CNN exclusive: U.S. Justice Department removes lead prosecutor from probe of Trump critic John Brennan

Former CIA director John Brennan in New York, in September 2018. (Shannon Stapleton/Reuters via CNN Newsource)

The U.S. Justice Department has removed the career Miami federal prosecutor leading the investigation into John Brennan, after she resisted pressure to quickly bring charges against the former CIA director and prominent critic of U.S. President Donald Trump, according to people briefed on the matter.

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.

Trump’s demands have 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 cases he wants brought. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has redoubled efforts to satisfy the president’s demands as he seeks to keep the job after Bondi’s ouster.

Miami US Attorney Jason Reding Quiñones’ office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. CNN has attempted to reach Medetis Long for comment.

The Justice Department said in a statement it is a routine practice to move attorneys around on cases “so offices can most effectively allocate resources.”

“It is completely healthy and normal to change members of legal teams,” the statement said.

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.

The career prosecutors and investigators handling the case have for months pushed back against demands to quickly bring charges against Brennan, CNN reported, and have signaled to Justice Department officials they don’t believe the case is a strong one. Still, they have continued to work toward possibly bringing it in federal court in Washington, DC.

Medetis Long’s team sent out several rounds of subpoenas, requests for documents from Congress, and is now seeking witness interviews as part of the probe, several sources say, and Brennan’s lawyers have been bracing 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.

Medetis Long is an experienced prosecutor who is well-regarded by colleagues, according to current and former Justice officials. She helped lead the trial team that prosecuted and won a life sentence against a would-be assassin who sought to target Trump at his golf course in West Palm Beach, a role that helped burnish her credentials among Trump allies.

Her position leading the Brennan case was seen as a reassuring sign that despite pressure from Trump and officials in Washington, the probe and any decision on possible charges would be based on the evidence and not political considerations, these officials said.

The ouster of Medetis Long also recalls the internal dissension in the US Attorney’s office for Eastern District of Virginia, where Trump pushed for criminal charges of James Comey, the former FBI director, and Letitia James, the New York attorney general. In that case, Erik Siebert, the US attorney at the time, stood with the judgment of career lawyers in his office who said the Comey and James cases shouldn’t be brought for lack of evidence.

Trump fired Siebert and installed Lindsey Halligan, his former personal lawyer, who brought the charges as Trump demanded, only to have both cases dismissed because of the way she was installed.

Evan Perez, Hannah Rabinowitz, CNN