Denise Cheung, a career prosecutor at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C., resigned yesterday, citing an improper demand by Trump administration officials to freeze assets and launch a criminal investigation into a Biden administration EPA contract. Via The New Republic:
Cheung said that she was ordered to investigate a government contract awarded under the Biden administration, and to begin the process to freeze the recipient’s assets. Neither request was supported by the evidence that was provided to the Deputy Attorney General’s Office, Cheung wrote in a letter to the interim head of the office, Ed Martin. Reuters reviewed a copy of the letter.
Cheung was in charge of the criminal division within the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and her resignation comes one day after Trump nominated Martin as the permanent head of the D.C. U.S. Attorney’s Office. Martin was an organizer for the “Stop the Steal” movement and the defense attorney for three of the January 6 rioters. He announced last month he would investigate the office’s handling of the Capitol riots.
