JULY 2, 2026
Former CIA Director John Brennan sues Trump administration seeking court order to preserve criminal investigation records
Former CIA Director John Brennan filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on Wednesday, asking the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to issue a court order requiring officials to preserve records from federal criminal investigations he says target him. Brennan's attorneys argue the investigations amount to "phantom criminal conduct" pursued at President Trump's direction, and that the preserved records would support a potential defense of vindictive prosecution. The motion names Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche as the defendant.
Brennan, who served as CIA director under President Barack Obama from 2013 to 2017, filed the motion Wednesday through attorneys who argue the Justice Department has launched its investigations "at the direct urging of President Trump" and without "factual or legal justification." The filing states that certain DOJ officials have "converted the Justice Department into a tool of retribution against Director Brennan and the President's other perceived adversaries."
The lawsuit contends the records sought would shed light on the motivations of government officials and would form the basis for defense efforts to dismiss any eventual indictment. Brennan's lawyers argue that more than 100 verbal or written statements Trump has made lambasting Brennan since 2017 would support a selective and vindictive prosecution defense. Without a preservation order, the lawsuit warns, relevant records are at risk of being lost or intentionally deleted.
According to Fox News Digital, one of the probes concerns the intelligence community's January 2017 assessment that Russia sought to boost Trump's candidacy in the 2016 election. Fox News Digital reported in May that FBI agents had interviewed roughly a dozen officials involved in drafting the assessment, with investigators focusing on how its conclusions were reached and whether Brennan may have misled Congress during 2023 testimony. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche tapped former Trump attorney Joseph diGenova to lead the probe, according to Fox News Digital.