Florida U.S. Attorney Resigns After Midterm Election Losses

Attorney General Todd Blanche announced on Friday that Jason A. Reding Quiñones has resigned as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida. Blanche posted the news on X, confirming that Quiñones submitted his resignation. This is the second high-level departure from the Department of Justice this week, occurring soon after Republicans lost seats in the midterm elections.

Quiñones led the office responsible for the grand conspiracy investigation. That probe examined federal law enforcement officials who previously worked on cases targeting Donald Trump. The administration pursued the theory that separate investigations into Trump formed a coordinated effort to infringe on his rights. The probe aimed to connect actions from the 2016 campaign to the recent case led by Special Counsel Jack Smith. No direct charges resulted from the grand conspiracy effort before Quiñones left.

Blanche credited Quiñones for fighting violent crime, drug trafficking, and transnational crime. The Attorney General also cited the indictment of Raúl Castro as a key achievement. Quiñones responded on social media, saying he left with pride in his team’s work. He thanked the public for the chance to serve the nation.

Tensions inside the Southern District of Florida had grown for months. Joe diGenova, a prosecutor under Quiñones, resigned in September. diGenova told NBC News that he left after Justice Department headquarters tried to take over the investigation. He described the situation as lanes getting crossed. Stacey Young, a former Justice Department lawyer and head of Justice Connection, called Quiñones the president’s Don Quixote. She advised his successor to follow Robert Jackson’s counsel to pick cases with flagrant offenses and certain proof.

The Justice Department has faced mixed results in its legal actions against Trump opponents. A judge dismissed a case against two former FBI officials accused of lying to Congress. The administration also failed to indict Cassidy Hutchinson, a key witness from the January 6 committee. Harmeet Dhillon, the head of the Civil Rights Division, resigned on Thursday. Federal prosecutors continue to pursue James Comey in a case involving October 2016 conduct. Another case against Comey is pending in North Carolina over an Instagram photo of seashells.