade: subpoenas for other ICA architects, fresh looks at the dossier’s funding (hello, Fusion GPS), even ripples into ongoing Senate intel probes.
What’s Next? A Reckoning or a Sideshow?
As of this writing, the DOJ’s lips are sealed — sources say officials in D.C. and Miami waved off inquiries with the standard “no comment” stonewall. But the clock’s ticking.
Evidence vans could hit South Florida courthouses within weeks, teeing up grand jury sessions that might wrap by year’s end. An indictment? That’s the million-dollar question.
Legal experts peg the odds at 60-40, citing the high bar for proving intent in congressional lies. Yet in this hyper-partisan climate, even the threat of charges could hobble Brennan’s post-retirement gigs and fuel endless Fox-CNN loops.
For everyday Americans, this isn’t abstract Beltway drama. It’s a window into how power protects — or devours — its own. The Russia probe scarred a generation of voters, birthed Mueller’s magnum opus, and arguably paved Trump’s path back to 1600 Pennsylvania.
If Brennan’s subpoena saga delivers the goods, it might rewrite that history one damning exhibit at a time. Or it could fizzle, another chapter in D.C.’s endless grievance Olympics.
Stay tuned — this one’s far from over. Fox News will keep digging as the subpoenas drop and the gavel falls.
Also Read: A DOJ Whistleblower Now Makes Revelation That Undermines the Judicial System’s Integrity
