Time Runs Out on the Grandest Conspirator

As ABC first reported, Joe DiGenova quit his job yesterday as the chief enforcer of Trump’s grievances. Joe diGenova submitted his resignation to Attorney General Todd Blanche amid what sources described as growing frustrations from Trump and senior DOJ officials regarding his work on the so-called “grand conspiracy” investigation based out of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of Florida. NYPost had the most detailed explanation of the departure: People at DOJ claimed he was slow-rolling his task, and had sidelined people Main DOJ sent down to help — though DiGenova has tried to claim his “no evidence” comment was taken (by the NYPost!) out of context. Sources said diGenova had lost support from Department of Justice leaders and the White House amid his “grand conspiracy” investigation, with one source suggesting that the 81-year-old prosecutor and former Trump defense lawyer was “slow-rolling” indictments and getting lost down “rabbit holes.” Asked whether he had lost focus, diGenova dismissed the accusation and shot back: “If you want indictments where there’s no evidence, you have an ethical problem.” Another source added that the diGenova had been sharing “unrealistic expectations” for the probe with the president about what was possible and not possible, leading to a confrontation with Attorney General Todd Blanche. John Solomon, who has been laundering false claims for use in this conspiracy theory, insists the investigation is still ongoing, with what he calls “Senior DOJ prosecutors” still working on it. With a tiny handful of exceptions, there are no senior prosecutors left at DOJ. There are mediocre lawyers who’ve been promoted for the fealty and willingness to commit crimes in the service of Trump’s demands. The move came a week after Aakash Singh — who played a key role in Todd Blanche’s most egregious abuses and who has made stupid demands about the timing of other investigative steps — was promoted to Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General. The Justice Department promoted Aakash Singh, an aide responsible for the aggressive overhaul of US attorneys’ offices to meet Trump priorities, to a top leadership role, said two people familiar with the move. Singh, 34, is now principal associate deputy attorney general, overseeing operations at DOJ field offices and the litigating divisions within department headquarters. Singh, in his prior role as associate DAG, became known for a brash style during signature weekly meetings in which he once directed leaders of all 93 US attorneys offices that President Donald Trump is their “chief client.” Attorney General Todd Blanche, in one of his first major personnel changes since being sworn in last month, is now handing Singh a more sprawling portfolio. Past PADAGs, including Trump’s initial pick in this administration, Emil Bove, have wielded significant law enforcement power behind the scenes by applying tough tactics — at times making unpopular decisions affecting the career workforce. Thus far, Singh has always found some lackey to do his dirty work for him, with increasing effects on those lackey’s ethical profile. Curiously, Mike Davis, the powerful blowhard and Singh associate who often orders up investigative steps from Xitter, was silent about DiGenova’s departure. We’ll soon see whether Singh finds another lackey to destroy their legal career in service of Trump’s grievances. Prosecuting innocent democrats on false charges while protecting guilty republican criminals seems like a job tailor made for conservative media propagandists. WCPGW? Maybe Joe and Victoria watched Two Prosecutors on streaming and decided to call it quits before they ended up on the receiving end of the grand jury process. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_Prosecutors When the writing appears on the wall, some people read it; others desperately ignore it and claim it’s not there. I have to call BS on this, “Another source added that the diGenova had been sharing “unrealistic expectations” for the probe with the president about what was possible and not possible, leading to a confrontation with Attorney General Todd Blanche.” If Trump approves and likes what he’s hearing, how can Blanche have an issue? The only thing that makes sense in this context is that Joey was feeding Trump direct BS without going through Blanche and maybe poisoning Trump against Blanche (“DoJ isn’t giving us the staffing we need…”). Blanche has shown a clear standard for vindictive/selective prosecutions lacking evidence, so I can’t imagine that that changed. Sobering stuff, Marcy. This is NOT a specific DOJ story, but a strong illustration of what is happening across the government. Kennedy is killing the professional staff and reputation of DHS and all the agencies associated with public health. Hegseth is dismantling the US military, flag officer by flag officer, eliminating institutional memory and diminishing the competence of a military who are required to do things that are more complicated than blowing up stuff and making little rocks out of big rocks. The IRS is a shadow of its former self, as collecting taxes has been replaced with coddling the investor class and chasing phantom progressive 501(c)3s for illegal political activity. Non-partisan number crunchers at the Census Bureau, the Labor Department, and elsewhere have been neutered – prevented from collecting certain kinds of data and asked to massage other kinds of data to make the president look good. Etc., etc., et f***ing cetera. Personally, I fear for the same thing happening at State, but you don’t see the carnage played out the way you do with DOJ or many of these other public-facing parts of government. Flunkies like these DOJ lawyers you speak of are in court every day, and careful observers can document the atrocities as they file their absurd claims, reveal their dubious tactics, and otherwise make if obvious that things are Not Right at the DOJ headquarters and the various US Attorney’s offices around the country. At State, however, there is none of that obvious visibility. Instead, we have stories of shuttered USAID offices and State folks having to pick up the pieces that are left. We have stories of the US withdrawing from WHO, and when Ebola raises its head again in Africa, State and the medical folks at CDC and elsewhere are hamstrung. I wonder about the clash between career diplomatic staffers and the partisan minions running the show. The most public displays of the problems at State are perhaps the collapse of our relationship with Canada and the ongoing “negotiations” with Russia, Iran, and other nations in the Middle East. When the major negotiators for the United States of America are not seasoned diplomats or the senior leadership at the State Department, but instead are two real estate speculators who also engage in strong personal work to enrich the president, that is a very disturbing sign. To paraphrase Louis XIV, “Le département d’État, c’est Trump.” Judging by the fund-raising e-mail I get, there are quite a few State’s Attorneys out there who see opportunities for a promotion coming up in the next Administration. I wish there was some comparable way to rebuild scientific expertise. Kennedy is HHS. DHS is ICE and CBP. Pam Bondi must be smirking about this news.