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The number two prosecutor in the US attorney’s office for the eastern district of Virginia has been fired, according to two people familiar with the matter, the latest in a series of dismissals in an office that is leading controversial criminal prosecutions of James Comey and Letitia James.
Robert McBride, a former federal prosecutor in Kentucky, was brought in late last year to serve as the deputy to Lindsey Halligan, a Trump ally who the president installed as the acting US attorney for the eastern district of Virginia in September. McBride was dismissed after declining to lead the Comey prosecution, which a judge threw out in November after ruling Halligan was unlawfully appointed, one of the people said. (The justice department is appealing the ruling.)
McBride refused to take on important cases in the district, another person familiar with the matter said, and had met privately with judges in the district with the goal of being appointed himself to the top prosecutor job. The person said top justice department officials supported McBride’s firing.
Natalie Baldassarre, a justice department spokeswoman, referred a request for comment to the us attorney’s office for the eastern district of Virginia. That office declined to comment.
McBride’s dismissal, first reported by MS NOW, comes after months of turmoil in the US attorney’s office for the eastern district of Virginia in connection with the two cases. Erik Siebert, Halligan’s predecessor, was forced out of his job in September after he determined there was not enough evidence to bring charges against James. At least four other career prosecutors have been terminated in the office, reportedly over resistance to bringing charges against James or Comey.
Shortly after Halligan was installed as the office’s top prosecutor, she secured indictments against Comey, related to allegations of lying to Congress in 2020 and then James on allegations of mortgage fraud. Both have denied wrongdoing, and the charges seem to be a thinly-veiled effort to weaponize the criminal justice system to punish Trump’s political rivals.
In November, US district judge Cameron McGowan Currie dismissed the cases against both Comey and James, saying that Halligan had unlawfully been serving as the US attorney. US attorneys must be confirmed by the senate, and federal law allows them to serve on an interim basis for 120 days and then gives the district court judges in a given jurisdiction the ability to pick the top prosecutor. Since Halligan Siebert served for that 120-day period, Halligan is unable to serve in the role absent a Senate confirmation or getting approval from the district court judges.
Last week, a federal judge ordered Halligan to explain why she continues to refer to herself as the US attorney in court documents despite the ruling she unlawfully is holding the position.
