John Durham spent four years on the Russia hoax and walked away with one conviction – a probation sentence worked off editing a homeless journal.
Now Joe DiGenova has taken over and just made a decision that changes everything about how this prosecution moves forward.
The strategy shift that has Comey and Brennan's lawyers scrambling is not what anyone expected.
Durham Took a Dive and Everyone Knows It
Durham ran his investigation from 2019 to 2023 and came away with a single scalp: FBI attorney Kevin Clinesmith, who doctored an email to justify spying on Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.
The D.C. judge let Clinesmith walk without a day in jail.
He worked off his probation editing a homeless-advocacy journal.
The D.C. Bar gave him his law license back.
That's the entire criminal accountability for the most corrupt political espionage operation in American history.
A DOJ official close to the current investigation told RealClearInvestigations bluntly: Durham "took a dive."
The Audible That Changes Everything
Trump's defenders have long framed Russiagate as one grand conspiracy – one unified plot running from 2015 straight through the Mar-a-Lago raid in 2022.
DiGenova believes that's exactly right.
But he's not prosecuting it that way.
"You'd have 50 defendants in the courtroom," one well-placed source told RealClearInvestigations.
Instead, diGenova is breaking the conspiracy into separate, targeted cases – smaller in scope, airtight in evidence, lethal in effect.
This is not a retreat from the theory of the case.
It's the move that makes the case winnable.
Same conspiracy.
Different execution – and Comey and Brennan can't hide behind a 50-defendant circus to muddy the waters.
What diGenova Has That Durham Never Did
DiGenova took over in April and has already uncovered a massive FBI internal document spanning several hundred pages – material that reportedly exposes brand new malfeasance inside the Crossfire Hurricane operation.
He flew to Washington earlier this month to sit down personally with FBI Director Kash Patel and Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to go through it and map new investigative leads.
His team has also cultivated new whistleblowers from inside the FBI and the intelligence community.
When the top prosecutor in your case jumps on a plane to brief the FBI Director in person, the document matters.
Who Is Already in the Crosshairs
Two separate grand juries in South Florida are actively hearing evidence right now.
A fresh round of subpoenas is expected to go out in early July.
James Comey and John Brennan were already subpoenaed over their roles in the Intelligence Community Assessment – the document Obama ordered after the 2016 election to recast Trump's victory as a Kremlin operation.
Peter Strzok – the counterintelligence chief who ran Crossfire Hurricane – has been subpoenaed.
So has Lisa Page, McCabe's top aide.
Former DNI James Clapper, who ran the ICA operation, has been subpoenaed.
Lisa Monaco – Obama's White House aide who later became Biden's deputy AG and oversaw the Mar-a-Lago raid – is in the crosshairs.
The impeachment "whistleblower" Eric Ciaramella, who secretly worked with Adam Schiff to engineer Trump's first impeachment, is a subject.
Former NSA Director Mike Rogers is already cooperating – and what he has told investigators is described by sources as alarming.
Why Washington D.C. Is Finished
The entire investigation has moved to South Florida, and the D.C. grand jury has been shut down.
"It's dead in D.C.," a senior U.S. official told RealClearInvestigations. "Everything is in South Florida now."
That matters for one reason: juries.
Washington D.C. is the city that let Clinesmith walk, acquitted Michael Sussmann, and acquitted Igor Danchenko.
South Florida is not that city.
The Fort Pierce grand jury falls under Judge Aileen Cannon's orbit – the same judge who watched Jack Smith's weaponized prosecution implode in her courtroom and threw it out.
She knows exactly what lawfare looks like up close.
The Clock Is Real
DiGenova has until January 2029 to get this done.
A new Democratic administration would walk in, appoint a loyalist attorney general, and bury every indictment in a desk drawer.
That's not speculation – that's what happened the first time.
DiGenova is 81 years old, a Reagan-era U.S. Attorney who built his reputation putting corrupt officials behind bars in Washington.
Colleagues inside DOJ told RealClearInvestigations he is "totally sharp and hard-charging."
His team is not bringing charges until they can win.
"We're not going to bring indictments just to make ourselves feel good only to lose and give the bad guys a victory," one DOJ official said.
The people who wiretapped Trump's campaign, manufactured the Russia hoax from Clinton oppo research, and then raided his home to bury the evidence are finally facing a prosecutor who isn't running one unmanageable case they can outlast.
He's coming for them one at a time.
The subpoenas go out next month.
Sources:
- Paul Sperry, "Russiagate Prosecutor Calls Audible On 'Grand Conspiracy,'" RealClearInvestigations, June 25, 2026.
- Cristina Laila, "Joe DiGenova to Oversee Spygate Probe After DOJ Removes 'Career' Miami Prosecutor For Slow-Walking Charges Against John Brennan," The Gateway Pundit, April 18, 2026.
- "Blanche Says Everything is About to be Made Public as DOJ Probes Russiagate Conspiracy," The Gateway Pundit, May 17, 2026.
- John Bowden, "FBI Director Patel Sends Declassified Crossfire Hurricane Docs on Russiagate Scandal to Congress," Just the News, April 10, 2025.
- Brooke Singman, "FBI Chief Patel Uncovers Buried Crossfire Hurricane Documents in Burn Bags," Fox News, July 30, 2025.
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