John Brennan told Congress the CIA had nothing to do with the Steele dossier.
For years, that lie went unpunished.
The man who signed that subpoena quit before the day was over.
Brennan Lied to Congress About the Steele Dossier and the Russiagate Assessment
Former CIA director John Brennan has been ordered to appear before a Fort Pierce, Florida grand jury on October 15 – in the court run by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon.
Two separate grand jury investigations are now in play with Brennan at the center of both.
The criminal false-statements probe – the one built around his 2023 congressional testimony – has him listed as a legal "target." The wider conspiracy case, which examines whether Obama- and Biden-era officials spent nearly a decade trying to violate President Trump's civil rights, has him as a "subject." Those designations are not interchangeable.
In May 2023, Brennan told the House Judiciary Committee that "the CIA was not involved at all with the [Steele] dossier."
Declassified documents told a different story. According to those records, the decision to incorporate the bogus dossier into the 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment was "jointly made by the Directors of CIA and FBI" – and Brennan was running the CIA when that decision was made.
He didn't just fail to stop it. His agency co-signed it.
House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan referred Brennan to Attorney General Pam Bondi in October 2025, calling the testimony "a brazen attempt to knowingly and willfully testify falsely and fictitiously to material facts."
Jordan went on Hannity in March.
"They changed the intelligence community assessment from December of 2016, when it said there was no conspiracy, no collusion between Trump and Russia," Jordan said. "One month later, they changed it – at the urging of John Brennan."
Bondi confirmed the DOJ received the referral. "No one is above the law," she said.
The DOJ Russiagate Subpoena That Arrived the Day Its Lead Prosecutor Walked Out
The subpoena ordering Brennan to testify was signed by Joe diGenova – the veteran Trump ally brought in April to lead the Florida investigation.
DiGenova signed that document and resigned the same day.
He had taken the job vowing to move fast. Five months in, there were zero indictments.
His departure followed a dispute inside the Justice Department over whether to bring charges before the November midterms. DiGenova said he doesn't rush cases.
"Whatever the facts show, they show," he said. "However long that takes to do it properly, it takes."
Breitbart reported the departure followed mounting frustration at the Justice Department and White House over the direction of the probe – diGenova had been expanding his target list while the core Brennan false-statements case sat without charges.
DiGenova himself had previously called Brennan the "primogenitor of the entire counterintelligence investigation" – the man at the top of the machine that manufactured the Russia hoax.
DiGenova is gone, and his wife, Victoria Toensing, who worked alongside him in Fort Pierce, left the day after. No replacement has been named.
This is the second time the investigation has lost its lead prosecutor – before diGenova, career prosecutor Maria Medetis Long was removed from the case after she concluded there was insufficient evidence to charge Brennan. DiGenova replaced her, publicly declared the evidence was there, then was pushed out for not moving fast enough.
Comey Is Already Indicted in the Spygate Probe and Brennan Could Be Next
James Comey – the former FBI director who drove the Russia investigation from the other side – is already fighting an indictment, with trial set for January.
Fox News reported both Comey and Brennan as subjects of this investigation in July 2025. Comey got indicted.
Brennan just got a grand jury subpoena with his name on it – ordering him to sit in Fort Pierce, Florida on October 15 and answer questions.
Former FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page have also been subpoenaed as part of the broader probe.
Six months ago, this investigation had no grand jury subpoenas and questions about the direction it was headed. Now it has a Fort Pierce grand jury with Aileen Cannon on the bench and Brennan's name on a subpoena.
October 15 is coming.
Sources:
- Jeff Mordock, "Former CIA director to testify before grand jury in Trump 'grand conspiracy' probe," The Washington Times, September 14, 2026.
- Bob Hoge, "Answer the Questions: DOJ Subpoenas John Brennan in Anti-Trump 'Grand Conspiracy' Probe," RedState, September 14, 2026.
- "Former CIA Director John Brennan Subpoenaed Over Russiagate Conspiracy Against Trump," The Daily Caller, September 14, 2026.
- "DOJ actively preparing to issue grand jury subpoenas relating to John Brennan investigation," Fox News, November 6, 2025.
- Ashley Oliver, "Bondi confirms DOJ has received criminal referral alleging Brennan perjury over Steele dossier," Fox News, February 11, 2026.
- "House Judiciary Committee Refers John Brennan To DOJ For Criminal Prosecution," The Federalist, October 21, 2025.
- "Jim Jordan says probe into former CIA Director John Brennan is 'heating up' as DOJ seeks testimony records," Fox News, March 26, 2026.
