U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has directed federal prosecutors to convene a grand jury to examine claims that members of former President Barack Obama’s administration doctored intelligence on Russia’s interference in the 2016 election, according to multiple people familiar with the matter. The order, issued on 4 Aug., authorizes witness testimony in the coming weeks; no individuals have been publicly named as targets. Four days later, the Justice Department escalated its scrutiny of officials who have pursued cases against President Donald Trump by subpoenaing New York Attorney General Letitia James. Prosecutors in Albany are seeking records related to the $454 million civil-fraud verdict James won against Trump, as well as her separate litigation against the National Rifle Association. The inquiry is exploring whether those lawsuits deprived the defendants of their civil rights. Bondi has also appointed former Washington, D.C., U.S. attorney Ed Martin as a special prosecutor to investigate mortgage-fraud allegations involving James and Democratic Senator Adam Schiff. Martin must work with U.S. attorneys in Virginia and Maryland, where parallel grand juries have reportedly been impaneled. James, represented by attorney Abbe Lowell, denounced the federal probe as political retaliation and warned that "weaponization of the justice system" threatens the rule of law. Trump’s critics say the investigations mark a broadened effort by the administration to use federal power against perceived adversaries, while the Justice Department insists the grand juries will follow the facts wherever they lead.