(MIAMI) — A top career prosecutor in Miami has been removed from overseeing the Justice Department’s investigation into former CIA Director John Brennan after she allegedly expressed doubts about the viability of the probe, two sources familiar with the matter confirmed to ABC News.
Attorneys for several subjects involved in the probe were informed Friday that Maria Medetis Long would not longer be handling the case moving forward, sources said.
The news, according to sources, took some attorneys by surprise as there were additional interviews scheduled in the coming days as the department moves closer toward deciding whether to bring charges against Brennan.
News of Medetis Long’s departure was first reported by CNN. An attorney for Brennan did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment. A DOJ spokesperson also did not immediately respond.
The investigation is believed to center around congressional testimony from Brennan about his role in crafting a 2017 assessment by the intelligence community that detailed Russia’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 election to the benefit of President Donald Trump.
Trump has long singled out Brennan, a vocal critic, as among those he believes was involved in illegally conspiring to accuse him of colluding with Russia, resulting in the special counsel probe that cast a cloud over much of Trump’s first term in office.
Brennan has denied wrongdoing and said he continues to stand by the 2017 intelligence community assessment that determined Russia’s interference in the 2016 election was aimed at denigrating Hillary Clinton to the benefit of Trump’s candidacy. A separate bipartisan report from the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence largely affirmed the findings of the 2017 assessment.
The probe of Brennan is part of a larger investigation being run out of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida that sources say is examining whether former officials engaged in a “grand conspiracy” to violate Trump’s rights dating back to his 2016 campaign for the presidency.
Scores of subpoenas have been issued by the office in recent months to former officials previously involved in the Russia investigation, though the effort has yet to result in any criminal charges or other allegations of wrongdoing.
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