While Kurt Olsen’s name is probably unfamiliar to most Americans, he has held an important position the public ought to care about. A former lawyer for Donald Trump’s campaign and a prominent election denier, Olsen was brought onto the president’s team last year and given the title of “director of election security and integrity.” He was charged with trying to help prove Trump’s discredited conspiracy theories about his 2020 defeat.

Politico reported earlier this year that the president has even directed top U.S. spy agencies to “share sensitive intelligence” with Olsen to help in his endeavors.

Less than a year after joining the administration, after having indicted no one, Olsen is calling it quits. CBS News reported:

Kurt Olsen, an election denier who attempted to overturn the 2020 election results in favor of President Trump, has resigned from the Justice Department, sources familiar with his departure told CBS News on Monday.

Olsen had been assigned to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, where he was working on the “grand conspiracy” investigation targeting Obama- and Biden-era officials, which has so far not resulted in any charges.

(While CBS News’ report hasn’t been independently verified by MS NOW, multiple news organizations have reported on his resignation, and neither Olsen nor the Justice Department appears to have made any effort to deny the accuracy of the reporting.)

Olsen was certainly busy during his tenure. The election denier, among other things, was responsible for the FBI’s bizarre search of the election offices in Fulton County, Georgia, and the futile examination of Dominion Voting Systems technology. But those looking for the fruits of his labor will be left wanting. The Republican lawyer set out to help advance Trump’s “grand conspiracy” investigation, and after roughly 11 months on the job, the president’s conspiracy theories are no better than they were when he first concocted the absurdities in the first place.

But as Olsen updates his resume, there are three questions worth keeping in mind.

First, why did Olsen walk away? He hasn’t yet offered public comments related to his motivations, but there’s a range of options, from grudgingly acknowledging reality after having reviewed the evidence to resigning in frustration after facing internal institutional resistance.

Second, is the “grand conspiracy” investigation finally unraveling? Let’s not forget that it was just a few weeks ago when Joseph diGenova, a former Trump campaign lawyer who was tapped to oversee this sprawling inquiry, also resigned unexpectedly. With diGenova and Olsen both stepping down the same month, it suggests the wildly unnecessary and utterly pointless federal probe is in serious trouble.

Indeed, The New York Times reported, “The case had already had significant staffing shake-ups — including its first lead prosecutor being sidelined after telling her superiors there was insufficient evidence for charges to be filed. One of the lead F.B.I. agents assigned to the case, Jack Eckenrode, also departed in recent weeks, according to the people familiar the matter.”

And third, what happens now? Common sense might suggest that the Justice Department would simply cut its losses, wrap up its “grand conspiracy” investigation and hope the public doesn’t dwell too long on how wasteful the whole endeavor has been, but recent history suggests it’s more likely that the White House will just find other election deniers to fill the latest vacancies.

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