NBC News
· collected 2026-09-15 · by Ryan J. Reilly
Joe diGenova, a lawyer and Trump loyalist involved in investigating some of President Donald Trump’s grievances, signed a subpoena for former CIA Director John Brennan to testify before a federal grand jury just days before he resigned from his position at the Justice Department last week. The subpoena was aimed at questioning Brennan about potential issues related to Mar-a-Lago and beyond, as part of what is described as a wide-ranging conspiracy investigation involving possible civil rights violations against Trump. Brennan’s legal team has requested an injunction to compel the government to preserve communications regarding the case, citing concerns that it may be driven by political motives due to reports of widespread use of Signal for official government communication during the Trump administration.
Written by the local model on 2026-09-15,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event.
Why this leaning score
The model judged this article politically coded and scored it -0.35, but 1 quote(s) could not be found in the article and the other 1 are attributed speech rather than the article's own narration, so the score is not published.
Written under an earlier scoring contract, which gave a paragraph
rather than checkable quotes. Re-analysing this article replaces it.
Leaning score withheld for article 10109: no verified evidence · logged 2026-09-15
A Trump loyalist heading a “grand conspiracy” investigation into some of President Donald Trump’s grievances signed a subpoena seeking testimony from former CIA Director John Brennan just before he resigned from the Justice Department last week, his lawyer told a court Monday.
asserted
lawyer → head → court
On Wednesday, Joe diGenova signed the document aimed at Brennan for testimony before a federal grand jury in Fort Pierce, Florida, Brennan attorney Ken Wainstein wrote in a declaration.
asserted
Wainstein → sign → declaration
After Wainstein reached out to diGenova after he accepted the subpoena Thursday, diGenova wrote that he would “arrange counsel” to speak with them.
asserted
he → reach → them
Brennan’s testimony was preliminarily set for Oct. 15.
asserted
testimony → set → Oct.
DiGenova resigned later Thursday.
asserted
DiGenova → resign → ?
On Friday, Wainstein said, 2020 election denier Kurt Olsen — now part of the prosecutorial team in the Southern District of Florida — told Brennan’s team that there were multiple “viable” grand jury investigations into his client, “including a ‘far-reaching’ investigation in Fort Pierce that includes ‘issues at Mar-a-Lago and beyond’ into whether President Donald Trump had his civil rights violated.”
asserted
rights → say → Lago
Another investigation is running out of Washington, D.C., looking into Brennan’s statements before Congress, Olsen confirmed.
asserted
Olsen → run → Congress
“Mr. Olsen explained that Director Brennan was a ‘target’ of the narrower investigation, and the investigation for which he was now being subpoenaed was the ‘more wide-ranging conspiracy,’ as to which our client was a ‘subject.’
asserted
client → explain → which
However, he explained that the narrower investigation was ‘still viable,’ and that the issues in the narrower investigation might also be part of the larger investigation, such as being overt acts,” Wainstein wrote.
uncertain
Wainstein → explain → investigation
Wainstein and co-counsel Daniel Gelber appeared in court Monday before U.S. District Judge Jia M. Cobb in Washington to urge Cobb to order the Justice Department to preserve communications about the Brennan case.
asserted
Wainstein → appear → case
Brennan’s team, citing reports of the Trump administration’s widespread use of Signal to conduct official government business, is seeking an injunction to force the government to preserve communications for a potential future argument that the case is a vindictive prosecution driven by Trump.
asserted
case → cite → Trump
“Director Brennan seeks nothing more than to ensure that the government does what it is already obliged to do — preserve all records and communications relevant to the government’s preordained decision to investigate and prosecute him,” his team wrote in a filing last month.
asserted
team → seek → filing
“The government is not going to disclose what it’s destroying,” Wainstein said in court Monday.
asserted
Wainstein → go → court
Wainstein also said that the Justice Department had been playing “games” with the case and that it was engaging in a “pretty unprecedented example of judge shopping” by running the federal grand jury probe from the courthouse in Fort Pierce in the Southern District of Florida, where Trump-friendly U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon is the sole judge.
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Cannon → say → Florida
Public officials are operating lawfully and honestly in discharging their official duties, and they’re not entitled to regular rules, Wainstein argued.
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Wainstein → operate → rules
“If anything, it’s a presumption of irregularity,” he said.
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he → ’ → irregularity
Wainstein argued that diGenova was the “strongest champion” of a case against Brennan — noting that diGenova called Brennan a “traitor” a few years ago — and that his departure sent “a very clear message” about the case.
asserted
departure → argue → case
DiGenova didn’t answer a phone call Monday.
asserted
DiGenova → answer → call
Jeremy Newman, an attorney with the Justice Department, argued that the Justice Department conceded that it had a legal obligation to maintain some communications under the Federal Records Act but that Brennan was making an argument that his constitutional rights were violated and that he lacked standing to bring the suit given that he hadn’t been charged.
asserted
he → argue → suit
If he were charged, Newman said, he could take those issues up with a judge and seek remedies.
uncertain
he → charge → remedies
Brennan’s team argued that will be too late, because any Signal messages exchanged about the case will have long disappeared.
asserted
messages → argue → case
Wainstein suggested Justice Department leaders were using disappearing messages because they don’t want “history to know about what they were saying to one another” about what he called a politically driven investigation.
uncertain
he → suggest → what
NBC News reported in May that the FBI was interviewing current and former CIA officers as part of the investigation.
uncertain
FBI → report → investigation
DiGenova told NBC News on Friday that a specific event sparked his departure but wouldn’t go into details about the matter.
asserted
event → tell → matter
“Everybody was in their lane, and then some lanes got crossed, and then I decided to leave,” he said.
asserted
he → cross → lane
After diGenova’s departure, the investigation is being run by the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Jason Reding Quiñones, with support from Main Justice, according to a person familiar with the matter.
uncertain
investigation → run → matter
The Aporia
