Denise Cheung has been a household name in Washington’s legal circles for decades. But the veteran federal prosecutor this week was catapulted to national notoriety after resigning for rejecting orders from superiors appointed by President Donald Trump. 

After serving at the US Department of Justice for more than 24 years, the head of the criminal division at the powerful US attorney’s office in Washington on Tuesday quit after declining to open a probe into whether a federal agency had illegally awarded a contract during ex-President Joe Biden’s administration. The order had been issued by the office of the acting deputy attorney-general, Emil Bove. 

In her resignation letter to Ed Martin, the Trump-appointed acting US attorney in Washington, Cheung said she had not found enough evidence to launch the investigation, while Martin insisted “there was sufficient evidence”. After refusing to move ahead because “I believed that I lacked the legal authority?.?.?.?You then asked for my resignation,” she wrote.