Justice Department taps Joseph DiGenova to lead Brennan probe

The Justice Department’s choice of Joseph DiGenova to oversee the John Brennan probe puts the conflict-of-interest question at the center of a politically charged case. DiGenova, an 81-year-old conservative lawyer who represented Donald Trump’s campaign as it challenged the 2020 election results, will run the investigation from the Southern District of Florida and serve as counselor to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.

The appointment came after Maria Medetis Long was removed from the case, following concerns she raised about the strength of the evidence and whether a prosecution would hold up. Long told U.S. Attorney Jason Reding Quiñones that she did not believe there was enough to make a case. The personnel shift has fueled doubts about whether the inquiry is being driven by ordinary prosecutorial judgment or by political pressure.

The Brennan investigation traces back to an October 2025 referral from the House Judiciary Committee over Brennan’s May 11, 2023 transcribed interview in Room 2237 of the Rayburn House Office Building. Jim Jordan led the referral, and lawmakers alleged Brennan falsely denied that the CIA relied on the Steele dossier and falsely said the agency opposed including it in the 2017 intelligence community assessment on Russian election interference. The committee has also said newly declassified documents show a CIA officer drafted the annex summarizing the dossier and that Brennan and then-FBI Director James Comey made the final call to include dossier material.

The broader inquiry in South Florida has been underway for months and now appears focused on Brennan’s 2023 congressional testimony. The FBI plans to question roughly a half-dozen witnesses, including former intelligence officials tied to the 2017 assessment, and investigators have already conducted some interviews. That assessment concluded Russia interfered in the 2016 election to help Donald Trump, and its core findings were later affirmed by the Justice Department, a bipartisan Senate committee and a CIA review.

Brennan’s lawyer wrote in December that prosecutors had told Brennan he was a target and argued there was no legally justifiable basis for the probe. Brennan has said the investigations are politically motivated and amount to a misuse of the legal system. DiGenova’s own record is likely to deepen the skepticism. He previously accused Brennan of crimes tied to the origins of the Russia investigation, represented Trump during Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe, and apologized in 2021 after saying former Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Director Chris Krebs should be “drawn and quartered” and “shot.”