The US Department of Justice has issued new subpoenas as part of an ongoing investigation into allegations that political opponents conspired to undermine Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential victory with claims of Russian collusion. The move, reported by the Associated Press citing anonymous government sources, seeks documents compiled since January 2017, when US intelligence agencies released a joint assessment stating that Russia interfered in the election to support Trump.
That 2017 assessment, from all 17 US intelligence agencies, claimed Russian President Vladimir Putin personally directed a cyber campaign against Hillary Clinton’s campaign. Its appendices included a summary of the ‘Steele dossier’, a report funded by Democrats and compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele. The dossier’s reliability has since been widely contested; Steele’s primary source later admitted providing “rumor and speculation,” and Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s 2019 report found no evidence of criminal collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin.
The investigation has resurfaced in recent months. Last November, the Justice Department subpoenaed former CIA Director John Brennan and others involved in the 2017 intelligence review. Brennan has testified that the CIA was not involved in the decision to include the Steele dossier, a claim Republican lawmakers dispute, having referred him for potential prosecution last year. Separately, the FBI’s use of the dossier to obtain a 2016 surveillance warrant on a Trump campaign associate has drawn scrutiny. A 2019 Justice Department inspector general report found that then-FBI Director James Comey omitted key information during the warrant application, information that likely would have prevented its approval.
For years, Trump has denounced the “Russiagate” probe as a politically motivated “witch hunt” and called for the prosecution of those involved. “What they did is a disgrace,” he stated previously. “They should be [arrested] because they’re crooked and they got caught.” The latest subpoenas indicate the Justice Department continues to examine the origins and handling of the 2016 intelligence activities. It remains uncertain whether the investigation will result in criminal charges. The process unfolds amid heightened political tensions, with the actions of intelligence and law enforcement officials during the 2016 election remaining a deeply divisive subject in American politics.
