Former CIA Director John Brennan, who helped oversee the intelligence community’s investigation into alleged ties between Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia, sued the Justice Department on Wednesday before prosecutors have even charged him with a crime.
Brennan filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking an order requiring the Trump administration to preserve records related to two ongoing Justice Department investigations examining his conduct.
The move comes as federal investigators continue probing Brennan’s role in the intelligence community’s 2017 assessment concluding that Russia sought to help Trump win the 2016 election, as well as whether Brennan gave misleading testimony to Congress about that assessment during testimony in 2023.
No criminal charges have been filed against Brennan. Nevertheless, Brennan’s legal team argues that any future prosecution would amount to political retaliation by the Trump administration and says preserving government records now is necessary to support what they describe as an eventual defense against “vindictive and selective prosecution.”
“This Administration has adopted a policy of using criminal process and prosecution to punish the President’s perceived adversaries,” Brennan’s attorneys wrote in the 46-page complaint. The filing names President Donald Trump, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, FBI Director Kash Patel, and several Justice Department officials involved in the investigations.
According to Brennan’s attorneys, they fear government officials may fail to preserve internal communications that could be relevant if prosecutors ultimately seek an indictment. The Justice Department declined to confirm whether Brennan is under criminal investigation.
“While we cannot comment on the existence, or lack thereof, of an investigation, it is certainly rich that John Brennan is accusing anyone of a ‘retribution campaign,'” a DOJ spokesman said to Fox News Digital. The investigations into Brennan have steadily expanded over the past year.
One inquiry centers on whether Brennan misled Congress regarding the intelligence community’s conclusions about Russian interference in the 2016 election. House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan previously referred Brennan to the Justice Department for possible prosecution after questioning his congressional testimony.
Investigators have also reportedly interviewed current and former intelligence officials involved in drafting the January 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment that concluded Moscow sought to boost Trump’s candidacy.
That review has focused in part on whether the controversial Steele dossier — a collection of unverified allegations about Trump funded by his political opponents — inappropriately influenced the intelligence assessment’s conclusions. Brennan has consistently denied any wrongdoing and has maintained that the intelligence community’s assessment accurately reflected Russia’s efforts to interfere in the election.
A separate Justice Department investigation reportedly examines what prosecutors have described as a broader conspiracy involving Obama-era and Biden-era officials, looking into whether multiple investigations targeting Trump—including the Russia probe and later criminal investigations—were part of a coordinated effort to undermine him politically.
Brennan’s attorneys argue that those investigations themselves demonstrate political bias. The complaint points to personnel changes inside the Justice Department, including the replacement of a career national security prosecutor with Joseph diGenova, a former Trump attorney who has publicly called Brennan “evil” and a “traitor.”
The filing also alleges prosecutors attempted to move aspects of the investigation between different U.S. Attorney’s offices and sought venues that Brennan’s lawyers believe would be more favorable to the government’s case.
Rather than waiting to challenge an indictment, Brennan is asking the court to preserve emails, memoranda, witness statements, status reports, and other internal communications that could later become evidence supporting claims that prosecutors acted with improper political motives.
The filing comes as the Trump administration continues investigating several high-profile officials connected to previous investigations into Trump, including former intelligence and FBI personnel involved in the Russia inquiry.
Whether Brennan is ultimately charged remains unknown. His lawsuit seeks to preserve records he argues could become relevant if prosecutors later bring charges.
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