Monday, Sept. 14, 2026 — Former CIA Director John Brennan has been subpoenaed to appear Oct. 15 before a federal grand jury in Fort Pierce, Florida, as part of a Justice Department investigation into whether former law enforcement and intelligence officials conspired to deprive President Donald Trump of his civil rights, one of Brennan’s lawyers said Monday.

Attorney Ken Wainstein disclosed the subpoena in a court filing, according to the Associated Press, whose account was carried by PBS NewsHour, ABC News, The Guardian, and Fox News. Wainstein said prosecutors presented him with the subpoena last Thursday.

What the Florida subpoena covers

Wainstein said he was told the appearance relates to a “far-reaching” criminal probe examining a loosely defined theory that officials who investigated Trump over the past decade — including over Russian election interference in 2016 and Trump’s retention of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago — conspired to deprive Trump of civil rights. The Brennan subpoena is among a flurry issued in recent weeks, AP reported.

The Justice Department has not publicly detailed the Florida investigation’s scope or charging theory. Grand jury proceedings are secret; a subpoena to testify is not an indictment.

Same day: diGenova resigns amid pace complaints

The subpoena was delivered the same day Joe diGenova, the prosecutor who had been leading what is casually known as the “grand conspiracy” investigation, abruptly resigned. A person familiar with the matter described displeasure from the Justice Department and White House over the pace and management of the probe, AP reported.

DOJ has not publicly announced a replacement. The investigative-team member with whom Wainstein spoke was Kurt Olsen, a lawyer who in 2020 unsuccessfully pressed the department to back Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election had been stolen from him, according to AP.

Separate D.C. false-statements probe; Brennan denies

Wainstein also said a prosecutor informed him that Brennan remains a target in a Washington-based investigation into whether he lied to Congress in 2023 — a claim Brennan and his attorneys have consistently denied, AP reported. Subpoenas demanding grand jury testimony in that false-statements probe were issued in spring, then abruptly withdrawn in favor of voluntary interviews.

Records-preservation lawsuit hearing

The Florida subpoena was disclosed hours ahead of a Washington court hearing in a lawsuit Brennan brought seeking an order requiring preservation of all records from the investigations targeting him. He has argued those documents would be essential to challenge any potential indictment on vindictive prosecution grounds.

When federal prosecutors open parallel tracks against former officials who once investigated a sitting president — and when leadership of those probes turns over amid White House and DOJ displeasure over pace — the process itself becomes the story. Selective prosecution and political pressure cut both ways; concentrated charging power deserves daylight regardless of which party holds the Oval Office.

Sources