US attorney leading probe into Trump's foes, Jason Reding Quinones, resigns from Justice Department

Jason Reding Quinones, the US attorney tasked with leading a sweeping and controversial conspiracy probe targeting President Donald Trump's foes, has resigned from the Justice Department, Attorney General Todd Blanche announced.

Quinones was the South Florida-based US attorney. He is the second high-level Justice Department official to depart the Trump administration following Democrats' historic midterm wins, following Thursday's resignation by Trump ally Harmeet Dhillon from the department's Civil Rights Division.

Quinones is also the latest among several Trump-allied attorneys to step away from the so-called 'grand conspiracy' probe launched by the Justice Department to examine whether intelligence officials and other government actors organized in a criminal effort to violate President Trump's civil rights dating back to his 2016 campaign.

The probe has ensnared numerous targets of President Trump in behind-the-scenes legal wrangling over subpoenas and grand jury testimony, but it has thus far led to no criminal indictments, in what sources have said is a source of frustration for President Trump and other top Justice Department officials.

According to sources, Quinones' departure had been seen as a foregone conclusion in recent weeks, after Justice Department leadership admonished him in private meetings for his lack of progress in the grand conspiracy investigation and his frequent trips to Washington, DC.

Announcing Quinones' departure in a social media post, Blanche said: 'We are grateful for Jason's leadership in combatting violent crime, drug trafficking, sex trafficking, and transnational crime.'