Justice Department removes lead prosecutor from probe of Trump critic John Brennan

According to those familiar with the situation, the Justice Department has taken the career Miami federal prosecutor off the investigation into John Brennan after she pushed back against pressure to swiftly file charges against the former CIA director and outspoken critic of President Donald Trump.

Maria Medetis Long on Friday notified attorneys representing people involved in the case that she was no longer handling the investigation, the people familiar with the matter said. She has led the politically sensitive probe for months amid demands from Trump to prosecute Brennan and other critics.

The investigation into Brennan is focused 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.

TTrump’s demands have become more urgent for the Justice Department after he fired former Attorney General Pam Bondi, partly due to frustration with the slow progress of cases he wanted pursued. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has stepped up efforts to meet the president’s expectations as he aims to secure his position following Bondi’s departure.

Miami US Attorney Jason Reding Quiñones’ office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The change comes as investigators in recent weeks have conducted interviews with witnesses and issued a fresh round of subpoenas, the people briefed on the matter said, signaling a case that is moving ahead but not likely on the rapid timeline that top Justice Department officials have sought.

According to CNN, career prosecutors and investigators on the case have spent months resisting pressure to quickly charge Brennan, telling Justice Department officials they don’t think the case is very strong. Even so, they’ve continued working toward the possibility of bringing it to federal court in Washington, DC..

Medetis Long’s team has issued multiple rounds of subpoenas and requests for documents from Congress, and is now looking to conduct witness interviews as part of the investigation, according to several sources. Brennan’s lawyers have reportedly been preparing for a possible indictment for months.

In recent weeks, DOJ officials met with Quiñones and others in his office to discuss the investigation’s progress, sources told CNN. Quiñones told the officials that charges could still be months away, sources say, which top Justice officials told him was not acceptable.

Prosecutors in the Southern District of Florida, where Medetis Long is the National Security Section Chief, are focused on allegations that Brennan lied to Congress about at the years-ago intelligence assessment.

Brennan told House investigators in 2017 that Russia “brazenly interfered” in US elections, including actively contacting members of Trump’s campaign. However, he stopped shy of dubbing it “collusion.”

An investigation into Russian election interference ultimately did not find that Trump’s campaign or associates conspired with Russia or that Trump committed a crime, but did not exonerate the president on obstruction of justice.