Senior Justice Department prosecutor Maggie Cleary, who briefly led the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia last month, has reportedly been removed from office.
CNN reported that unnamed sources were unsure whether Cleary continues to be employed by the Justice Department in another capacity.
Cleary could not be reached for comment on Monday. A department spokesperson declined to discuss the personnel matter with CNN.
Cleary ran the Eastern District office before President Donald Trump appointee Lindsey Halligan assumed the role in September.
Cleary’s removal marks another high-profile change in the office as DOJ leadership becomes increasingly active in reassigning or removing prosecutors viewed as resistant to their direction.
Halligan has reportedly moved quickly to consolidate control.
She has been directly involved with personnel matters and personally participated in courtroom proceedings — uncommon activity for a U.S. attorney.
Halligan has been involved in the recent indictments of former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
One unnamed person familiar with the situation told CNN that Halligan appeared interested in reassigning or removing prosecutors she believed might not support her handling of politically sensitive cases.
Cleary’s exit follows a wave of departures from the Eastern District of Virginia within the past month. Erik Siebert, the first Trump-appointed U.S. attorney in the district, resigned under pressure as internal opposition mounted over whether to charge Comey.
Cleary reportedly sided with career prosecutors who opposed bringing the case.
During Halligan’s presentation of the Comey indictment before a magistrate judge, Cleary was present but didn’t sit at the government’s table.
Two additional career prosecutors, Michael Ben’Ary and Maya Song, were dismissed soon after the Comey charges were filed, while Comey’s son-in-law, Troy Edwards Jr., also resigned.
A longtime prosecutor with trial experience, Cleary previously served under Republican leadership in Virginia before joining the federal office in Alexandria this year.
Cleary was previously investigated for involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol protest.
She wrote about her experience in The Spectator World and said in the May 2025 article that she “was framed over January 6” and planned to “end politically weaponized investigations.”
She wrote that she was wrongly identified in a photo from the Capitol grounds during the protest while she worked as an assistant U.S. attorney in Virginia.
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