Federal Prosecutor Is Fired Amid Further Turmoil in Comey Case
A senior federal prosecutor in Virginia was fired after a disagreement about whether he would take charge of the Trump administration’s effort to reindict James B. Comey, according to multiple people familiar with the matter.
The dismissal of the prosecutor, Robert K. McBride, is the latest fallout in the Justice Department over President Trump’s effort to punish Mr. Comey, the former F.B.I. director and his longtime nemesis, whom the president blames for past investigations of his conduct.
Mr. McBride had been in the U.S. attorney’s office for the Eastern District of Virginia for only a couple of months, temporarily serving as the top deputy to Lindsey Halligan after more than a decade as a federal prosecutor in Kentucky. Mr. Trump selected Ms. Halligan as the U.S. attorney after her predecessor resisted bringing charges against Mr. Comey, saying the evidence was not sufficient to warrant doing so.
The dismissal of the prosecutor, Robert K. McBride, is the latest fallout in the Justice Department over President Trump’s effort to punish Mr. Comey, the former F.B.I. director and his longtime nemesis, whom the president blames for past investigations of his conduct.
Mr. McBride had been in the U.S. attorney’s office for the Eastern District of Virginia for only a couple of months, temporarily serving as the top deputy to Lindsey Halligan after more than a decade as a federal prosecutor in Kentucky. Mr. Trump selected Ms. Halligan as the U.S. attorney after her predecessor resisted bringing charges against Mr. Comey, saying the evidence was not sufficient to warrant doing so.
