Donald Trump after he was sworn in as president on 20 January 2017, after an election a special counsel concluded Russia had interfered in. Photograph: Justin Lane/EPAView image in fullscreenDonald Trump after he was sworn in as president on 20 January 2017, after an election a special counsel concluded Russia had interfered in. Photograph: Justin Lane/EPATrump ally resigns from post leading inquiry into alleged conspiracy against presidentJoe diGenova led investigation focused on intelligence assessment that Russia interfered in 2016 election
An ally of Donald Trump said on Thursday that he has resigned from his post leading a Department of Justice investigation into whether former law enforcement and intelligence officials conspired against the Republican president.
“I did in fact resign,” Joe diGenova told the Associated Press, calling it an “honor and a privilege” to serve Trump and the justice department.
He declined to comment on the circumstances of his departure, which came just five months after he was brought back to the justice department to help oversee a loosely defined investigation targeting former government officials who over the last decade have scrutinized Trump in various criminal inquiries.
Read moreA spokesperson for the justice department did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
The departure injects instant tumult into the investigation, which had shown recent signs of accelerating its pace with new subpoenas demanding testimony before a federal grand jury in Florida, where the investigation has been based.
The 81-year-old diGenova served as the US attorney for the District of Columbia during the Reagan administration. A close Trump ally, he was brought back to the justice department in April and given responsibility for an investigation aimed at trying to establish a conspiracy against Trump.
DiGenova had previously asked then US attorney general Pam Bondi to appoint him to the job and had openly and repeatedly claimed Trump was the victim of an intelligence community conspiracy.
Five months later, no charges have been brought and it remains unclear whether any will be, or what information – if any – has been gathered to support the idea of a conspiracy against Trump.
The investigation has focused intensely on one of Trump’s chief grievances: a US intelligence community assessment that Russia had interfered on his behalf in the 2016 presidential election.
The president and some of his supporters have long decried that conclusion as a “deep state” plot to undermine the legitimacy of his win. Multiple government investigations, including by a justice department special counsel and by the department’s own inspector general, have concluded that Russia interfered in sweeping fashion to help get Trump elected.
The year-long investigation had proceeded in fits and starts well before diGenova’s appointment, which was announced soon after a career national security prosecutor who had been playing a key role in the investigation was replaced on the inquiry after raising doubts about its legal viability.
