One of the preeminent U.S. attorney’s offices in the country is facing mounting turmoil in the wake of the move last week by a Trump-installed prosecutor to indict former FBI Director James Comey.
Two top attorneys in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia have been fired from their jobs in recent days, sources told ABC, and lawyers in the office believe their removals were driven by political vengeance on behalf of President Donald Trump.
The office’s top national security official, Michael Ben-Ary, was informed Wednesday of his termination just hours after a MAGA-aligned activist posted on social media about his past work in the office of former Biden-era Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, sources told ABC News.
Mark Schiefelbein/AP – PHOTO: Lindsey Halligan
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Ben-Ary, who had risen through ranks of federal law enforcement over the past 20 years, was the lead attorney on the case of Mohammad Sharifullah — an alleged plotter who is accused of assisting ISIS-K in the bombing of Abbey Gate whose case and extradition to the U.S. was announced by Trump in a joint address to Congress earlier this year. Sharifullah is set to stand trial in early December.
Another prosecutor, Maya Song, the former deputy to Erik Siebert — who was ousted two weeks ago under pressure from Trump — was fired last Friday by Siebert’s replacement Lindsey Halligan, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.
Jacquelyn Martin/AP – PHOTO: Lindsey Halligan
Song had opted to accept a demotion as a line prosecutor in the wake of Siebert’s resignation after he resisted pressure to bring charges against both Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, sources previously told ABC News.
It’s not immediately clear whether Song was given a specific rationale for her removal, but it followed a torrent of criticism from right-wing influencers who had similarly highlighted her previous service during the Biden administration under Monaco.
Rod Lamkey/AP – PHOTO: Erik Sieber
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In a Truth Social post last week, Trump demanded Microsoft immediately fire Monaco from her recently announced role as the company’s president of global affairs, citing what he alleged was her direct involvement in the prosecutions he faced after leaving his first term in office.
Ben-Ary and Song’s removals are likely to further sink morale inside the already embattled office, sources told ABC. The office, considered among the most important prosecutorial offices in the country, handles the bulk of the federal government’s most sensitive national security cases.
ABC News has reached out to the DOJ, Ben-Ary and Song for comment.
