The Trump administration is pressing ahead with a probe targeting Obama-era officials and could bring charges against any number of top former government officials.

The Justice Department (DOJ) this week moved to convene a grand jury to investigate claims that Obama officials politicized intelligence regarding Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

It marks a major escalation by Attorney General Pam Bondi over allegations that could reach as high as former President Obama himself, though the exact targets of the probe are unclear.

The investigation comes after Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard claimed officials committed “treasonous conspiracy” and criminally referred them to the DOJ.

Here are four key questions as the grand jury convenes:

Who could be charged?

The Justice Department has not named specific targets of its probe, but has signaled interest in several top Obama administration officials.

Gabbard’s office last month released a report suggesting the Intelligence Community suppressed intel showing Russia “did not impact” the 2016 presidential election via cyber-attacks on infrastructure.

A timeline released alongside the report points to a Dec. 9, 2016, meeting where top Cabinet and administration officials gathered including:

• James Clapper, Director of National Intelligence

• John Brennan, Central Intelligence Agency director

• Susan Rice, national security adviser

• John Kerry, secretary of State

• Brian McKeon, principal deputy under secretary of Defense for policy

• Loretta Lynch, attorney general

• Andrew McCabe, deputy FBI director

At the end of the meeting, Clapper’s executive assistant sent an email to Office of the Director of National Intelligence leaders to create a new assessment “per the President’s request” detailing the “tools Moscow used and the actions it took to influence the 2016 election,” the memo said.

It signals that Obama himself could come under scrutiny from the probe as well.

President Trump asserted last month his administration found “irrefutable proof that Obama was seditious, that Obama was trying to lead a coup.” He has also accused Obama of “treason.”

Other officials, including former FBI director and longtime Trump foe James Comey, are also named in the papers.

What charges could be brought?

No charges have been brought at this stage, and it’s not clear what counts would fit the allegations.

And it may be too late to pursue charges, as federal law oftentimes sets the statute of limitations to five years from the time of an alleged crime. The actions in question carried out by Obama officials occurred nearly a decade ago, in 2016 and 2017.

Treason does not have a statute of limitations, but the charge is rarely alleged. The last conviction was in 1952, when a Japanese-American man was found guilty of tormenting American prisoners of war. Only one treason case has since been brought, in 2006 for making al-Qaeda propaganda, but that defendant was killed in a drone strike before he stood trial.

However, any effort to charge Obama over the 2016 intelligence could be stopped in its tracks by the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity, which would shield many of the former president’s “official acts” from criminal scrutiny.

What happens next?

The grand jury will convene in secret, where prosecutors will explain to them the law and present evidence. That could include witness testimony, as grand juries have subpoena power.

After reviewing the evidence, the grand jurors will vote on whether to indict.

We don’t know where the grand jury will be convened. Prosecutors generally must bring indictments where the alleged crimes occurred, meaning Washington, D.C., is one plausible venue.

But Trump in the past has voiced gripes with his own previous prosecution in the nation’s capital, and the Justice Department could attempt to bring charges somewhere else.

Why now?

The administration’s decision to dig into the past has raised alarm among Trump’s critics that he’s following through on his campaign promise of retribution against those he believes have wronged him.

It also comes as the president's political base has splintered over his administration’s handling of information related to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, igniting a political firestorm.

Obama’s office issued a rare public statement last month calling the allegations “bizarre” and “a weak attempt at distraction.” Others named in the papers have rejected any notion of wrongdoing.

But Trump’s allies have so far backed the probe.

“Dear Lawfare Democrats: Again, lawyer up,” Mike Davis, president of the Article III Project, posted on X.

“Justice is definitely coming. Nobody is above the law. Definitely not you.”

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