Top Justice Department Official Resigns After Refusing To Investigate Biden-era Government Contract

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Source: Meidas Touch

This afternoon, a senior prosecutor in the U.S. Department of Justice, Denise Cheung, resigned. According to reports, her resignation came after she was asked by the Trump Administration to open an investigation into a government contract awarded during the Biden administration. Cheung had served for over 24 years in the Justice Department prior to her resignation today.

According to Reuters, Cheung was asked to launch a grand jury investigation into whether the government contract at issue, which dealt with climate related issues, was unlawfully awarded. After determining that there was insufficient evidence to launch the probe, she refused.

Afterwards, Trump officials demanded that she pursue a freeze of assets of the individuals subject to the government contract. Her resignation has raised alarms about the increasing politicization of the U.S. Department of Justice. In recent weeks, several career prosecutors have either resigned or been reassigned after facing pressure from Trump officials.

The situation also sheds light on the challenges faced by the Department of Justice in maintaining its autonomy amid external pressures.

Read more: https://meidasnews.com/news/top-justice-department-official-resigns-after-refusing-to-investigate-biden-era-government-contract

[BOSSHOG]

1. Trump administration concerned about unlawful acts

[mpcamb]

8. "unlawful acts", like maybe, IlIegal Use of the Sharpie

[no_hypocrisy]

2. Of cold comfort that her replacement may not be as competent

and able to even begin to "investigate". So I suppose the replacement will just have to make it all up.

[twodogsbarking]

3. He is getting rid of the government after failing to overthrow it. CBS? NBC? ABC?

[slightlv]

4. This IS the finalization of the coup that started on 6 Jan. n/r

[AZJonnie]

5. Between this and the Eric Adams quid pro quo, this motherfucker deserves impeachment and removal NOW

This is total fucking bullshit

[dalton99a]

6. Kick

While freeze orders are not uncommon — and the deputy attorney general’s office is responsible for overseeing U.S. attorneys — the timing of this one was highly unusual, Ms. Cheung suggested. She was given her instructions on Monday, a national holiday, and ordered to obtain the bank freeze by the end of the day — a period she deemed far too rushed to allow for the prosecutorial judgment required to take such an intrusive step.

“I was told that there was time sensitivity and action had to be taken that day because there was concern the contract awardees could continue to draw down” payments, she wrote.

A lawyer working in Mr. Bove’s office suggested language for the freeze letter saying the government had probable cause to believe the funds were subject to federal forfeiture. But Ms. Cheung told them that the claim was not appropriate, given the paucity of proof at such an early stage.

Eventually, the F.B.I.’s Washington field office agreed to issue a recommendation to the bank that the assets be frozen. But Mr. Martin was not satisfied and demanded that Ms. Cheung co-sign a new, more forceful letter to supersede it, which she refused to do.

“Because I believed I lacked the legal authority to issue such a letter, I told you I would not do so,” she added near the end of the three-page letter to Mr. Martin. “You then asked for my resignation.”

The U.S. attorney’s office in Washington has been rocked by the arrival of Mr. Martin, a right-wing activist with close ties to the White House and no previous prosecutorial experience.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/18/us/politics/denise-cheung-federal-prosecutor-quits.html

[King_Klonopin]

7. This is an example of Trump restoring "fairness" to a weaponized DOJ.

Too many people dismiss the warnings that Trump is a dangerous, anti-democratic, wannabe dictator as political rhetoric.

Four years of this kind of bullshit is terrifying.