Prosecutor Probing Trump's Foes Resigns Under DOJ Pressure
Prosecutor Probing Trump's Foes Resigns Under DOJ Pressure
The News
Joe diGenova, the Trump-allied lawyer tapped to run the Justice Department's sprawling investigation into President Donald Trump's political adversaries, resigned Thursday under pressure from DOJ leadership.
diGenova stepped down from his role overseeing the Justice Department's so-called grand conspiracy investigation, the south Florida-based probe intended to pursue possible charges against a swath of Trump's top political foes.
He submitted his resignation to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, ABC News first reported, according to Raw Story.
CNN reported the exit followed a series of clashes with top Justice officials over the pace of the case — including one in recent days in which someone advised diGenova he had lost the confidence of his superiors, according to a person briefed on the discussions.
"I did in fact resign," diGenova told The Associated Press, calling it an "honor and a privilege" to serve Trump and the department.
The Probe
Per CNN, the investigation — run out of Fort Pierce, Florida — is examining what Justice Department officials believe are possible crimes tied to government investigations of Trump, stretching back to the 2016 Russian election interference inquiry and running through the federal January 6 and Mar-a-Lago classified documents cases. Former CIA Director John Brennan and former FBI Director James Comey are among the former officials whose conduct is being scrutinized.
Timeline
diGenova lays out his vision for the Fort Pierce probe on Rudy Giuliani's podcast, decrying delays in bringing indictments and accusing then-Attorney General Pam Bondi of blocking his appointment to run the civil rights section in the Miami US Attorney's office, where the case is based. "If she had not done that, we would have indictments brought in the last two months," he said, per CNN.
diGenova takes over the investigation and is named counselor to the attorney general, after the ouster of Maria Medetis Long, a career prosecutor who had balked at bringing charges more quickly. CNN reported he vowed charges could come within 30 days.
CNN reported an uptick in witness interviews and, in recent days, grand jury testimony. Despite expectations at DOJ headquarters that charges could come as soon as this month, the case remains a work in progress.
diGenova resigns. He confirmed his departure but declined to discuss reports of internal disagreements.
Reactions
"It was an honor and privilege to serve the president and the department," diGenova told CNN in a brief telephone interview.
CNN's Evan Perez, quoted by Raw Story, put it bluntly: "Joe diGenova was going big with this investigation and still had nothing to show for it. That's the reason why, in the end, he was pressured to resign."
The Gateway Pundit, which described diGenova as a former US Attorney under President Ronald Reagan, framed the departure as another shake-up in the "Spygate" probe following the removal of the prosecutor who previously ran it.
CNN reported the pressure to bring a case comes from Trump himself, who has aired frustration over the slow pace of charges against foes he believes unfairly targeted him — in social media posts and in meetings with department leaders. At a White House gathering of US attorneys, Trump complained some were weak and needed to move faster on his agenda; CNN reported he fired Bondi in part over those complaints.
What's Next
The Justice Department has not said publicly who will take over the Fort Pierce investigation. CNN reported that Victoria Toensing, diGenova's wife, who joined his south Florida prosecution team, is also expected to leave the office.
Whether the grand conspiracy case produces indictments — and against whom — is now an open question. CNN reported it is unclear how far diGenova got in pursuing former President Barack Obama and other possible targets he had named publicly.
More
diGenova is a longtime Washington lawyer and former US attorney for the District of Columbia who briefly represented Trump in one of the earlier Justice Department probes now folded into the conspiracy investigation, CNN reported.
On the April podcast, Toensing said it was a mistake to charge Comey in Virginia last year in a case later dismissed: "I never as attorney general would have allowed the one count against Comey in Virginia, I would have saved it for the vast conspiracy in Fort Pierce." diGenova agreed and applied the same logic to New York Attorney General Letitia James: "You don't charge her in Virginia on mortgage fraud. You include her on a massive conspiracy count down in Miami, with a bunch of people beginning in 2017." He also floated Obama as a target: "Put Obama in the grand jury and let's have a fight over his testimony."
Poll
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