John Yoo, a UC Berkeley law professor notorious for authoring the George W. Bush administration's "torture memos," has confirmed his role as an advisor to a politically charged Justice Department investigation focusing on alleged conspiracies against former President Donald Trump.

Yoo's involvement with this investigation, led by former U.S. Attorney Joe diGenova, has sparked concern given his past advocacy for expansive executive power, and aligns him with a controversial effort scrutinizing former law enforcement and intelligence officials.

UC Berkeley law professor John Yoo, known for his controversial role in authoring the "torture memos" justifying harsh interrogation techniques during the George W. Bush administration, has confirmed he is advising a Justice Department probe into alleged conspiracies against former President Donald Trump. His involvement was confirmed to the Associated Press via email and first reported by CNN on June 28, 2026.

According to Joe diGenova, a former U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia now serving as a counselor to the Attorney General, Yoo is "going to be helping us" with an investigation based in the Southern District of Florida. This probe is reportedly examining whether former law enforcement and intelligence officials conspired against Trump during his presidency, including aspects related to the 2016 Russian interference investigation and the handling of classified documents.

Attorney General Todd Blanche has publicly affirmed the ongoing nature of the investigation, which has dispatched numerous subpoenas to former officials. This inquiry comes despite several prior reviews, including those outlined in the 2019 Mueller report, that have largely cleared senior officials of criminal wrongdoing in their interactions with the former president. The Mueller Report, for instance, concluded that while Russia did interfere in the 2016 election, it "did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities."

Yoo's participation draws renewed attention to his consistent advocacy for broad presidential authority, a stance that has remained prominent since his tenure in the Justice Department. His role as a special government employee advising diGenova and Victoria Toensing involves intermittent consultation on constitutional issues rather than direct prosecution. Another UC Berkeley law professor, Christopher Kutz, expressed concern, stating, "I hope John will take care not to make himself part of a conspiracy to weaponize the Justice system in pursuit of a president's political enemies."

The investigation has recently seen former CIA Director John Brennan file a lawsuit against the Trump administration to preserve records potentially related to the broader conspiracy probe, suggesting its wide-ranging implications. However, these reviews, as reported by the AP, did not find evidence of criminal misconduct by any high-ranking law enforcement or intelligence officials implicated in the matter. The Dissent has extensively covered previous instances where the Trump campaign had frequently embraced such assistance and the subsequent investigations into foreign interference.