Trump ‘grand conspiracy’ case in crisis as lawyers defy Todd Blanche and QUIT in mass exodus
Longtime Trump loyalist Kurt Olsen and at least six other prosecutors have departed the so-called ‘grand conspiracy’ investigation in the Southern District of Florida – delivering a major blow to the Justice Department’s long-running probe.
News of the departures, first reported by the Daily Mail, follows weeks of uncertainty over the fate of the investigation in Miami following the abrupt resignation of Trump ally Joseph diGenova earlier this month.
DiGenova had been tapped by Attorney General Todd Blanche in April to probe whether US intelligence and law enforcement officials, including former President Barack Obama’s CIA Director John Brennan, were part of a years-long plot against Donald Trump.
News of their exits casts fresh doubt as to next steps in the wide-reaching investigation in Florida.
It also reportedly follows fresh pressure from DOJ officials in Washington to proceed with securing indictments before the midterm elections, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Those requests appear to cut against longstanding Justice Department norms to avoid taking ‘overt’ investigative steps in politically sensitive cases within 60 to 90 days of an election.
A source familiar with the matter said the indictment pressure from Main Justice was at the heart of the departures – pointing in particular to an explosive meeting in the Southern District of Florida earlier this month.
Attorney General Todd Blanche speaks on stage on the first day of the 2026 Republican National Convention
Attorney Joe diGenova, a longtime Trump ally, was tapped to oversee the investigation in the Southern District of Florida
‘They started asking questions, and then they started giving orders to line attorneys about how to conduct the grand jury,’ this person told the Daily Mail. ‘The attorneys revolted, and then objections were made to the department, and then that’s when everything exploded.’
The Daily Mail was told the total number of departures stood between seven and eight, including Olsen.
Another source familiar with the matter disputed the number of departures, telling the Daily Mail the total number stood at four, and included two US attorneys on details that ended, and one JAG attorney sent out on a different assignment.
Two additional prosecutors were recently hired to join the team, and are expected to start within the next week or two, this individual added.
Asked about the status of the probe, a spokesperson for the Justice Department told the Daily Mail that leadership ‘has full confidence in the great team of experienced prosecutors in the Southern District of Florida led by US Attorney Quiñones.’
‘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.’
President Donald Trump, then-Attorney General Pam Bondi and then-Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche speak to reporters at the White House
News of Olsen’s departure injects fresh uncertainty into the long-running investigation, and comes after the Daily Mail had exclusively reported last week that the so-called grand conspiracy probe was on the rocks – though DOJ officials insisted the investigation would continue.
Maria Medetis Long, a senior career prosecutor, was reportedly taken off the case earlier this year after she expressed concerns about the strength of the evidence.
A coterie of Trump-friendly names was assigned to the probe instead, including longtime Trump ally Joseph diGenova, and Kurt Olsen, a former White House official and 2020 election denier.
As of this writing, both diGenova and Olsen are gone.
Olsen did not immediately respond to the Daily Mail’s request for comment.
The Daily Mail previously reported that the probe in Miami had been hitting dead ends for months – suggesting that the so-called ‘grand conspiracy’ probe that the president has obsessed over, publicly and privately – for the better part of the last six years – is all but dead.
‘This case was initiated to make the president and the public think something is happening down there, when in reality, it’s not,’ one DOJ official told the Daily Mail last week.
A DOJ official previously disputed the notion that the case in Florida is stalled and has no support from Main Justice.
Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter and another attorney traveled down to Florida after DiGenova’s departure to check in on progress, a law enforcement official told the Daily Mail last week.
