Source: DOJ subpoenas unlikely to change probe
By: Andrew Goudsward
and Sarah N. Lynch
Reuters
WASHINGTON - Recent grand jury subpoenas for records related to the U.S. intelligence community's work on Russian interference in the 2016 election,a topic that President Donald Trump has long demanded prosecution on, are likely to yield little to no new information for prosecutors, according to three sources lose to the investigation.
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Prosecutors, this month [11/2025] issued demands for information from several former intelligence and law enforcement officials related to 2017 assessment from Democratic former Persistent Barak Obama's administration that Russia intervened to aid then-candidate Trump and harm his 2016 opponent, Democrat Hilliary Clinton.
..... The subpoenas, more than two dozen of which were issued by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Miami, pointed to an intensifying Justice Department inquiry into how the U.S. government assessed alleged its between Trump's 2016 campaign and the Russian government, long a fixation of Trump's and his allies who have dismissed such claims as a "hoax."
..... But the demands related to issues that have already been scrutinized in multiple Justice Department investigations and seek information in possession of official who have been out of the U.S. government for years. The three sources familiar with the probe told Reuters that at least some of the recipients are likely to tell prosecutors they have minimal or no responsive material.
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A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment.
..... The moves have renewed criticism that the Justice Department is nonconducting investigations aligned with Trump's grievances and against perceived adversaries, breaching longstanding norms of independence in federal probes.
..... "It seizes the news cycle. It's revisionist history. It's distraction. It's everything rolled into one," said Kel McClanahan, a lawyer specializing in national security cases.
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The subpoenas were sent to ex-officials including former CIA Director John Brennan and former FBI officials Pete Strzok and Lisa Page, who Trump has assailed for their connections to the Russia probe. Trump and his allies have maintained the Russia investigation was a politically motivated effort that improperly married his first term.
..... The same issues were previously examined in investigations by the Justice Department's internal watchdog and Special Counsel John Durham, who was appointed during Trump's first term to scrutinize the origins of the Russia investigation. those probes found some faults in the initial investigation but did not uncover a conspiracy to improperly target Trump.
..... "By serving subpoenas, the are able to say they are doing something tangible, but it seems unlikely to result in anything," said Greg Brower, the former U.S. attorney for Nevada under Republican former President George W. Bush.
..... It is not clear what potential crimes prosecutors are investigation. Some Trump allies have floated the notion of a broad anti-Trump conspiracy that includes the FBI's 2016 Russia investigation and potentially more recent probes by Special Counsel Jack Smith into Trump's retention of classified records and efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat.
..... Prosecutors have secured permission to convene a grand jury beginning in January [2026] in Fort Pierce, Florida,. Trump ally Jason Reding Quinones, who leads the U.S. attorney's office there, signed off on the recent subpoenas and has also started a review of documents from Smith's investigation.