Above photo: Traffic along Pennsylvania Avenue streaks by the Department of Justice headquarters building at night with the U.S. Capitol in the background in Washington, DC on Jan. 24, 2025. J. David Ake / Getty Images.
Denise Cheung, the top criminal prosecutor with the United States Attorney’s Office in Washington, DC, resigned on Tuesday after she declined to follow an order from a Trump-appointed superior at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to start a grand jury investigation, people with knowledge of the matter said, as CNN reported.
Acting U.S. Attorney General Emil Bove initially gave the instruction to Ed Martin — a Donald Trump nominee for U.S. Attorney in DC. — for Cheung to direct an investigation of a Biden EPA funding decision, then freeze the funding.
Cheung, a long-time employee of the Department of Justice, did not feel there was sufficient evidence to comply with the order and was asked to resign.
“Earlier yesterday, I was asked to review documentation supplied by the Office of the Deputy Attorney General to open a criminal investigation into whether a contract had been unlawfully awarded by an executive agency before the change in Administration and to issue grand jury subpoenas pursuant to this investigation,” Cheung wrote in her resignation letter on Tuesday, as seen by CNN.
As Cheung noted in the letter, she and other experienced prosecutors did not believe there was enough evidence to meet the threshold requirements to conduct a grand jury investigation. Bove insisted that the DOJ had met that threshold.
In the resignation letter to Martin, Cheung wrote that she and other prosecutors believed there was insufficient evidence despite senior officials citing an undercover Project Veritas video, reported The Guardian.
“When I explained that the quantum of evidence did not support that action, you stated that you believed that there was sufficient evidence,” Cheung wrote to Martin. “You also accused me about wasting five hours of the day ‘doing nothing’ except trying to get what the FBI and I wanted, but not what you wanted.”
Cheung noted her obligation to follow the law and the code of legal ethics, as well as her sworn oath of office.
“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 a farewell email to 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.”
The dispute originated from a claim by EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin last week regarding $20 billion in EPA funding being held in an account at Citibank.
The funding at issue was earmarked for eight nonprofits in charge of climate change mitigation projects as part of the Inflation Reduction Act.
Zeldin has criticized what he called “rushed” funding for the climate organizations, saying he would attempt to claw back funding in conjunction with the DOJ and return it to the U.S. Treasury Department.
“We will review every penny that has gone out the door. I will be referring this matter to the inspector general’s office, and will work with the Justice Department as well,” Zeldin said, as The Hill reported.
A former official at the EPA who was responsible for implementation of the funding told CNN that it had not been rushed or set up in a nefarious manner.
The EPA and the U.S. Treasury had set up an arrangement with the bank to distribute the funding to the grantees, and while it was the first time that type of agreement was employed by the EPA, it is a process that the Treasury Department had been using for years.
Cheung’s departure comes during a period of upheaval across the DOJ, as prosecutors deemed untrustworthy by the Trump administration are dismissed and the president’s political appointees clash with long-time federal prosecutors.
In her departure email, Cheung encouraged colleagues to “fulfill your commitment to pursuing Justice without fear or prejudice,” as The Hill reported.