James Comey subpoenaed in Trump-appointed prosecutor’s ‘grand conspiracy’ probe
Former FBI Director James Comey has been subpoenaed as part of a wide-ranging investigation by a Trump-appointed federal prosecutor in Florida, two sources familiar with the matter told NBC News on Thursday.
The investigation, which focuses on an earlier investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and other prosecutions related to President Donald Trump, is led by Jason A. Reding Quiñones, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida. The sprawling investigation has been called a “grand conspiracy” probe by Trump’s allies.
A lawyer for Comey had no immediate comment, while Quiñones’ office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Axios first reported on Comey’s subpoena.
NBC News reported in August that Attorney General Pam Bondi ordered Justice Department prosecutors to investigate actions surrounding the 2016 election. While the statute of limitations would normally prevent an investigation into actions that occurred a decade ago, Trump allies have argued that officials they suspect of being part of a conspiracy took steps to advance a conspiracy within the five-year statute of limitations.
More than 130 subpoenas have been sent as part of the investigation, one of the sources told NBC News on Thursday.
Federal prosecutors have broad subpoena discretion, which can request either records or testimony. Federal grand jury subpoenas are generally issued by federal prosecutors without judicial oversight or direct involvement of federal grand jurors. Although subpoenas are issued under the authority of the court, it is only when the recipient of a subpoena files a motion to quash a subpoena – as the Federal Reserve has done – that a judge reviews the case.
Trump and his supporters have repeatedly claimed that law enforcement investigated the president’s aides for potential collusion with Russia in the 2016 election and that intelligence agencies exaggerated Moscow’s interference in an effort to harm Trump’s first term. His allies specifically targeted former CIA Director John Brennan and Comey, who testified before Congress in 2017 after Trump fired him, claiming Russia had interfered in the previous year’s election.
Multiple investigations have found evidence of Russian interference in the 2016 election — including a bipartisan review of the 2020 Senate Intelligence Committee that Marco Rubio, who was co-chair of the committee at the time, approved. An earlier investigation by then-special counsel Robert Mueller found that Russia interfered in the election to the detriment of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. Investigations have found no evidence of collusion between Trump’s team and Moscow.
John Durham, a special counsel appointed by Attorney General William Barr during Trump’s first term, found no evidence that Obama administration officials conducted a criminal conspiracy to fabricate intelligence about Russia’s actions.
The Trump administration previously attempted to prosecute Comey over his testimony before Congress, but the case was dismissed in November when a judge ruled that the prosecutor, Lindsey Halligan, a Trump loyalist, had been illegally appointed to her Justice Department post.
The Justice Department appealed the ruling, in which a federal judge described Halligan as “a former White House aide with no prior prosecutorial experience” and defended Halligan’s appointment.
