By Daniel Klaidman
Updated April 17, 2026 / 7:25 PM EDT
The career federal prosecutor who had been leading the Miami criminal investigation into whether former CIA Director John Brennan lied to Congress is no longer assigned to the case, multiple sources told CBS News.
Maria Medetis Long, who heads the national security section of the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of Florida, informed lawyers for clients connected to the matter late this week that she had been taken off the investigation, several attorneys confirmed. Medetis Long did not publicly explain the reason for her removal. One source told CBS News the change followed her telling U.S. Attorney Jason Reding Quiñones that she did not believe there was sufficient evidence to bring charges.
CNN first reported the personnel change, saying Medetis Long had resisted pressure to quickly charge Brennan. A Justice Department spokesperson confirmed the reassignment and said Medetis Long remains employed by DOJ. “As a matter of routine practice, attorneys are moved around on cases so offices can most effectively allocate resources,” the spokesperson said, calling such changes “completely healthy and normal.” Medetis Long referred questions to the U.S. attorney’s office.
Among those now assigned to the probe is Chris DeLorenz, a DOJ official confirmed; Bloomberg Law earlier reported his involvement. DeLorenz previously clerked for U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon and served as an adviser in the deputy attorney general’s office before relocating to Miami to work as an assistant U.S. attorney. The personnel shift comes as the Justice Department appears to be trying to accelerate the Brennan investigation.
The probe began after a referral in October from the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee, which alleged Brennan lied to Congress about the CIA’s role in the 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment on Russian interference in the 2016 election. Committee Chairman Jim Jordan alleged Brennan “falsely” denied that the CIA relied on the Steele dossier in drafting the assessment and that the CIA opposed including the dossier. The Steele dossier, compiled by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele, contained unverified, salacious allegations about then-candidate Donald Trump.
Federal prosecutors and FBI agents plan to interview a former CIA official in early May, according to a source. That person is described as a witness rather than a target and has been interviewed previously. Prosecutors have probed the decision to include the Steele dossier in an annex to the 2017 assessment and internal CIA disagreements with Brennan over the Obama administration’s 2016 conclusions that Russia’s meddling favored Hillary Clinton and harmed Donald Trump. Those disputed events took place in 2016, outside the statute of limitations, but investigators are examining whether Brennan committed perjury when he testified under oath before Congress in 2023.
Former U.S. Attorney Greg Brower criticized the DOJ’s portrayal of the reassignment as routine, calling the move “extremely unusual” and comparing it to last year’s removal of a top federal prosecutor in the Eastern District of Virginia after that prosecutor expressed doubts about the evidence in cases involving former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
The Miami U.S. attorney’s office is also handling a separate referral from Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who alleged that Brennan and other Obama-era officials “manufactured” the 2017 assessment; the status of that inquiry remains unclear. Sources also say the office is reviewing documents related to former special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into President Trump, though the status of that review is similarly uncertain.