Justice Department shakes up probe into alleged Trump conspiracy

Chris Strohm, Benjamin Penn and Michael Smith, Bloomberg News on Apr 17, 2026

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WASHINGTON — The Justice Department is shaking up the team probing former CIA Director John Brennan as part of a broad investigation into an alleged years-long conspiracy against President Donald Trump, according to people familiar with the matter.

The prosecutor leading the day-to-day operations in the Brennan investigation, which is being run out of the U.S. attorney’s office in Miami, is no longer handling the case, according to the people, who asked not to be named speaking about a confidential inqury.

It wasn’t immediately clear why the prosecutor, Maria Medetis Long, left the case, which was reported earlier by CNN. The Justice Department portrayed the move as being common inside U.S. attorneys’ offices.

“As a matter of routine practice, attorneys are moved around on cases so offices can most effectively allocate resources,” the Justice Department said in a statement. “It is completely healthy and normal to change members of legal teams.”

A former top aide to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, Christopher-James DeLorenz, also re-located from Justice Department headquarters to work as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District in recent months, according to people familiar with the matter. DeLorenz is working on the Brennan investigation as well as other office cases, the people said.

Medetis referred a request for comment to her office’s spokesperson. A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of Florida didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment on Medetis and DeLorenz.

DeLorenz previously served as a law clerk for U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon in Florida when she presided over the prosecution of Trump during the Biden administration for his handling of classified information. Cannon dismissed the case after ruling that the appointment of the special counsel leading the probe was unconstitutional.

The government has subpoenaed Brennan and others asking for information related to the intelligence community’s assessments around whether Russia interfered in the 2016 election.

The move comes amid major changes within the department after Trump fired Attorney General Pam Bondi earlier this month and replaced her with Blanche, her former deputy. Trump and his conservative allies have called for the department to investigate and prosecute their perceived political enemies, including Brennan.

The pressure to produce results now falls on Blanche, who is serving as acting attorney general and deputy attorney general.

The investigation is being led by U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Jason Reding Quiñones, who Trump appointed to the position.

Medetis recently emailed defense lawyers in the Brennan case to say she was no longer leading the case, said two people who have seen the email.

Medetis doubled as national security section chief and helped lead the successful prosecution of Ryan Wesley Routh for attempting to assassinate Trump in 2024 at his golf club in West Palm Beach.