A former state prosecutor, Cleary briefly led the Eastern District of Virginia last month, shortly after former acting U.S. Attorney Erik Siebert resigned. Cleary told staff that she was Siebert’s replacement, but days later, former White House aide and Trump personal lawyer Lindsey Halligan was sworn in as interim U.S. attorney, effectively taking over control of the office.
It’s unclear if Cleary was removed from the Justice Department altogether or if she was reassigned to a different role. She served as first assistant U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia, and worked as senior counsel in the Justice Department’s criminal division.
A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment.
CNN was first to report on Cleary’s ouster.
Cleary is the latest prosecutor to leave the Eastern District of Virginia. The office is one of the largest federal prosecutor’s offices in the country, and is known for handling a unique mix of national security cases. But in recent weeks, it has also drawn attention for charging former FBI Director James Comey with lying to Congress and charging New York Attorney General Letitia James with mortgage fraud two weeks later.
President Trump had publicly urged Attorney General Pam Bondi to look into Comey and James, both of whom are longtime political adversaries.
Two other high-level prosecutors were also fired from the office in recent weeks: Michael Ben’Ary and Maya Song.
“I am disappointed to leave behind a national security and public safety mission that I truly believed in,” he wrote. “I am even more disappointed to see what has happened to this office and the Department of Justice in just a few short months.”
