Blanche dodges question on whether he asked for DiGenova’s resignation

Attorney General Todd Blanche dodged a question Tuesday about whether he asked for the resignation of Trump-ally Joe diGenova from the Justice Department amid reports that there was a tense phone call between the two before the lawyer’s departure.

“I don’t want to talk about communications I have with prosecutors. It’s not fair to them. It’s not fair to the process,” Blanche told reporters as he led a White House press briefing in the Rose Garden.

“He resigned last week. He came out of retirement to help the president, and to help us and we are very appreciative of the work that he did,” he continued.

DiGenova was tapped in April to lead an investigation into several of President Trump’s perceived enemies. He resigned last week, suggesting he was being asked to move too fast on the cases.

Asked why he resigned, diGenova told The Associated Press: “There’s plenty of evidence in all of these cases to prove the theories of prosecution. It just takes time to get there, and some people want to get there a little faster than others — and you can’t do that.”

In another interview with the New York Post, he said: “If you want indictments where there’s no evidence, you have an ethical problem.”

CNN reported Monday that diGenova resigned a day after a tense phone conversation with Blanche, citing sources familiar.

Blanche noted that diGenova said “some different things to different outlets, which is fine.”

“I very much appreciate the work that he did for us and for the administration,” he said. “Any investigations that he’s working of course continue, like they do, like any investigation does when somebody leaves. And we’re not going to slow down just because somebody leaves.”

Prosecutors on the case have reportedly focused on former CIA Director John Brennan and have also pursued information about those who worked on the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case against the president during the Biden administration.