A second senior prosecutor has resigned from his role investigating what President Donald Trump has alleged is a multiyear conspiracy plot from former government officials to undermine his first term, adding another layer to the tumult that has already plagued the inquiry.
The departure comes after reports of growing conflicts between the Justice Department and the attorneys tasked with pursuing the probe.
Kurt Olsen — a staunch Trump ally who played a key role in Trump’s attempts to subvert the results of the 2020 election — left his post working on the so-called “grand conspiracy” investigation based in the Southern District of Florida on Monday, according to The New York Times.
In June, Olsen joined the investigation into Barack Obama and Joe Biden-era officials, including former CIA Director John Brennan and former FBI Director James Comey. Olsen did not immediately respond to a request for comment on his departure.
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The DOJ did not respond to a request for comment from The Washington Sun.
“Leadership has full confidence in the great team of experienced prosecutors in the Southern District of Florida led by U.S. Attorney Quiñones,” a spokesperson for the Justice Department wrote in a statement. “The Department’s work on this investigation continues, and we are grateful to the talented team of attorneys, which continues to grow, doing the work each day.”
Olsen’s departure comes weeks after another longtime Trump ally and legal adviser, Joseph diGenova, resigned from his role leading the investigation earlier this month.
Attorney General Todd Blanche tasked diGenova with overseeing the probe in April, and CNN reported that diGenova’s decision to step down came after a particularly tense call with Blanche regarding the former top prosecutor blocking Justice Department lawyers from assisting in the investigation amid concerns about the pace of the probe.
DiGenova did not elaborate on his decision to step down, saying only that “it was an honor and a privilege to serve the president and the department,” when reached by the Sun on Sept. 10.
The prosecutors had been looking into Brennan, Comey and other individuals who were involved in investigations targeting Trump.
Brennan and Comey faced Trump’s ire for their handling of the Obama administration’s probe into the Trump campaign’s connections to Russia that came to define the 2016 presidential election and followed Trump throughout his first term. Both have been subpoenaed in the ongoing “grand conspiracy” probe.
The investigation has generated more than 130 subpoenas, according to Axios’ report in March. The large net cast by the investigators prompted speculation about a lack of evidence, with a lawyer for Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe — who was also hit with a subpoena — calling the investigation “a vendetta in search of a crime,” according to CBS News.
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