Justice Department doesn’t have to save records from inquiries into ex-CIA boss Brennan, judge says

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday declined to issue a court order requiring the Justice Department to preserve all its records from investigations into John Brennan so the former CIA director can challenge any eventual criminal case against him as a malicious prosecution.

Attorneys for Brennan conceded that the request for a court order was unusual but said it was necessary given what they called the Justice Department’s pattern of vindictiveness in its pursuit of him and its recent track record of erasing or failing to preserve records.

But U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb declined the request, saying Brennan’s arguments were too speculative.

As CIA director in the final years of President Barack Obama’s Democratic administration, Brennan was a key figure in the U.S. intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia had interfered in sweeping fashion in the 2016 presidential election on behalf of Republican Donald Trump, who went on to defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton for the White House.

The Justice Department has not made any public accusations about Brennan, but House Republicans have referred him to the department for potential prosecution on allegations that he lied to Congress, which he has vigorously denied.

Brennan has for months been entangled in Justice Department investigations into whether he made false statements to Congress in 2023 and a broader Florida-based inquiry into whether he and other former intelligence and law enforcement officials engaged in a conspiracy to keep Trump from power. He was subpoenaed to testify before a grand jury in the broader conspiracy investigation, and his lawyers have said they’ve been told by prosecutors that he remains a target in a separate and more discrete false-statements investigation.

It is unclear whether Brennan will face charges, but attorneys for him said that they intended to challenge any prosecution on vindictive-prosecution grounds and that any records they received from the government through a court order would be helpful in backing up their argument.

Cobb was nominated in 2021 by President Joe Biden, who earlier served as Obama’s vice president.