Prosecutor brought in to lead investigation of Trump foes tells AP that
he has resigned his position
[September 11, 2026]
By ERIC TUCKER and ALANNA DURKIN RICHER
WASHINGTON (AP) — An ally of President Donald Trump said Thursday that
he has resigned from his post leading a Justice Department investigation
into whether former law enforcement and intelligence officials conspired
against the Republican president.
The departure of Joe diGenova injects instant tumult into an
investigation targeting former government officials who have scrutinized
Trump over the last decade, including in connection with Russian
interference in the 2016 presidential election and his retention of
classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida.
“I did in fact resign,” diGenova told The Associated Press, calling it
an “honor and a privilege” to serve Trump and the Justice Department.
Though diGenova declined to comment to the AP on the circumstances of
his resignation, a person familiar with the matter who insisted on
anonymity to discuss a personnel decision said the departure came amid
mounting frustration from the Justice Department and White House over
the pace and management of the probe.
In an interview later with The New York Post, diGenova responded to
criticism of his management of the investigation by saying, “If you want
indictments where there’s no evidence, you have an ethical problem.”
When reached again by the AP, diGenova said the comments were taken out
of context, adding: “There's plenty of evidence in all of these cases to
prove the theories of prosecution. It just takes time to get there, and
some people want to get there a little faster than others — and you
can’t do that.”
The investigation has always been something of a tall order, aiming to
present separate and unrelated inquiries of the president as part an
anti-Trump conspiracy by law enforcement and intelligence professionals.
Though promoted by the White House, and seized on by Trump supporters
looking for accountability against what they see as “deep state”
intelligence community actors, the conspiracy investigation has
proceeded in fits and starts since its inception a year ago.
The 81-year-old diGenova served as the U.S. attorney for the District of
Columbia during the Reagan administration and for years has been a
prominent Trump ally, including backing his efforts to overturn his 2020
election loss and publicly and repeatedly claiming that the president
was the victim of an intelligence community conspiracy.
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He was brought back to the Justice Department in April and given the
reins of the loosely defined investigation.
Five months later, no charges have been brought and it remains
unclear whether any will be, or what information has been gathered
to support any basis for the idea of a plot against Trump by the
government officials who investigated him.
Investigators have sought interviews related to the 2022 FBI search
that recovered classified documents from Mar-a-Lago and have also
focused intensely on one of Trump's chief grievances: a U.S.
intelligence community assessment that Russia interfered on his
behalf in the 2016 presidential election. The assessment has long
infuriated the president, along with a Justice Department special
counsel investigation into Russian election interference that
shadowed him during his first term.
That special counsel investigation identified widespread Russian
interference in the election but did not find evidence to prove a
criminal conspiracy between Moscow and the Trump campaign. Multiple
other government inquiries, including by the Justice Department
inspector general, have identified significant errors and omissions
in the FBI's handling of the Trump-Russia probe but did not find
evidence of criminal conduct by senior law enforcement officials.
The yearlong conspiracy investigation has hit stumbles before. Last
April, a lead national security prosecutor in the investigation of
former CIA Director John Brennan was replaced on the team after
raising questions about the strength of the case. Days later,
diGenova was sworn in.
Brennan has been investigated on allegations that he lied to
Congress about the creation of the intelligence community
assessment, which he and his lawyers have vigorously denied. In
July, he sued the Justice Department for a court order requiring the
preservation of all records from the investigation, forecasting
plans to challenge any potential indictment of him on vindictive
prosecution grounds.
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