Prosecutor in Trump ‘Conspiracy’ Probe Resigns
Joe diGenova, the 81-year-old Trump loyalist tapped to oversee a sprawling Justice Department investigation into President Donald Trump’s perceived political enemies, abruptly resigned on Thursday, September 10, without a single charge having been filed in the case.
According to NBC News, diGenova delivered his resignation letter to Attorney General Todd Blanche at 3 p.m. ET. The so-called “grand conspiracy” probe, run out of the Southern District of Florida, had issued dozens of grand jury subpoenas over the past year but produced no criminal prosecutions.
Context
The investigation purported to examine whether Obama- and Biden-era officials were part of a long-running conspiracy to keep Trump out of political office, tying together the 2016 Russia interference investigation, the Mar-a-Lago classified documents probe and efforts related to the 2020 election, as CBS News reported.
DiGenova was appointed in April 2026, shortly after then-Attorney General Pam Bondi was fired. He replaced career prosecutor Maria Medetis Long, who had objected to advancing an investigation into former CIA Director John Brennan over allegedly false testimony about the intelligence community’s 2016 assessment, according to CBS News.
DiGenova, a former U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia under President Ronald Reagan from 1983 to 1988, had not worked as a federal prosecutor for decades. In the intervening years he became a staunch MAGA ally and right-wing commentator, and he represented Trump’s campaign in its failed effort to overturn the 2020 election results.
Key Developments
In a brief call with ABC News, diGenova confirmed the timing of his departure. “I resigned by letter today at 3 o’clock,” he said. “It was an honor and a privilege to serve the president and the department.” He added, “I’m not going to say anything further. I wish them well.” Asked by NBC News why he was leaving, he declined to comment, saying only, “I’m moving on.”
While diGenova resigned and was not fired, a source familiar with the determination told NBC News that Justice Department officials had already lost confidence in his leadership skills and his ability to run the investigation. Department leadership felt the probe was not moving quickly enough, even though diGenova had been provided with a team of DOJ lawyers from Washington, the source said.
A Justice Department spokesperson offered a measured tribute. “We are grateful to Joe diGenova for his many years of service to the Department,” the spokesperson said, according to ABC News and CBS News. “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.”
His wife, attorney Victoria Toensing, who also worked with the federal prosecution team in Fort Pierce, Florida, left the Justice Department the following day, CBS News reported.
DiGenova’s exit came just days after a burst of activity in the long-running investigation. Lawyers representing some witnesses received emails alerting them that their clients would receive grand jury subpoenas, and investigators reached out to lawyers for former FBI agents who had investigated Trump over classified records to request voluntary interviews, per CBS News.
Analysis
The probe operated in a venue that has historically favored Trump. It was overseen by Reding Quiñones, the Trump-appointed U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and used a grand jury in a Fort Pierce court run by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump-friendly judge, according to NBC News.
Brennan, a principal target, has denied wrongdoing and sued the Justice Department earlier this year to force the preservation of documents related to what he calls a “vindictive prosecution.” As All Rise News reported, Brennan filed his complaint in the District of Columbia rather than Florida, seeking to compel the government to preserve evidence before any indictment.
“This fictitious ‘grand conspiracy’ is ill-defined but is apparently based on the theoretical premise that the investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 election and the other Trump-related investigations in the succeeding years were all the product of a conspiracy to deny President Trump his civil rights,” Brennan’s lawsuit states.
As USA TODAY noted, some legal experts have questioned whether prosecutors could bring a criminal case in Florida given that much of the Russia investigation activity took place in Washington and Virginia. It is also unclear how separate Trump-related investigations examining different issues at different times could be folded into a single conspiracy.
Trump allies had hoped the probe could ensnare former Special Counsel Jack Smith, Brennan and former FBI Director James Comey, who has already been charged by the Trump administration in two other cases, USA TODAY reported. None has been charged in this matter.
The investigation also faced a statute-of-limitations hurdle. Because the probe reached back a decade to the Russia investigation, much of the conduct fell far outside the typical five-year window for most federal crimes, NBC News reported.
What’s Next
No specific person will be named to replace diGenova, and the investigation is expected to move forward without delays, with the Washington-based team of DOJ lawyers taking the helm, according to NBC News. It remains unclear whether the grand conspiracy investigation will survive in a meaningful form or quietly wind down, and whether Brennan or other targets will ultimately face charges.
For now, the resignation underscores the difficulties the Justice Department has faced in translating aggressive political rhetoric into courtroom results — leaving one of its most politically charged investigations without a leader and without a single prosecution to show for it.