Conservative presidential power expert set to assist investigation into Trump foes
Source: CNN Politics
PUBLISHED Jun 28, 2026, 11:44 PM ET
John Yoo a well-known and, in some legal and political circles, infamous conservative lawyer will assist a Justice Department investigation that has theorized a yearslong conspiracy against President Donald Trump and is looking at several former high-ranking federal officials.
Yoo, now a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley, was the head of the Justice Departments Office of Legal Counsel under President George W. Bush during September 11, 2001, and is most known for authoring the torture memos used for detainees after the attacks. He is also a national security specialist with experience on the law around presidential power and a proponent of expanding authority for the executive branch.
Yoo is set to advise Joe DiGenova and Victoria Toensing, two longtime conservative attorneys who are acting as prosecutors in the Southern District of Florida and are looking at possible cases against Trump foes. Though he hasnt started yet, Yoo will act as an intermittent consultant, or special government employee, on constitutional issues.
The addition of Yoo to the Miami-based investigation is likely to raise new questions about where DiGenovas work, in particular, may aim with some sources describing it as a grand conspiracy stretching from the investigation into Russian election interference in 2016 to the FBI search of Trumps Mar-a-Lago estate in 2022.
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/28/politics/john-yoo-trump-justice-department-investigation
Pox on whoever reanimated and supercharged this fucking loon.
He's been moldering in the background of both of 45's administrations but now the appear to be elevating his prominence.
Bayard
(30,699 posts)Solly Mack
(97,454 posts)about Trump.
Thanks! A lot!
Just think. In the future, when no one from the Trump Regime is held accountable for their crimes, we can look forward to them coming back around to cause more harm.
Woohoo!
Yay, us!
USA! USA! USA!
Shipwack
(3,134 posts)Solly Mack
(97,454 posts)Deep, dark, watery ones. Dried up ones. Need to dig another one.
"Healing" has to be my favorite.
Hassin Bin Sober
(27,562 posts)Those clowns are popular when needed

Fiendish Thingy
(24,507 posts)I hope they join Rudy, Sydney Powell and John Eastman in the breadline of Trump castoffs.
PatSeg
(54,084 posts)They never really go away, always lurking in the shadows.
travelingthrulife
(5,755 posts)PatSeg
(54,084 posts)Over and over again, we've watched people just barely dodge a bullet and still they come back for more. Even many who get caught and serve time don't seem to change, as if "Well, this time it will be different".
I guess people like John Dean (Watergate) are the rare exception. His legal repercussions were like an epiphany for him and he turned his life around.
lonely bird
(3,127 posts)After nuclear holocaust the only things left alive will be cockroaches and Republicans but I repeat myself.
travelingthrulife
(5,755 posts)BradBo
(1,083 posts)Victoria Toensing is an absolute nut job.
Earth Bound Misfit
(3,601 posts)Ray Bruns
(6,979 posts)FIFY
2na fisherman
(400 posts)Yoo is lucky to have immigrated from his birthplace in South Korea and acquire an Ivy League education in law. But he has chosen to bend the law to justify tortures like waterboarding. How would he like it done to him? His parents must be ashamed of him since he has chosen to work on behalf of an American dictator who praises Kim Jong Un. Joining Trump's weaponization team with the other rogues must make his work justifying torture seem like normal legal advice for a man without a moral compass.
Cirsium
(4,248 posts)"Conservative presidential power expert??"
What in the hell is a "conservative presidential power expert?"
BumRushDaShow
(173,710 posts)Yoo has been a "Unitary Executive" fringe theory whore as a specialty, for years.
NPR INTERVIEW - 'Unitary executive theory' argues to restore the president's authority
Cirsium
(4,248 posts)I hate the euphemisms. "Unitary Executive" = dictatorship.
BumRushDaShow
(173,710 posts)But this is an "elections have consequences" thing that goes along with a SCOTUS that is overturning precedents and embracing fringe theories.
It's not just a euphemism, it's a real subject of academic legal study.
Unitary Executive Theory (UET)
OhioBack2Blue
(232 posts)that well-know librul bastion according to republicons. Pffft
Martin Eden
(16,066 posts)And disregard for truth and human decency.
sakabatou
(46,549 posts)mdbl
(8,995 posts)When those in power no longer fear you.
pat_k
(14,529 posts)I dug up an old post I wrote after reading Jane Mayer's "The Memo"
The criminally insane fascist fantasies of John Yoo
Posted by pat_k in General Discussion (01/01/06 through 01/22/2007)
Thu Feb 23rd 2006, 06:05 PM
https://web.archive.org/web/20080107002329/http://journals.democraticunderground.com/pat_k/15
At the end of the post I included a list of the key players from the article.
orangecrush
(31,894 posts)I'm skeered!
GFY PIGGY