John Yoo confirmed he would advise the diGenova DOJ probe targeting former officials from the Trump–Russia investigation

On June 29, 2026, John Yoo confirmed in an email to the Associated Press that he would serve as an adviser to the Justice Department conspiracy probe led by Joseph diGenova, who was installed in April 2026 as Counselor to the Attorney General. Yoo, a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley, served as head of the DOJ's Office of Legal Counsel under President George W. Bush and is best known for authoring the so-called torture memos that provided legal justification for enhanced interrogation techniques used on detainees after September 11, 2001 — memos the Justice Department later rescinded. He is also known for his expansive theories of executive power.

DiGenova's investigation, based in the Southern District of Florida, focuses on former DOJ and FBI officials who conducted scrutiny of Trump over the past decade, including those who led the inquiry into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and the subsequent Mar-a-Lago search. CNN reported that sources describe the investigation as theorizing a grand conspiracy stretching from the 2016 Russia interference investigation to the 2022 FBI search of Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate. Yoo's appointment broadens the probe's advisory team with a figure whose record on executive power is defined by the view that the presidency operates largely unconstrained by statutory limits.

The archive previously recorded diGenova's April 18, 2026 installation as Counselor to the Attorney General assigned to the Brennan probe, and CNN's May 8, 2026 investigation revealing how career prosecutors who warned the Brennan case lacked evidentiary support were removed and the investigation reset under diGenova's direction.