Election denier Kurt Olsen steps down from "grand conspiracy" case, but remains on DOJ payroll, official says

Key Points:

• Kurt Olsen, an election denier involved in efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, is resigning from the Justice Department's "grand conspiracy" investigation targeting Obama- and Biden-era officials, though he will remain employed as senior counsel in the Southern District of Florida.
• Confusion arose after Olsen's resignation email led DOJ officials and media outlets to mistakenly report he was leaving the department entirely, prompting Attorney General Todd Blanche to deny Olsen's full departure but confirm he is no longer on the grand conspiracy case.
• Olsen's removal from the investigation is linked to a security clearance issue, which prevented him from accessing classified materials necessary for the probe into topics such as Russian interference in the 2016 election and the investigation into former President Trump's handling of classified records.
• Olsen has expressed interest in transferring to the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Middle District of North Carolina to work on election-related matters, though it is uncertain if this move will occur.
• Olsen is the third prosecutor to leave the grand conspiracy case this year, following the removal of Maria Medetis Long and the resignation of Joe diGenova, both of whom had ties to or sympathies with efforts to challenge the 2020 election results.