Summary
The Justice Department fired Michael Ben'Ary, a senior national security prosecutor, from the Eastern District of Virginia. His dismissal follows criticism from a conservative commentator and is part of a series of recent removals of senior attorneys connected to the Trump administration.
Key Facts
- Michael Ben'Ary was a senior prosecutor in the national security unit of the Eastern District of Virginia.
- He was fired the same day a conservative commentator criticized him for past work in the Biden administration.
- Ben'Ary had a nearly 20-year career at the Justice Department, serving under both Republican and Democratic administrations.
- He was overseeing the prosecution of a case related to the 2021 Kabul airport bombing.
- His firing adds to recent removals of senior attorneys in the district by the Trump administration.
- Lindsey Halligan, a former Trump lawyer with no prior federal prosecution experience, was appointed as the new U.S. attorney for the district.
- The firings are viewed as a political effort by the administration to control federal prosecutions.
- Legal experts express concern that these actions could threaten the independence of career prosecutors.
