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2mo ago

John Yoo Will Advise Miami DOJ Probe as Constitutional Consultant

Reports say he will assist prosecutors Joe DiGenova and Victoria Toensing, a development expected to reshape the probe’s constitutional framing.

FILE - John Yoo, a law professor at the University of California at Berkeley, testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, June 26, 2008. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
University of California professor John Yoo poses for a portrait in downtown San Francisco on April 15, 2016.

Overview

  • News outlets report that John Yoo, a Berkeley law professor, has agreed to serve as an intermittent consultant or special government employee to the Justice Department team working in the Southern District of Florida.
  • Yoo has not yet started work and is reported to be advising on constitutional questions about executive power and immunity for the prosecutors assigned by DiGenova and Toensing.
  • The Miami-based investigation has shifted focus to examine former senior federal officials who worked on earlier Trump-related probes, and at least one former CIA director has reportedly been questioned without any public charges.
  • Yoo is best known for authoring post-9/11 legal memoranda that justified harsh interrogation techniques and for arguing for broad presidential authority, a record that has drawn attention to how legal theory may shape the inquiry.
  • Observers say Yoo’s recruitment echoes the use of high-level appellate counsel in past special probes and could affect whether the inquiry leads to indictments, prompts new subpoenas, or becomes a focal point for partisan debate.