Trump Loyalist, Several Prosecutors Exit DOJ’s ‘Grand Conspiracy’ Probe

Francis Chung/POLITICO via AP Images

Kurt Olsen, a longtime ally of President Donald Trump, and several other prosecutors have left the Justice Department team investigating the so-called “grand conspiracy” against Trump, throwing the future of the sprawling probe into even more uncertainty.

Olsen resigned from the department after working with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida on the investigation. The probe has examined allegations that officials from the Barack Obama and Joe Biden administrations participated in a coordinated effort against Trump. It has yet to produce criminal charges.

His exit comes weeks after Joe diGenova, another Trump ally brought in by Attorney General Todd Blanche to work on the investigation, abruptly resigned amid friction with senior DOJ officials over the handling and pace of the cases.

“If you want indictments where there’s no evidence, you have an ethical problem,” diGenova told the New York Post.

The Daily Mail, which first reported the latest wave of departures on Monday, said at least seven prosecutors have left the investigation, citing a source who said pressure from Justice Department officials in Washington to pursue indictments before the midterm elections helped fuel the exodus.

“They started asking questions, and then they started giving orders to line attorneys about how to conduct the grand jury,” the source told the Mail. “The attorneys revolted, and then objections were made to the department, and then that’s when everything exploded.”

Another source disputed that account of the staffing losses, though, telling the Mail that four attorneys had departed, including two whose temporary assignments had concluded and another who was transferred elsewhere. Two former prosecutors have also been hired to join the team, according to CBS News.

The Justice Department insisted the investigation remains active.

“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,” a DOJ spokesperson told the Mail.

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