The US Justice Department has withdrawn subpoenas issued in the investigation of former CIA Director John Brennan, opting instead for voluntary interviews, two sources familiar with the matter told the Associated Press on Tuesday.
A small number of subpoenas had been issued over the weekend for witnesses to appear before a grand jury in Washington. However, investigators informed lawyers on Monday evening that the subpoenas were being withdrawn in favour of requests for voluntary interviews. The reason for the reversal remains unclear.
The investigation, which has been ongoing for months, is one of several criminal probes opened by the Justice Department against perceived adversaries of President Donald Trump. It centres on the intelligence community's finding that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election on Trump's behalf.
The subpoenas were issued after a shakeup in the Justice Department team leading the investigation. A career national security prosecutor in Florida left the case after expressing doubts about the legal viability of a potential criminal case. The department then appointed Joe diGenova, a Trump loyalist and former US attorney in Washington, as a counselor to the attorney general to work on the investigation.
Brennan served as CIA director under President Barack Obama and was in that role when the intelligence community published its assessment of Russian interference in 2017. He has denied any wrongdoing and called the investigation politically motivated.
