A Specific Incident Came First
Joe diGenova says he decided to leave after five months leading the Justice Department’s Southern District of Florida investigation into whether federal officials conspired to target President Donald Trump. In a Friday phone call with NBC News’ Ryan Reilly, the veteran prosecutor said, “Everybody was in their lane, and then some lanes got crossed, and then I decided to leave.” He acknowledged that a specific incident came before his resignation but would not describe it. He characterized the matter as confidential administrative conduct inside the department. No one asked him to resign, he said. He made the choice himself, drawing on his experience as a U.S. attorney, assistant U.S. attorney, special counsel and counselor to an attorney general.
Main Justice and the U.S. Attorney’s Office Clashed
DiGenova said disputes between Main Justice and U.S. attorneys’ offices happen regularly over resources, investigative direction, and who should be indicted and when. When asked whether he had sidelined people sent from Washington, he declined to answer. “As a courtesy to the Department — and let me underscore, as a courtesy to the Department — I am not going to discuss that.” He added that the days before his departure were “shrouded in the secrecy of administrative behavior.”
He Defends the Team’s Work and Pace
He also pushed back on a New York Post report that quoted him as saying, “If you want indictments where there’s no evidence, you have an ethical problem.” He told the Associated Press that the remark was taken out of context. He said there was “plenty of evidence in all of these cases to prove the theories of prosecution,” but added that reaching that point takes time and cannot be rushed.
DiGenova also said his team lacked a SCIF, or Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility, which he called very important for a case involving classified information. The group proceeded anyway, and he insisted it followed federal prosecution principles and moved “smartly.” He expressed full confidence in the Southern District of Florida prosecutors remaining on the case. His wife and legal partner, Victoria Toensing, is also leaving the department. She had been part of a broader team that included proponents of conspiracy theories about the 2020 election. DiGenova also maintained that the prosecution could overcome statute-of-limitations hurdles.
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