Harmeet Dhillon, Justice Department Civil Rights chief, reportedly set to resign

Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant attorney general who leads the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, plans to resign, possibly as soon as Thursday, according to sources familiar with the matter cited by several outlets. The reports come days after Democrats and other opponents of the GOP won sweeping victories in the 2026 midterm elections. Dhillon, a longtime ally of President Donald Trump, has run the division since winning Senate confirmation in April 2025. Under her, it oversaw investigations into universities, voting, hate crimes at houses of worship and religious liberty. She also created a Second Amendment section. Two people told the Washington Examiner she had told allies she would leave after the midterms. Dhillon and Justice Department spokespeople did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Nearly 70% of the division's workforce left, either over differences with the administration or after buyout offers tied to the Department of Government Efficiency, and she brought in attorneys with conservative advocacy backgrounds. The department has also lost 27 straight district court rulings in its effort to obtain states' unredacted voter rolls, most recently in Utah on Oct. 23.

Raw Story, the left-leaning outlet, leads with Dhillon as a "high-profile Trump DOJ enforcer" quitting "days after GOP's midterm stomping," tying her exit directly to the election results. Its excerpt carries a Reuters photo caption and little else about her record. The right-leaning Washington Examiner and New York Post also link the move to the midterms, but they dwell on her tenure. The Examiner calls her the first senior DOJ official to leave after Democrats' victories and cites the 0–27 voter-roll record and the turnover of career lawyers. The Post quotes her December remarks on "Pod Force One" calling the staff departures the biggest "self-purge" in DOJ history. It also repeats her claim that departing staff held "crying sessions." Reuters, an independent source, adds little different, listing the investigations her unit oversaw.