DOJ Boots Prosecutor From Trump Revenge Probe After She Shared Doubts
A top Department of Justice official was removed Friday from an investigation into former CIA Director John Brennan after she reportedly expressed doubts about the probe.
Maria Medetis Long, chief of the national security section for the U.S. attorney’s office in Miami, notified attorneys working on the probe that she would no longer handle the case moving forward, people familiar with the matter told CNN.
Two sources told ABC News that Medetis Long had expressed doubts about the investigation. The prosecutors in the Southern District of Florida are looking into allegations that Brennan lied to Congress about his role in crafting an intelligence assessment about Russian efforts to interfere on behalf of Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election.
Some attorneys were surprised by the news, sources said, because there were additional interviews scheduled in the coming days as the department weighed whether to bring charges against Brennan.
The U.S. attorney’s office in southern Florida issued 30 subpoenas to individuals, including Brennan and other former intelligence officials, as part of a sprawling conspiracy investigation into Trump’s perceived political enemies. Those cases are set to land on the desk of the same judge who handed the president his get-out-of-jail-free card back in July 2024: Aileen Cannon.
Asked about the move, a Justice Department spokesperson said, “As a matter of routine practice, attorneys are moved around on cases so offices can most effectively allocate resources. It is completely healthy and normal to change members of legal teams.”