WASHINGTON – Former FBI employees who worked on the criminal investigation into President Donald Trump’s retention of classified documents have been subpoenaed to testify before a grand jury in a wide-ranging Florida conspiracy inquiry. Their lawyers disclosed the subpoenas Thursday while asking a judge to clarify whether the witnesses can testify without violating an order restricting the disclosure of information.
Issued this month, the subpoenas direct the former FBI employees to appear in Fort Pierce, Florida. The Justice Department is pursuing an ill-defined theory that a “deep state” conspiracy sought to deprive Trump of his civil rights and prevent him from returning to power.
The investigation has largely centered on former government officials who examined connections between Russia and Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. But the subpoenas disclosed Thursday indicate that the inquiry also reaches the FBI’s 2022 search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida for classified documents.
Justice Department officials are continuing the probe despite the resignation this month of Joseph diGenova, a Trump ally brought in to help lead an investigation that has energized right-wing commentators who have long alleged that former law enforcement and intelligence officials conspired against the Republican president.
The filing creates a new legal issue for U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, the Trump-appointed judge who dismissed the classified documents case against Trump. Cannon also presides over the Fort Pierce courthouse where the Justice Department has based its yearlong conspiracy investigation into Trump’s perceived opponents.
In February, Cannon issued an order blocking the release of a report on the classified documents investigation prepared by special counsel Jack Smith. Smith’s team filed dozens of felony charges against Trump, then the Republican presidential candidate, in 2023. Cannon’s order also barred the disclosure of information about the case to people outside the Justice Department.
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The lawyers for the subpoenaed former employees are now asking Cannon to determine whether her order prevents their clients from testifying before the grand jury about the investigation. Without guidance, they said, the witnesses could face a choice between violating the order by testifying, giving “not providing full, unconstrained testimony” while attempting to comply, or invoking their constitutional protections against self-incrimination.
“Specifically, Clients seek to confirm that they can freely discuss non-public information related to their work on the investigation with individuals outside the DOJ, including but not limited to the grand jury and Client’s own counsel, without running afoul of the terms of the order,” the lawyers wrote.
The court filing provides new details about the scope of the inquiry and the witnesses’ negotiations with the government.
Filed on behalf of current and former agents and analysts who took part in the Mar-a-Lago investigation, the document says the FBI contacted the group in July and August seeking voluntary interviews. Attorneys were told that grand jury testimony would follow those interviews.
The lawyers said newly issued subpoenas call for a small group of witnesses to testify next week and the week after. The Justice Department has discussed the possibility of granting the witnesses immunity, but it has not made a formal offer.
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