FILE PHOTO: Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon speaks at the Justice Department in Washington, D.C., U.S., August 7, 2025. REUTERS/Kent Nishimura/File Photo
A staunch Trump ally who overhauled the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division has resigned, Fox News reported Thursday.
Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant attorney general for civil rights, stepped down Thursday, sources told Fox News. Bloomberg Law reported earlier in the day that she had told allies she would leave once the midterm elections were over, according to four people familiar with her plans.
Her exit is the first by a senior Justice Department official since Democrats won control of the House and Senate on Tuesday. Dhillon had positioned herself to succeed Attorney General Pam Bondi after Trump fired her in April, but Trump chose Todd Blanche, whom the Senate confirmed in August. Dhillon later lobbied for Blanche’s former post as deputy attorney general, The New York Times reported.
Dhillon and Justice Department spokespeople did not immediately respond to Bloomberg Law’s requests for comment.
Since the Senate confirmed her in April 2025, Dhillon has turned the division toward conservative priorities such as religious liberty and created a new Second Amendment section. After career lawyers left in large numbers, she brought in dozens of attorneys with conservative advocacy backgrounds to handle cases involving state voter rolls, immigration and claims of antisemitism at colleges.
In the run-up to the midterms, Dhillon defended the administration’s investigation into noncitizen voting on CBS’ “60 Minutes,” rejecting the suggestion that it was meant to undermine faith in elections. “It’s not to sow distrust. The distrust is there,” she said.
More exits may be on the way. Former officials told Bloomberg Law the department expects several other senior political appointees to leave before the end of the year. Patrick Davis, who led the Office of Legislative Affairs, resigned in October, making Dhillon the second Senate-confirmed Justice official to go in a matter of weeks.
Dhillon, a former Republican Party official who also worked as a lawyer for Trump’s campaign, told Bloomberg reporters and editors in August that she intended to return to Dhillon Law Group, her California firm, after her time at the department.