A federal grand jury has subpoenaed three former CIA and FBI officials who were involved in the federal government’s investigations into alleged Russian meddling to assist President Trump’s 2016 campaign, a source familiar with the matter told CBS News.
The subpoenas went out to former CIA Director John Brennan, former FBI counterintelligence official Peter Strzok and former FBI attorney Lisa Page, according to the source, who added that more subpoenas could be issued in the coming days.
The source said the investigation focuses on the Trump-Russia matter — an issue that has rankled Mr. Trump and his allies for years.
CBS News has reached out to the CIA, the Justice Department and Brennan, and attorneys for Strzok and Page.
Fox News Digital was first to report on Brennan, Strzok and Page’s subpoenas.
The FBI’s investigation into Russian election interference — named “Crossfire Hurricane” — was opened in 2016 and was later taken over by Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller. He eventually concluded that Russia sought to help Mr. Trump win and that the Trump campaign was sometimes “receptive” to Russia’s help, but did not allege any illegal ties.
Meanwhile, in early 2017, the CIA — then led by Brennan — and several other intelligence agencies assessed that Russia had tried to influence the election and “developed a clear preference” for Mr. Trump.
Those findings have long infuriated Mr. Trump, who believes the investigations into the Trump-Rusisa issue were politically motivated and aimed at undermining him — an allegation the leaders of those probes have strongly denied.
In recent months, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has declassified documents that she argues undermine the intelligence community’s 2017 assessment, which she called a “treasonous conspiracy.”
Brennan, in particular, is a longtime Trump foe. The president revoked Brennan’s security clearance during his first term and has called him a “political hack” and the “WORST” CIA director “in history.” And Brennan called Mr. Trump’s comments about election interference during a 2018 meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sweden “nothing short of treasonous.”
Mr. Trump has also frequently lashed out against Strzok, who helped open the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane probe, and Page, an attorney at the FBI. The pair had exchanged text messages that were critical of Mr. Trump, according to a probe by the Justice Department’s inspector general, drawing the president’s ire.
The origins of the Trump-Russia probe have been investigated several times.
The Justice Department’s inspector general found the FBI had a sufficient basis to open the investigation, and its decision wasn’t motivated by political bias. But the internal watchdog did find several missteps over the course of the probe, including in its handling of search warrants for former Trump adviser Carter Page.
Years later, Trump-era special counsel John Durham conducted his own investigation of the investigators. He was more critical of the FBI, arguing that the bureau’s basis for launching the Trump-Russia probe was thin, though the only government official who was criminally charged by Durham was a former FBI lawyer who pleaded guilty to doctoring an email.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/grand-jury-cia-john-brennan-fbi-officials-trump-russia-probe-subpoena/
