Kurt Olsen, a Justice Department attorney who worked on investigations into the 2020 election and an investigation into a purported conspiracy involving former government officials, resigned on Monday, Sept. 28, 2026. Sources familiar with his departure confirmed the resignation following Olsen's assignment to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida. Olsen had not publicly announced his departure, and the Justice Department did not respond to requests for comment.
Olsen was hired by the Trump administration in 2025 as the director of election security and integrity. He previously served as an attorney working with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to challenge 2020 election results before the Supreme Court and was sanctioned by the Arizona Supreme Court in 2023 for making false statements while representing Kari Lake. In June 2026, he was reassigned to a team investigating an alleged "grand conspiracy" by Obama- and Biden-era officials to sabotage the first Trump term.
The investigation in Florida has not resulted in any criminal charges to date. Olsen’s departure follows the resignation earlier this month of Joe diGenova, a prosecutor for the grand conspiracy case, who left amid reported tensions with senior Justice Department officials regarding the management and pace of the probe. While some sources indicated Olsen is among several prosecutors leaving the team, others stated that some attorneys were on temporary out-of-state assignments that had naturally concluded.
The resignation of Kurt Olsen affects the personnel of the Justice Department's investigations into federal officials and election procedures, impacting the Department of Justice and the FBI. The investigation involved at least a dozen personnel hired by the administration to pursue these cases, including the seizure of more than 600 boxes of documents and ballots during a January 2026 FBI search in Fulton County, Georgia.
Specifically, the departure of attorneys like Olsen and diGenova may alter the focus of the Southern District of Florida’s investigative team. In May 2026, 11 Democratic senators had petitioned for Olsen’s removal, citing his status as a special government employee and his rhetoric regarding election integrity. Those affected by the investigations, including election workers in Georgia and former executive branch officials, will notice whether the Justice Department continues to pursue these cases or if the new prosecutors hired to the team adopt a different approach.
The House Jan. 6 select committee had previously subpoenaed Olsen in 2022, alleging he contacted high-level officials at the Department of Justice to discuss election challenges. The next steps in these investigations remain uncertain as the Justice Department has reportedly hired two new former prosecutors to fill vacancies. No specific court dates or deadlines for the conclusion of the Florida-based investigation have been reported.