Head of Justice Department’s Washington, DC, criminal division quits
The head of the criminal division within the D.C. U.S. Attorney’s Office has left her post, according to four sources.
The sudden departure of Justice Department veteran Denise Cheung comes a day after President Donald Trump announced his nominee to lead the prosecutor’s office, Ed Martin, who has supported unwinding all Jan. 6 criminal cases that the office brought.
Martin had been in the position on an interim basis, and had enlisted Cheung and another career prosecutor in the office to look at how prosecutors charged Jan. 6 rioters with a felony obstruction charge that the Supreme Court later overturned.
Cheung sent a farewell message office-wide on Tuesday morning. She didn’t indicate her reason for leaving.
Cheung’s departure also comes at a time of roiling change across the DOJ, with prosecutors deemed to be untrustworthy being fired, and ethical clashes erupting between Trump’s hand-picked political appointees and longtime federal prosecutors.
“When I started as an AUSA, I took an oath of office to support and defend the Constitution, and I have executed this duty faithfully during my tenure, which has spanned through numerous Administrations,” Cheung wrote in her sign-off email to her colleagues. “I know that all of the AUSAs in the office continue to honor their oaths on a daily basis, just as I know that you have always conducted yourself with the utmost integrity.”
Cheung didn’t respond to a request for comment from CNN Tuesday morning, nor did spokespeople for the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
