John Yoo, a conservative law professor at the University of California, Berkeley, confirmed Monday that he will be advising a team of prosecutors investigating whether former law enforcement and intelligence officials conspired against former President Donald Trump. Yoo, who gained notoriety for authoring the so-called “torture memos” during the George W. Bush administration that justified harsh interrogation techniques, will assist Joe diGenova, a former Justice Department prosecutor assigned to the probe in April.
DiGenova stated in a brief telephone interview that Yoo is a lawyer who will be helping the team, but he offered no further elaboration. The Justice Department later rescinded the “torture memos.”
In recent years, Yoo has been a proponent of broad executive authority. He told The Associated Press in a 2020 interview that a Supreme Court ruling rejecting Trump's effort to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, had opened the door to expanded presidential power.
The conspiracy investigation is being conducted in Florida, though its scope and the potential for criminal charges remain unclear. Prosecutors have focused at least part of the probe on the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. This included issuing subpoenas for records and conducting interviews related to the creation of a January 2017 intelligence community assessment that concluded Russia interfered in the election to benefit Trump.
A 2019 report by special counsel Robert Mueller affirmed Russian interference and stated the Trump campaign welcomed the assistance, but it did not find sufficient evidence of a criminal conspiracy between Moscow and the campaign. Subsequent reviews of the Russia probe identified errors in its execution, and a former FBI lawyer pleaded guilty in 2020 to altering an email during the inquiry. However, none of these reviews have uncovered criminal misconduct by senior law enforcement or intelligence officials involved in the investigation.
Despite these findings, Trump has continued to call for retribution against top officials from that era at the FBI and CIA. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche stated in a Fox News Channel interview in May that the Justice Department is investigating claims of a conspiracy to undermine Trump.