Trump’s DOJ civil rights chief resigns after embarrassing midterm losses

Donald Trump’s chief of the storied Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice has resigned, marking the first top administration official to leave the administration after Republicans suffered brutal losses in midterm elections this week.

Harmeet Dhillon, who steered the agency away from critical missions like police oversight and combating racial discrimination during her 18 months at the Justice Department, submitted her resignation Thursday.

“She has defended the civil liberties of every American and enforced the law without fear or favor,” Attorney General Todd Blanche announced Thursday.

“The Department is grateful for her dedicated public service, and we wish her every success in her future endeavors,” he added.

Dhillon, an attorney who supported the president’s efforts to reverse his election loss in 2020 and joined his “election integrity” team in 2024, had refocused the Civil Rights Division to investigate transgender athletes in girls’ and women’s sports, “anti-Christian bias,” and institutions with diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, among other culture war issues that departed from the department’s core mission to combat discrimination and protect the rights of historically marginalized groups.

Under Dhillon’s leadership, the Justice Department also abandoned investigations into allegations of constitutional violations and civil rights abuses in the wake of high-profile police killings.

She also deployed more than 900 election observers to polling locations in all 50 states, a move that voting rights advocates condemned as unconstitutional voter intimidation.

Dhillon experienced a mass exodus of career officials and government attorneys working in the department’s “crown jewel” who resigned or were forced out under her watch. More than 75 percent of the division’s staff left the agency within the last two years.

This is a developing story