WASHINGTON (AP) — An ally of President Donald Trump said Thursday that he has resigned from his post leading a Justice Department investigation into whether former law enforcement and intelligence officials conspired against the Republican president.
The departure injects instant tumult into an investigation targeting former government officials who have investigated Trump over the last decade, including in connection with Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and his retention of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida.
“I did in fact resign,” Joe diGenova told The Associated Press, calling it an “honor and a privilege” to serve Trump and the Justice Department.
Though diGenova declined to comment on the circumstances of his resignation, a person familiar with the matter who insisted on anonymity to discuss a personnel decision said the departure came amid mounting frustration from the Justice Department and White House over the pace and management of the probe. The Florida-based investigation has proceeded in fits and starts since its inception a year ago, with its contours loosely defined, though it had shown recent signs of activity with new subpoenas demanding testimony before a federal grand jury.
The 81-year-old diGenova served as the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia during the Reagan administration and for years has been a close Trump ally, including backing his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss and publicly and repeatedly claiming that the president was the victim of an intelligence community conspiracy.
He was brought back to the Justice Department in April and given responsibility for an investigation aimed at trying to prove a conspiracy that violated Trump's rights.
But five months later, no charges have been brought and it remains unclear whether any will be, or what information has been gathered to support any basis for the idea of a plot against Trump by the government officials who investigated him.
The investigation has focused intensely on one of Trump's chief grievances: a U.S. intelligence community assessment that Russia interfered on his behalf in the 2016 presidential election, a conclusion the president and some of his supporters have long decried as a “deep state” plot to undermine the legitimacy of his win.
He was also shadowed throughout much of his first term by a Justice Department special counsel investigation that found that Russia had interfered in sweeping fashion to help get Trump elected, through the inquiry did not find evidence to prove a criminal conspiracy between Moscow and his campaign. Multiple government investigations, including by the Justice Department inspector general, have identified significant errors and omissions in the FBI's handling of the Trump-Russia probe but did not find evidence of criminal conduct by senior law enforcement officials.
The yearlong conspiracy investigation has hit stumbles before, including the departure from the team last April of a career national security prosecutor who had been playing a key role in the inquiry but was replaced after raising doubts about the case.
The probe is also facing a legal challenge from former CIA Director John Brennan, who has been investigated on allegations that he lied to Congress in 2023 about the creation of the intelligence community assessment — which he and his lawyers have denied. Brennan in July sued the Justice Department for a court order requiring the preservation of all records from the investigation, so that he can attack any potential prosecution that arises on vindictive prosecution grounds.
