Trump Attack Dog Issues Dozens of Subpoenas to His Enemies

It’s also not clear why the Florida court would have jurisdiction over an intelligence assessment that took place in and around Washington, D.C., according to the Times.

Under the Constitution, charges must be brought in a venue where the conduct occurred, a concept known as personal jurisdiction that law students learn in their first semester.

MAGA activists have tried to argue that Trump owning a private resort and residence in Palm Beach, Florida, is somehow relevant to a government investigation into Russia that took place nearly 1,000 miles away.

They claim that a 2022 FBI search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, which uncovered troves of classified documents that the president had kept after leaving office, was connected to the Russia inquiry—even though the Russia investigation ended three years before the Mar-a-Lago raid, in 2019.

The Daily Beast has reached out to the Department of Justice and the White House for comment.

A DOJ spokesperson told the Times in a statement, “While we do not confirm or comment on the existence of specific investigations, the American people should know that this department will continue to follow the facts and pursue justice in every case.”

A lawyer for Brennan who was reached by the newspaper declined to comment.

Over the past two months, Quiñones’ investigation into Brennan has widened to cover other unspecified actions that took place over a longer period, officials told the Times. The subpoenas are seeking documents and communications from July 1, 2016, to Feb. 28, 2017.

The inquiry began this year after Trump’s top intelligence officials referred Brennan and former FBI Director James Comey to the Department of Justice for investigation.

In September, Trump appointed his lawyer Lindsey Halligan—a 35-year-old former beauty queen with no prosecutorial experience—to lead the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia after her predecessor said there wasn’t enough evidence to charge Comey with lying to Congress.

Halligan then rushed through an indictment against Comey, and now his lawyers have argued that the case should be thrown out because Halligan is improperly serving in the role.

Federal judges have already disqualified three other Trump-appointed U.S. attorneys who were not confirmed by the Senate.

Before Quiñones took over the Brennan investigation, it was assigned to U.S. Attorney David Metcalf, a veteran prosecutor who leads the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the Times reported.

Metcalf was given special authority to prosecute Brennan but failed to advance a case—which both current and former officials have said is weak—and the investigation was transferred to Quiñones this fall.

Over the past few days, Quiñones has begun recruiting line prosecutors in Florida to work on the case, and has taken steps to create a stand-alone national security unit, which is traditionally housed inside the criminal division.

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