Prominent conservative law professor John Yoo has agreed to advise Justice Department prosecutor Joseph diGenova on his probe of what President Donald Trump’s allies have described as a “grand conspiracy” to upend Trump’s first term in office through allegations of ties between his campaign and Russia.
“John Yoo is a very fine lawyer and he is going to work for us,” diGenova said during a brief interview Sunday night. He declined to elaborate on Yoo’s role or title.
Yoo, 58, who’s been a professor at University of California Berkeley Law for more than three decades, said he expects to serve in a part-time consulting role to diGenova.
“As far as I know, I’m just signing on as a consultant on any kind of constitutional law issues they may encounter,” Yoo said Sunday. “I’ve known Joe and [his wife] Vicky [Toensing] for more than three decades and if they and the United States of America think I can help him in any way, my answer is: yes.”
Unlike DiGenova, who played a central role in the 2017-2018 Trump-Russia investigation as a private attorney, Yoo has no clear ties to the probes of that era.
The precise focus of diGenova’s current work remains murky. He joined the department in April as a counselor to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, another former Trump defense attorney.
DiGenova is leading an investigation based in south Florida that is believed to be probing matters related to how earlier inquiries into Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia were initiated and carried out.
“Welcome to the fight, Joe!” Blanche posted on X shortly after diGenova was sworn in.
Some Trump allies have urged DOJ to launch a sprawling criminal conspiracy case that would charge figures like Trump’s Democratic opponent in the 2016 race, Hillary Clinton, along with former CIA Director John Brennan, former FBI Director James Comey and others. All have denied wrongdoing and dismissed the idea of a conspiracy as absurd.
Indeed, a sweeping civil suit Trump brought against many figures who advanced Russia-related allegations or investigations ended with a judge throwing out the case and imposing a fine of more than $1 million on Trump and his attorneys for frivolous litigation.
A Justice Department spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Yoo’s role or the status or focus of the investigation headed by diGenova, who was U.S. attorney for D.C. from 1983 to 1988 under President Ronald Reagan.
Yoo rose to prominence as a national security attorney in George W. Bush’s administration, advancing what was seen at the time to be an unusually muscular view of presidential authority. Yoo issued memos defending the legality of so-called “enhanced interrogation techniques” – writings that came to be known as the “torture memos” against enemy combatants captured after September 11, 2001, became a critical constitutional flashpoint.
After Yoo left the No. 2 post in the DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel in 2003, DOJ formally withdrew several of Yoo’s opinions, which came to be known as “the torture memos.” A lengthy probe by DOJ’s Office of Professional Responsibility followed. DOJ’s top career official ultimately concluded that Yoo showed “poor judgment” in the memos, but hadn’t done anything to merit being referred for legal discipline.
Within days of Trump’s inauguration last year, Yoo co-authored an op-ed with Toensing calling for criminal prosecution of those who used “lawfare” to target Trump before, during and after his first term in office.
“Turning lawfare on its creators is not about revenge. It will serve as a deterrent to prevent future abuse and will restore public confidence that justice is even-handed,” Yoo and Toensing wrote. “Individuals who have carried out lawfare have not only destroyed faith in our legal system but also may have violated the law.”
Despite his conservative credentials, Yoo has not always been a natural ally for Trump. In recent years, Yoo has raised pointed questions about the administration’s decision to launch deadly strikes on alleged drug boats bound for the United States from abroad. He also sharply questioned the legality of efforts by Trump allies to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Congress, after their legal challenges to the results had fizzled.
In 2023, Yoo testified as a constitutional expert in disbarment proceedings against John Eastman, a conservative lawyer who helped devise Trump’s last-ditch strategy to overturn the election he lost. Though Yoo testified on Eastman’s behalf and opposed him facing any discipline, Yoo’s testimony became a key part of the judge’s ruling that Eastman should be disbarred for violating his professional obligations and ethics.
Yoo has also raised doubts about Trump’s effort to deploy wartime authorities to speed the deportation of Venezuelan nationals and concerns about the administration’s confrontational approach to the courts. And he has rejected the constitutionality of Trump’s effort to end the nation’s longstanding policy of “birthright citizenship” for children of immigrants born on American soil, an issue the Supreme Court is expected to resolve this week.
Asked if some of Yoo’s colleagues might be surprised at him agreeing to advise diGenova on his politically-charged task, Yoo said he’s never been squarely in or out of the Trump camp.
“I’ve praised Trump on lots of issues and I’ve criticized him on lots of issues, most recently the tariff cases. Other people would probably point out I was very, very critical of the lawfare cases against Trump,” Yoo said. “I’d say my rate of agreement with President Trump on constitutional issues has not been 100 percent.”
Yoo said he believes he’s legally required to be paid for whatever work he does in his new assignment, but has asked for his salary to be dropped to $1, if that’s feasible.
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