The Trump administration fired the highest nationwide safety prosecutor in the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia after a social media post by a right-wing activist and author falsely tied him to the case of FBI Director James Comey, two individuals aware of the matter stated.
Michael Ben’Ary was chief of the nationwide safety part in the Alexandria, Virginia-based workplace and beforehand labored at Justice Department headquarters. He was fired Wednesday, the 2 sources stated, after Julie Kelly, a pro-Trump activist and author, posted on X about Ben’Ary, saying, “One can only assume he was a big part of the internal resistance to the Comey indictment.”
Ben’Ary wasn’t concerned in the Comey case, one of many individuals aware of the matter informed NCS.
Comey was indicted by a grand jury final week on two felony counts, a transfer that got here after profession legal professionals in the workplace wrote a memo outlining their considerations that the proof in the case didn’t help prosecution. Before the Comey indictment, President Donald Trump fired his personal nominee to lead the workplace and put in his former private lawyer Lindsey Halligan as interim US legal professional, after publicly urging Attorney General Pam Bondi to goal political enemies together with Comey.
Spokesmen for the Justice Department and the Eastern District of Virginia didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark. Ben’Ary didn’t reply to a request for touch upon his LinkedIn account.
The firing seems to be the most recent in a sequence of purges of Justice Department prosecutors and workers after being focused by outstanding MAGA influencers on social media.
In a lawsuit filed final month, three former FBI brokers cited social media posts by pro-Trump accounts as influencing their firings on the bureau.