Trump admin pick to oversee a conspiracy investigation into president’s foes resigns after DOJ clashes

By Evan Perez, CNN

(CNN) — The Trump administration’s pick to oversee a conspiracy investigation into the president’s foes has resigned under pressure from the Justice Department.

Joe diGenova stepped down from his role overseeing DOJ’s vast so-called conspiracy investigation amid disagreements with top Justice Department officials over the pace of the south Florida-based probe that was intended to pursue possible charges against a swath of Donald Trump’s top political foes, according to people briefed on the matter.

DiGenova’s resignation came after a series of clashes with top Justice officials, including one in recent days with someone who advised him he had lost the confidence of his superiors, one of the people briefed on the discussions said.

“It was an honor and privilege to serve the president and the department,” diGenova told CNN in a brief telephone interview. He declined to discuss the internal disputes that led to his resignation.

His departure is the latest upheaval for an investigation that diGenova took over in April, vowing that he could bring charges in 30 days, after the ouster of Maria Medetis Long, a seasoned career prosecutor who previously oversaw it. Medetis Long had balked at bringing charges more quickly.

Pressure on a conspiracy probe

The conspiracy probe is examining what Justice Department officials believe are possible crimes associated with government investigations into Trump stretching as far back as the 2016 Russian election interference inquiry and culminating with the federal charges against Trump in the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot and Mar-a-Lago classified documents cases.

Former CIA Director John Brennan, former FBI Director James Comey and others have been among the former government officials whose conduct is being scrutinized in the investigation, CNN has previously reported.

DiGenova is a longtime Washington lawyer and former Washington, DC, US attorney who briefly represented the president in one of the earlier Justice Department probes that is part of the conspiracy investigation.

After taking over the conspiracy probe in April, being named counselor to the attorney general, diGenova has overseen an uptick of witness interviews and in recent days grand jury testimony from witnesses in the case, according to people briefed no the matter. But despite expectations at Justice Department headquarters that charges could be brought as soon as this month, the case appears to still be a work in progress.

‘Missing the forest for the trees’

In the wake of diGenova’s resignation, a portrait is emerging of an investigation unmoored from a lack of leadership with more than a dozen prosecutors assigned to chasing disparate targets and little to show for their efforts, according to two people familiar with the investigation.

“Joe came in pretty hot,” one of the people familiar with the probe told CNN. “He had a lot of things he wanted to look into.”

After initial signs that prosecutors would start with a relatively straightforward case, seeking charges against Brennan for alleged false statements in congressional testimony, diGenova decided he wanted to pursue more targets in a broader case, according one of the people familiar with the investigation. The source described it as “going down 900 rabbit holes.”

“He was missing the forest the trees,” the source briefed on the probe told CNN.

What’s more, the lack of focus caused acrimony inside the team led by diGenova, who was operating mostly from an office in Fort Pierce, Florida. Career lawyers assigned to the case were met with angry tirades from diGenova and were at times sidelined, according to one of the people familiar with the investigation.

At Justice Department headquarters, dissatisfaction grew to include the performance of US Attorney Jason Reding Quiñones, who since last year has repeatedly promised to bring charges in the investigation, the two sources familiar with the probe said.

Justice Department officials always intended Quiñones, as the top Senate-confirmed prosecutor in the district, to continue to oversee the probe, the people familiar said. The appointment of diGenova was a clear sign that Justice Department leadership didn’t have confidence that Quiñones could deliver, one of them added.

In a recent clash with top Justice officials, Quiñones sought to disavow any responsibility for what has gone wrong with the investigation, one person familiar with the investigation told CNN. Quiñones was told to stop traveling to Washington and elsewhere and to focus on his job in Miami, a person familiar with the investigation said.

A spokesperson for Quiñones didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

With the latest ouster, the investigation is expected to continue and a possible standalone case could come more quickly, people familiar with the investigation said.

Top Justice officials made clear that “moving faster on cases,” was the priority for all prosecutors, a person familiar with the investigation said.

Pressure from the top

The pressure to bring a case comes from the top. Trump himself has expressed his frustrations about the slow pace of bringing charges against foes he believes unfairly targeted him in the past. He has expressed his discontent in social media posts and in meetings with department leaders.

At a White House gathering with a group of US attorneys, Trump complained that some were weak and that they needed to move more quickly to deliver on his agenda, CNN previously reported. He fired former Attorney General Pam Bondi in part because of these complaints.

DiGenova laid out some of his vision for the Fort Pierce, Florida-based conspiracy investigation in an April 2 appearance on Rudy Giuliani’s podcast in which he decried delays in bringing indictments in the probe. He accused Bondi of blocking plans to appoint him to run the civil rights section in the Miami US Attorney’s office where the conspiracy probe is being run.

“If she had not done that, we would have indictments brought in the last two months,” diGenova said at the time.

Victoria Toensing, diGenova’s wife, who later joined him on his south-Florida prosecution team, appeared alongside him on the podcast.

She said it was a mistake to indict Comey, the former FBI director, in Virginia last year, a case that was 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,” she said.

DiGenova agreed, adding “You do the same thing with [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 named former President Barack Obama and others in his administration as possible targets.

“Put Obama in the grand jury and let’s have a fight over his testimony,” he said.

It’s not clear how far diGenova managed to get in his pursuit of Obama and other possible targets of his investigation. Toensing also is expected to depart the office.

This story has been updated with additional details.

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