Trump DOJ appointee who led grand conspiracy probe of Trump foes resigns

WASHINGTON — The Donald Trump appointee who headed the office running a so-called “grand conspiracy” investigation looking into federal law enforcement officials who were involved in prior investigations of Trump has resigned.Attorney General Todd Blanche made the announcement on X Friday that U.S.Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Jason A.

Reding Quiñones had submitted his resignation, the second high-profile resignation at the Justice Department this week following massive midterm losses by Republicans.Blanche said they were “grateful for Jason’s leadership in combatting violent crime, drug trafficking, sex trafficking, and transnational crime, including the indictment of Raúl Castro” and that he had “served the Department multiple times over his distinguished career, and we thank him for his service to this country.”In his own post on social media, Reding Quiñones wrote that he was leaving “with immense pride in what we accomplished together and profound gratitude for the opportunity to serve our great Nation.”The “grand conspiracy” probe was seeking to charge officials over conduct that happened more than 10 years ago, based on the theory that separate investigations into Trump were part of a broader conspiracy against Trump’s rights.

It sought to tie actions dating back to the 2016 campaign to the more recent Jack Smith investigation, which led to now-dismissed charges against Trump over seeking to overturn his 2020 election loss as well as his handling of classified documents found during a 2022 search of Mar-A-Lago.Trump denied the charges.

No charges had yet been brought directly in connection with the “grand conspiracy” effort.Stacey Young, a former Justice Department lawyer who heads the group Justice Connection, said that “Jason Reding Quñiones will forever be known as this president’s Don Quixote for tilting at the windmill of the so-called grand conspiracy,” and that his “departure follows the wel...