A longtime Trump ally has stepped down from his position heading a Department of Justice investigation into whether former law enforcement and intelligence officials orchestrated a conspiracy against the former president.
“Sometimes people want things done faster, and that’s all you can do,” Joe diGenova told The Guardian on Thursday, appearing to reference frustrations among Trump loyalists that retribution cases weren’t progressing quickly enough.
“The bottom line is it takes a long time to build strong cases, and you simply have to work at it,” he added. “All you can do is do your best under the circumstances.”
The departure creates immediate uncertainty in an investigation targeting former government officials who have investigated Trump over the past decade, including matters related to Russian interference in the 2016 election and his retention of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida.
The Florida-based investigation has proceeded unevenly since its launch a year ago, with its scope loosely defined, though it showed recent signs of momentum through new subpoenas demanding grand jury testimony.
While retribution against Trump’s perceived adversaries has been a top priority, diGenova’s comments suggest internal dissent over the cases. He declined to specify his reasons for resigning.
“I’m not going to make any comments about indictments or anything else,” diGenova said. “When you’ve been a prosecutor as long as I have, you know how to build cases, and it takes time. That’s just part of the process.”
The DOJ issued a statement after publication: “We are grateful to Joe diGenova for his many years of service. The Attorney General thanks him for his work these past five months alongside the experienced prosecutors in the Southern District of Florida, led by US Attorney Jason Reding Quiñones.”
During the first Trump administration, diGenova served as a legal adviser to John Solomon, a conservative journalist who played an official role in White House efforts to promote conspiracy allegations.
In a later interview with the New York Post, diGenova responded to criticism of his management: “If you want indictments where there’s no evidence, you have an ethical problem.”
A DOJ spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comment.
The 81-year-old diGenova served as US attorney for the District of Columbia during the Reagan administration. A close Trump ally, he was brought back to the DOJ in April and tasked with leading an investigation into alleged conspiracy against Trump.
DiGenova had previously asked then-Attorney General Pam Bondi to appoint him and had publicly and repeatedly claimed Trump was the victim of an intelligence community conspiracy.
But five months later, no charges have been filed, and it remains unclear whether any will be, or what evidence has been gathered to support the notion of a government plot against Trump by the officials who investigated him.
The investigation has focused intensely on one of Trump’s chief grievances: a US intelligence community assessment that Russia interfered on his behalf in the 2016 election.
The president and some supporters have long characterized that conclusion as a “deep state” plot to undermine his victory. Multiple government investigations, including by a DOJ special counsel and the department’s inspector general, have concluded that Russia interfered broadly to help elect Trump.
The year-long investigation had proceeded unevenly before diGenova’s appointment, which came after a career national security prosecutor playing a key role was replaced after raising doubts about its legal viability.
The Associated Press contributed reporting
