WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department has issued new subpoenas in a Florida-based investigation into the U.S. government’s response to Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, according to multiple people familiar with the matter.
An initial wave of subpoenas in November asked recipients for documents related to the preparation of a U.S. intelligence community assessment into the effort by Moscow to help Trump defeat Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election.
Though the first subpoenas requested documents from the months surrounding the January 2017 publication of the Obama administration intelligence assessment, the latest subpoenas seek any records from the years since then, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press to discuss a nonpublic demand from investigators.
The Justice Department declined to comment Tuesday.
An array of former intelligence and law enforcement officials have received subpoenas and lawyers for former CIA Director John Brennan, who helped oversee the drafting of the assessment, have said they have been informed he is a target.
The Trump administration has freshly scrutinized the intelligence community assessment in part because a classified version of it incorporated a summary of the “Steele dossier,” a compilation of Democratic-funded opposition research that was assembled by former British spy Christopher Steele and was provided to the FBI. That research into Trump’s potential links to Russia included uncorroborated rumors and salacious gossip, and Trump has long held up its weaknesses saying it discredited the entire Russia investigation.
The investigation in Florida appears to be part of a broader administration effort to revisit years-old findings and decisions from the Russia investigation.
A declassified CIA tradecraft review released last July by current Director John Ratcliffe did not refute the conclusion of Russian election interference but found “multiple procedural anomalies” in the intelligence community assessment and chided Brennan for the fact that the classified version referenced the Steele dossier.
It is unclear whether the investigation in Florida will result in any criminal charges.
In a letter last December addressed to the chief judge of the Southern District of Florida, Brennan’s lawyers challenged the underpinnings of the investigation, questioning what basis prosecutors had for opening the inquiry in the state and saying they had received no clarity from prosecutors about what potential crimes were even being investigated.
FILE – Former CIA Director John Brennan testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, before the House Intelligence Committee Russia Investigation Task Force, May 23, 2017. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)
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