Denise Cheung, a top federal prosecutor in Washington, D.C., resigned unexpectedly on Tuesday. She turned down a request from officials in the Trump administration to freeze the assets of a government contractor. Cheung felt there wasn’t enough evidence to justify such action.
In her resignation letter, which The New York Times reviewed, Cheung, who led the criminal division, explained that Ed Martin, the interim U.S. attorney, had asked her to resign after she refused to issue a freeze order on the contractor’s bank accounts.
Martin, along with Emil Bove III from the Justice Department, pressured Cheung to quickly start a criminal investigation into the contractor. They wanted her to secure subpoenas from a federal grand jury and freeze the contractor’s unspent funds. Cheung, a veteran prosecutor with 24 years of experience, stated, “I still do not believe that there is sufficient evidence to issue a freeze letter.”
In her letter, Cheung highlighted the lack of evidence for any potential crime and raised concerns about how officials were trying to bypass normal procedures to intervene directly. This situation seems to connect to a broader mission led by Lee Zeldin, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency. Zeldin is reportedly focused on recouping $20 billion in grants given for clean energy and environmental projects during the Biden administration.
Cheung’s resignation raises questions about the balance between political influence and judicial independence, especially in high-stakes cases like this one. Her decision to prioritize evidence over political pressure illustrates the complexities prosecutors face in their roles.
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United States Politics and Government,Justice Department,United States Attorneys,Workplace Environment,Trump, Donald J,Bove, Emil,Martin, Edward Robert Jr,Cheung, Denise
