WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A former federal prosecutor who once claimed former President Joe Biden’s administration targeted her for being conservative told colleagues in an email on Saturday that she has been named to replace a top prosecutor who resigned on Friday after President Donald Trump had said he wanted him out.
In an internal email seen by Reuters, Mary “Maggie” Cleary told attorneys she has been “unexpectedly” tapped to be acting U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. She did not immediately respond to an email from Reuters seeking comment.
Erik Siebert, former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, resigned from his post on Friday after the administration told him Trump was frustrated his office had not yet brought criminal mortgage fraud charges against New York Attorney General Letitia James.
The office is also involved in a second probe targeting former FBI Director James Comey, another one of Trump’s political rivals. That probe is tied to the bureau’s prior investigation of Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.
In the probes against both officials, Siebert had previously told officials that he did not believe the evidence was strong enough to bring charges, two sources previously told Reuters.
Cleary most recently served as a deputy commonwealth attorney in Culpeper County, Virginia, according to her bio on the University of Virginia’s Law School page where she is listed as a lecturer. She previously briefly worked as an assistant U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Virginia.
Cleary later penned an article in “The Spectator World” in which she claimed she was “framed” by a person who said she was among the Trump supporters in the January 6, 2021 attack against the U.S. Capitol.
In the article, Cleary said she was falsely identified as having been on Capitol grounds that day, and was briefly investigated by the Justice Department. Within a few hours, she was cleared to return to work. Although she was never prosecuted, Cleary wrote in the article that she was “targeted politically” and she now feels emboldened to share her story since Trump is president again.
(Reporting by Sarah Lynch; Editing by David Gregorio)
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