Investigator Overseeing Probe Into Trump Opponents Breaks Silence On Abrupt Exit
Published by HuffPost
A source is testimony, not proof. Citing one is a provenance fact — it records who said what, where — and never a verification that the claim is true.
Who is named
The characters and things this document talks about — 15 in alls. Each links to everything else the record knows about them.
People 7
Beau Tremitiere James Comey Letitia James Todd Blanche Jeanine Pirro Steven Cash Joe diGenova
Organisations 7
Protect Democracy Justice Department U.S. attorney’s office in Washington… Trump Administration NBC News weaponization working group Southern District of Florida
Places 1
Claims made
Every claim in this document. Firsthand = asserted on its own basis; secondhand = recounted from elsewhere, carrying no independent weight.
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Joe diGenova resigned on Thursday
resigned Thursday
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experts say could be a sign that Trump’s pursuit of political vendettas is shakier than it seems
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diGenova made his exit amid growing tensions with senior department officials
diGenova made his exit amid growing tensions with senior department officials, according to ABC News
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diGenova called his time at the department an “honor and a privilege”
diGenova called his time at the department an “honor and a privilege”
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diGenova said he would not comment further
he would not comment further
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“The days leading up to my resignation were shrouded in the secrecy of administrative behavior, and they will remain so.”
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“I want to underscore that we were following the principles of federal prosecution all along the way, and we did that. We were moving smartly, and I underscore we were moving smartly, and then things, you know, got where they got,” he said Friday.
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“We are grateful to Joe diGenova for his many years of service to the Department. The Attorney General thanks him for his work these past five months alongside the great team of experienced prosecutors in the Southern District of Florida, led by U.S. Attorney Jason Reding Quiñones.”
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NBC confirmed in April that the 81-year-old was working on a so-called “grand conspiracy investigation” unfolding in the Southern District of Florida.
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diGenova said that if the team in Florida is allowed to do their jobs, they will succeed supremely
diGenova told NBC Friday that if the team in Florida is “allowed to do their jobs” then they will “succeed supremely”
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diGenova told NBC Friday that … the U.S. Attorney’s office in Florida was doing a “phenomenal job under the worst of circumstances.”
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The grand conspiracy investigation, overseen by U.S. Attorney Jason Quinones, a Trump appointee, is looking into former federal officials who investigated or prosecuted Trump in the past — specifically, the individuals involved in the origins of the investigation during Trump’s first term for possible collusion between Russia and the 2016 Trump campaign.
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The administration argues that the intelligence community conspired against Trump during that time
The administration argues the intelligence community conspired against Trump during this time.
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Sources who spoke to the New York Post said diGenova’s resignation came amid frustration inside the Justice Department and White House that he was “slow-rolling” indictments and falling down too many “rabbit holes.”
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Another source told the Post he was sharing “unrealistic expectations” with Trump about what the grand jury investigation could actually produce.
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But on Friday, diGenova told NBC, “I have no doubt that I was going to be able to take every one of these cases across the finish line because we had put them in perfect posture to proceed.”
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diGenova said that wanting indictments where there is no evidence is an ethical problem
When speaking to the New York Post just a day earlier, however, diGenova said, “If you want indictments where there’s no evidence, you have an ethical problem.”
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Steven Cash, the executive director of Steady State, a nonprofit advocacy group whose members are former senior national security officials, told HuffPost the resignation may signal just how thin the Justice Department’s investigation really is.
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Cash said diGenova was a “well‑respected prosecutor in the 1980s,” long before he became a “Trump sycophant.”
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“Even a guy like that, I like to think, has a conscience and personal ethics and it sounds like a lot of people put in that position don’t have the stomach to do what Trump is asking: indict innocent people.”
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The administration has been struggling to achieve convictions for Trump foes
The administration has been struggling to stick the landing on convictions for Trump foes.
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Federal judges dismissed criminal indictments against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James last year after finding that the interim U.S. attorneys tasked with bringing the cases were not lawfully appointed.
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The U.S. attorney’s office in Washington, D.C. has not fared much better
Things haven’t been much better for the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington, D.C., either.
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Jeanine Pirro has seen nearly a dozen cases she brought collapse due to lack of evidence
Former Fox host and U.S. attorney Jeanine Pirro has seen nearly a dozen cases she’s brought accusing people of threatening the president or assaulting ICE officers crumble due to lack of evidence.
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Beau Tremitiere said diGenova’s resignation signals a larger problem brewing for the administration
Beau Tremitiere, deputy director of Impact Programs and counsel for Protect Democracy, told HuffPost that diGenova’s resignation signals a larger problem brewing for the administration.
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“Yet again, Trump’s efforts to translate his personal vendettas into actual criminal punishment are failing. Joe diGenova’s resignation fits the broader pattern of this administration: noisy threats about prosecuting serious lawbreaking, followed by delay, inaction, and quiet retreat once actual evidence is required and the guardrails of the legal system kick in,” Tremitiere said.
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Under Trump, the Justice Department has become heavily politicized
Under Trump, the Justice Department has become heavily politicized.
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The agency formed a “weaponization working group” last year to investigate what the Trump administration described as “anti-conservative bias.” In reality, the group rooted out investigators and prosecutors who worked on the department’s massive probe of Jan. 6.
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In the last two years, the DOJ has regularly defied court orders, and Todd Blanche, as America’s chief law enforcement officer, has openly refuted the notion of judicial independence.
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Protect Democracy, a nonprofit organization monitoring authoritarian creep in the U.S. government, has kept a running list of actions taken by the Trump administration, and its inventory reveals the DOJ’s repeated willingness to single out anyone who criticized Trump or his policies or tried to hold him to account.
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Resignations have been in the thousands at the DOJ since Trump returned to the White House
Indeed, resignations have been in the thousands at the DOJ since Trump returned to the White House, with many career prosecutors and investigators leaving or being fired as Trump’s handpicked officials have created an increasingly political and hostile work environment.
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“I don’t think Donald Trump cares whether there’s enough evidence or if there’s a conviction. He just wants an investigation,” Cash said.
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For diGenova to resign instead of being fired could indicate how far off the rails things really are, he added.
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Cash said he respects someone with the ethical dimension to be willing to say no and walk away
“On its face, I have to respect somebody who has the ethical dimension to be willing to say no and walk away,” he said.
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Cash said maybe that’s not what happened
“But maybe that’s not what happened.”
No claims match this filter.
Syndication
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