A longtime ally to Donald Trump who was tapped to lead a sprawling conspiracy investigation into the president’s political enemies abruptly resigned Thursday after the case failed to produce any indictments over the last year. Joseph diGenova, the 81-year-old attorney who joined the president’s failed legal efforts to overturn 2020 election results, was hired by the Department of Justice in April to oversee an investigation into Trump’s chief grievances. He submitted his resignation to Attorney General Todd Blanche this week amid alleged frustrations among prosecutors and the White House on the slow pace of the probe.
In an interview with The New York Post, diGenova said: “If you want indictments where there’s no evidence, you have an ethical problem.” He later told the that his quote was taken out of context, adding: “There’s plenty of evidence in all of these cases to prove the theories of prosecution. It just takes time to get there, and some people want to get there a little faster than others — and you can’t do that.” diGenova has declined to comment further, adding only in a statement that it was an “honor and a privilege to serve the president and the department.” Trump — after campaigning on a theme of “retribution” and pledging to be a “warrior” and “justice” to those who were “betrayed” by the government — has since publicly demanded criminal prosecutions of his political foes. Last year, a top federal prosecutor in Florida reportedly issued more than two dozen subpoenas as part of a sprawling criminal inquiry into an alleged “conspiracy” among former officials who previously investigated the president.
Those subpoenas reportedly sought information and testimony from prominent officials close to intelligence reports alleging Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, findings that the president has repeatedly labeled a “hoax” and a “witch hunt” against him. The announcement of a grand jury — which was set to begin in January — signaled a wider investigation into what Trump’s allies have labeled a Democratic “conspiracy” against the president, including the federal law enforcement raid at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago compound and a federal indictment targeting his efforts to reverse his 2020 election loss. But five months after diGenova took the reins of the investigation, it remains unclear what, if any, progress has been made.
Attorney Jason Reding Quiñones,” the person said. In November, Quiñones reportedly called a meeting of major crimes investigators after two top prosecutors resigned from his office over the handling of the investigation. That same month, Trump ally Mike Davis — an influential legal ally to the president — said that his “buddy” Quiñones was preparing to impanel a grand jury that “should be fully up and running by January.” A court document noting the grand jury appeared to confirm the investigation.
Career prosecutor Maria Medetis Long was reportedly forced off the case after she allegedly resisted pressure to quickly bring charges against former CIA director John Brennan. DiGenova, who represented Trump during his 2020 campaign and throughout the Russia investigation, was brought on in April as “counselor to the attorney general.” Also assigned to the case is Christopher-James DeLorenz, a former clerk to District Judge Aileen Cannon during the Mar-a-Lago investigation who was transferred to south Florida from Washington, D.C. Cannon — a Trump appointee — dismissed the Mar-a-Lago case against the president, who was accused of illegally withholding classified documents at his home and then obstructing law enforcement efforts to get them back.
She is the only judge in Ft. Pierce district in Florida, where a bulk of the “grand conspiracy” case appears to be playing out. FBI Director Kash Patel, meanwhile, has assembled an alleged “payback squad” composed of agents willing to target Trump’s supposed foes and handle politically charged cases.
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