The head of the criminal division in the U.S. attorney’s office in D.C. resigned Tuesday morning after declining to comply with an urgent Trump administration demand to freeze the assets of a multibillion-dollar Biden administration environmental grant initiative and launch a criminal investigation, according to two sources familiar with the matter and the official’s resignation letter.
Veteran prosecutor Denise Cheung’s resignation came in response to a Justice Department effort to assist President Donald Trump’s new head of the Environmental Protection Agency, who said last week that he would try to rescind $20 billion in grants awarded by the Biden administration for climate and clean energy projects, according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss it publicly.
Cheung wrote in her resignation letter that while she and the FBI were ready to ask a bank to freeze the assets immediately, she refused a last-minute order from interim U.S. Attorney Edward R. Martin Jr. to open what she called an unfounded investigation sought by the office of acting Deputy Attorney General Emil S. Bove, according to a resignation letter obtained by The Washington Post.
Veteran prosecutor Denise Cheung’s resignation came in response to a Justice Department effort to assist President Donald Trump’s new head of the Environmental Protection Agency, who said last week that he would try to rescind $20 billion in grants awarded by the Biden administration for climate and clean energy projects, according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss it publicly.
Cheung wrote in her resignation letter that while she and the FBI were ready to ask a bank to freeze the assets immediately, she refused a last-minute order from interim U.S. Attorney Edward R. Martin Jr. to open what she called an unfounded investigation sought by the office of acting Deputy Attorney General Emil S. Bove, according to a resignation letter obtained by The Washington Post.
