Former FBI Director James Comey has been subpoenaed in connection with a wide-ranging investigation being run by a Trump-appointed federal prosecutor in Florida, two sources familiar with the matter told NBC News on Thursday.
The probe, which focuses on an earlier investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and other prosecutions related to President Donald Trump, is being led by Jason A. Reding Quiñones, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida. The sprawling probe has been dubbed a “grand conspiracy” investigation by Trump allies.
An attorney for Comey did not have an 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 directed Justice Department prosecutors to investigate actions surrounding the 2016 election. While the statute of limitations would normally bar a probe into actions from a decade ago, Trump allies have argued that officials they believe were part of a conspiracy took steps in furtherance of a conspiracy within the five-year statute of limitations.
More than 130 subpoenas have been sent out in connection with the investigation, one of the sources told NBC News on Thursday.
Federal prosecutors have wide discretion when it comes to subpoenas, which can seek either records or testimony. Federal grand jury subpoenas are typically issued by federal prosecutors without judicial oversight or direct involvement of federal grand jurors. While the subpoenas are issued under court authority, it’s only when a recipient of a subpoena files a motion to quash a subpoena — as the Federal Reserve did — that a judge reviews the matter.
Trump and his supporters have repeatedly alleged that law enforcement officials investigated the president's aides over potential collusion with Russia in the 2016 election and that intelligence officials overstated Moscow's interference in an effort to damage Trump's first term. His allies have specifically targeted former CIA Director John Brennan and Comey, who testified before Congress in 2017 after Trump fired him that Russia interfered in the previous year's election.
Several investigations have found evidence of Russian interference in the 2016 election — including a 2020 bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee review that Marco Rubio, who was co-chair of the panel at the time, signed off on. An earlier probe by then-special counsel Robert Mueller found that Russia intervened in the election to disadvantage Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. The probes did not find evidence that Trump’s team colluded with Moscow.
John Durham, a special counsel that Attorney General William Barr appointed during Trump’s first term, found no evidence that Obama administration officials carried out a criminal conspiracy to fabricate intelligence about Russia’s actions.
The Trump administration previously attempted to prosecute Comey over testimony he gave to Congress, but the case was dismissed in November when a judge ruled that the prosecutor, Trump loyalist Lindsey Halligan, was unlawfully appointed to her DOJ 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.
