Overview

• Michael Ben’Ary, the Eastern District of Virginia’s national security chief, was fired Wednesday hours after a post by pro‑Trump writer Julie Kelly linked him to internal pushback on the James Comey case, though multiple reports say he was not involved in that prosecution.
• Maya Song, a longtime senior prosecutor and former first assistant in the same office, was terminated last week, with both dismissals following online targeting over their past work with former Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco.
• In a departure letter posted Friday, Ben’Ary accused Justice Department leaders of prioritizing punishment of the president’s perceived enemies over public safety and warned that his abrupt removal will hurt the upcoming terrorism trial of Mohammad Sharifullah.
• The personnel moves follow President Trump’s installation of Lindsey Halligan as interim U.S. attorney, after which she alone presented the Comey case to a grand jury that indicted on two counts and rejected a third; career lawyers had circulated a memo arguing against charging.
• The department declined to discuss the firings, while public statements praised Halligan’s leadership; legal observers anticipate pretrial challenges in the Comey case as arraignment approaches next week and concerns grow about disruptions to the Virginia office’s national security docket.