Justice Department adds former Trump lawyer to investigation of Trump critic John Brennan
By Paula Reid, Evan Perez, CNN
(CNN) — Joseph diGenova, who has worked with Donald Trump’s legal team on a variety of matters, including the 2020 election, will be joining the Justice Department in the Southern District of Florida, multiple people familiar with the matter told CNN.
A Justice Department official confirms diGenova will work on the investigation into former CIA Director John Brennan. He will be counsel to the attorney general in Fort Pierce, Florida, according to multiple sources familiar.
The investigation into Brennan focuses on one of the president’s longest standing political grievances — the 2017 intelligence assessment that found Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election to help him.
DiGenova’s new role was first reported by Washington-based outlet Just the News.
Brennan has been under criminal investigation since last summer.
Satisfying Trump’s demands has taken on more urgency for the Justice Department after Trump fired former Attorney General Pam Bondi — in part because of dissatisfaction at the slow pace of the cases he wants brought.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is upping his efforts to deliver on the president’s top Justice Department priorities, including prosecuting his political enemies, as he seeks to keep the job after Bondi’s ouster.
The news of diGenova’s role comes after CNN reported Friday that the Justice Department removed the career Miami federal prosecutor leading the investigation after she had resisted pressure to quickly bring charges against Brennan, according to people briefed on the matter.
DiGenova is a longtime Washington attorney and was at one point on Trump’s legal team during then-special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation. He departed the official defense team because his wife represented several witnesses in the probe but continued to serve as an outside legal adviser.
He had served as the US Attorney for the District of Columbia from 1983 to 1988.
US Attorney Jason Reding Quiñones outlined to Justice officials last fall plans to use a grand jury in Fort Pierce – the courthouse where federal Judge Aileen Cannon sits – to conduct a broad investigation into a possible conspiracy stretching nearly a decade by former law enforcement and intelligence officials to target Trump, according to people familiar with the matter.
The conspiracy focuses on the idea Trump was the victim of a plot that ranged from the 2016 Russia election interference investigation to the Jack Smith probe that resulted in charges against him.
Cannon, who Trump nominated in his first term, dismissed the classified document mishandling charges that Smith brought against Trump brought in her court in 2024.
This story was updated with additional details of the probe.
The-CNN-Wire
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