A top Justice Department official announced his plan to step down soon after appearing in a civil lawsuit against John Bolton to stop the publication of his upcoming book.
Assistant Attorney General Jody Hunt, the head of the Civil Division, sent an email to employees on Tuesday that declared his intention to step aside on July 3.
“I have the utmost respect and admiration for you because I have personally witnessed the manner in which you have carried out your responsibilities. And you are, after all, the greatest litigation force on earth!” he wrote.
The note came hours after his name appeared in the Justice Department lawsuit that was filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, according to Law.com. The lawsuit argues that Bolton, President Trump’s former national security adviser, breached nondisclosure agreements and is risking national security with the disclosure of classified material in his book that is due out on July 23.
“This is a civil action by the United States to prevent Defendant John R. Bolton, a former National Security Advisor, from compromising national security by publishing a book containing classified information — in clear breach of agreements he signed as a condition of his employment and as a condition of gaining access to highly classified information and in clear breach of the trust placed within him by the United States Government,” reads the opening of the lawsuit.
The Washington Examiner reached out to the Justice Department for comment.
Matthew Miller, a DOJ spokesman during the Obama administration, said Hunt’s departure is the latest in a pattern that does not bode well for Trump.
“Now three senior DOJ officials quitting in the last week, deep into an election year. They can all see the writing on the wall,” Miller tweeted. He was referring to Brian Benczkowski, the head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, and Noel Francisco, the solicitor general.
Hunt, who was chief of staff to former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, was confirmed to his current job in August 2018 and has played a leading role in fending off a litany of legal challenges against the Trump administration.
The departing DOJ official’s key role as head of the department’s civil litigation operation led him to defend a swath of Trump administration actions, such as the travel ban. His team also fought against subpoenas from congressional Democrats and opposed efforts to go after Trump for alleged violations of the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution.
Hunt’s name appeared in special counsel Robert Mueller’s 2019 report dozens of times, largely due to the copious notes that Hunt took at numerous key meetings that were obtained by investigators.
Trump met with Sessions, then-White House Counsel Don McGahn, and Hunt on May 3, 2017, following congressional testimony by FBI Director James Comey. According to Hunt’s notes, Trump expressed anger with Sessions’s decision to recuse himself from the Russia investigation, saying, “This is terrible Jeff. It’s all because you recused. AG is supposed to be most important appointment. Kennedy appointed his brother. Obama appointed Holder. I appointed you and you recused yourself. You left me on an island. I can’t do anything.”
Trump learned that then-Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed Mueller on May 17, 2017, during a meeting with Sessions, McGahn, and Hunt. When Sessions told Trump about Mueller’s appointment, Hunt wrote that Trump slumped back in his chair, lamenting, “Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my presidency. I’m fucked.” Trump said a special counsel investigation “takes years and years and I won’t be able to do anything” and that “this is the worst thing that ever happened to me.”
Mueller concluded that Russia interfered in a “sweeping and systematic fashion.” But the special counsel “did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities,” according to his report.
