Kurt Olsen, a longtime ally of President Donald Trump, has left the Justice Department team investigating an alleged “grand conspiracy” against the president, adding to questions about the future of a probe that has yet to produce criminal charges.
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 in the Barack Obama and Joe Biden administrations took part in a coordinated effort against Trump.
His departure follows the resignation of another Trump ally, Joe diGenova, who was brought into the investigation by Attorney General Todd Blanche. DiGenova left weeks earlier amid friction with senior Justice Department officials over how the cases were being handled and how quickly they were moving.
“If you want indictments where there’s no evidence, you have an ethical problem,” diGenova told the New York Post after his exit.
The Daily Mail reported Monday that at least seven prosecutors had left the investigation. It cited a source who said pressure from Justice Department officials in Washington to seek indictments before the midterm elections contributed to the departures.
“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.”
That account of the staffing changes is disputed. Another source told the Mail that four attorneys had departed, including two whose temporary assignments had ended and one who was transferred to another position.
CBS News reported that two former prosecutors have also been hired to join the team.
The competing accounts leave the extent and circumstances of the departures unclear. The Mail’s first source described a broader exodus tied to pressure over possible indictments, while the second gave a smaller number of departures and said several resulted from temporary assignments ending or a transfer.
The Justice Department, meanwhile, said the investigation is continuing.
“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.
Olsen’s resignation places another prominent departure alongside diGenova’s exit as the Southern District of Florida team continues examining the allegations. Neither the reported personnel changes nor the department’s statement resolves whether the investigation will lead to charges.
The allegations at the center of the probe concern officials from two previous administrations and an asserted coordinated effort against Trump. The investigation has produced no criminal charges so far, even as questions about its staffing and direction have intensified.
For now, the department maintains that its attorneys remain at work on the case. The accounts provided to the Mail differ on how many prosecutors have left and why, while CBS News reports that additional lawyers have joined the team.
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