Power Grab/Fire anyone who can stop him
A Florida grand jury subpoenas former CIA Director John Brennan in the “grand conspiracy” investigation of officials who investigated Trump
The subpoena orders Brennan to testify October 15, 2026 in Fort Pierce, the courthouse of Judge Aileen Cannon, who dismissed the documents case against Trump.
What happened
Former CIA Director John Brennan was subpoenaed to testify on October 15, 2026 before a federal grand jury in Fort Pierce, Florida, his lawyer Kenneth Wainstein disclosed in a court filing on September 14. Fort Pierce is the courthouse of Judge Aileen Cannon.
Prosecutors described the investigation as “far-reaching,” into whether officials who investigated Trump over Russia and the Mar-a-Lago documents conspired to violate his civil rights. The Justice Department opened what prosecutors have called a “grand conspiracy” investigation in 2025, and it stalled for much of that year. The AP reported on September 8 that new subpoenas had gone to other former officials.
A prosecutor told Wainstein that Brennan remains a target of a separate Washington investigation into his 2023 congressional testimony. Joe diGenova, the Trump ally who had overseen the probe, resigned the day the subpoena was delivered.
Who benefited
Trump, who has demanded prosecutions of the people who investigated him, now has his Justice Department putting the former CIA director before a grand jury. The venue is Fort Pierce, not Washington, where a grand jury had the case.
Who wanted something
Trump has demanded these prosecutions publicly and repeatedly. The investigation’s premise, that investigating him was itself a conspiracy against his rights, reverses the cases of 2017 to 2023 into a case against the investigators.
Who lost out
Brennan and the other former officials face grand juries for official acts years after the fact. Brennan faces both the Florida subpoena and the separate Washington investigation. The principle that leaving office does not put a president’s former adversaries in legal jeopardy is also at stake.
Why it matters
The “grand conspiracy” theory has moved from rhetoric to grand-jury process against the highest-ranking intelligence official among Trump’s critics. The earlier Comey and James indictments were dismissed on appointment grounds, and the Bolton case had a different origin.
Sources Associated Press (via PBS NewsHour)NPRAssociated Press (via Washington Times)