Joseph diGenova, the MAGA loyalist who oversaw a Florida-based investigation that was widely perceived to be a personal vengeance mission against President Donald Trump’s political enemies, quit Thursday afternoon.
DiGenova, who was sworn in as counselor to the attorney general in April, sent the Department of Justice a letter at 3 p.m. informing top officials of his decision, he told The Washington Sun.
“It was an honor and a privilege to serve the president and the department,” he said, declining to elaborate on why he stepped down.
Among the many targets of the inquest was former CIA director John Brennan, who was being criminally investigated over his handling of the Obama administration’s probe into Trump-Russia connections that muddied the 2016 presidential election and followed Trump throughout his first term, according to two sources familiar with the investigation.
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DiGenova had publicly accused Brennan of being a “real traitor” and had already advocated for a criminal prosecution of the former CIA director before joining the investigation. His appointment to the DOJ role followed the removal of career national security prosecutor Maria Medetis Long, who raised concerns about a rushed effort to bring charges against Brennan.
That grand jury investigation, although cloaked in secrecy, appeared to be a frustrated effort that was briefly pursued in Washington but eventually relocated to South Florida, where top DOJ officials could count on a loyal Trump appointee, U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones, to be in charge of the case.
The investigation was specifically based in Fort Pierce, where the local federal district court keeps a single judge at a faraway outpost: U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, also a Trump appointee regarded by the White House to be politically amenable.
After a relatively quiet period that lasted several months, The Associated Press reported on Tuesday that the DOJ issued a new round subpoenas seeking testimony before a grand jury there — signs that prosecutors were still moving forward on a case that purports to show the existence of an anti-Trump grand conspiracy across U.S. spy agencies.
Concerns that diGenova had been “slow rolling” the investigation may have played a role in his abrupt departure, the New York Post reported. He denied allegations that he had lost focus in an interview with the newspaper Thursday.
“If you want indictments where there’s no evidence, you have an ethical problem,” diGenova said.
DiGenova also played a role in Trump’s failed efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, demanding that Trump’s top cybersecurity official, Christopher Krebs, be “drawn and quartered” and “taken out at dawn and shot” for his role in rejecting the president’s election claims. DiGenova later apologized for the statements.
The Justice Department did not comment on the circumstances surrounding diGenova’s departure, but recognized him for his service in a statement Friday morning.
“The Attorney General thanks [diGenova] 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,” a spokesperson said in an email.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
This story has been updated with further information.
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