Trump administration dismisses DOJ prosecutor over refusal to lead Comey case

By Fatma Zehra Solmaz

ISTANBUL (AA) - The Trump administration has dismissed a Justice Department prosecutor after he refused to oversee the prosecution of former FBI Director James Comey, US media reported Monday.

Robert McBride, 64, the second-ranking official in the Justice Department’s Eastern District of Virginia, was asked in recent days to take charge of the Comey case but told department officials it would be difficult to do so while also managing the office, according to sources cited by MSNBC.

McBride, a former federal prosecutor in Kentucky, was appointed late last year as deputy to Lindsey Halligan, a Trump ally and former personal lawyer to the president, whom Trump installed in September as acting US attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.

In November, a federal judge dismissed criminal charges against Comey, citing the unlawful appointment of the US attorney selected by Trump to oversee the prosecution.

According to the Guardian, McBride had declined to take on several major cases in the district, a decision that reportedly raised concerns within the office.

Sources familiar with the matter said Halligan recently learned that McBride had held private meetings with federal judges in the Eastern District of Virginia without her knowledge, a move viewed by administration officials as undermining her authority.

The same sources said the attorney general and deputy attorney general supported McBride’s dismissal, with the Executive Office for US Attorneys finalizing the paperwork.