WASHINGTON – U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) issued the following statement on reports that the FBI’s top lawyer Dana Boente was asked to resign Friday:

“Dana Boente served ably for many years as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, where we knew him as a dedicated and experienced career civil servant, a consummate professional, and an extremely capable attorney. Press reports indicate that he was pushed out of his position at the FBI following pressure from the highest levels of the Trump Justice Department, as retribution for his role in the investigation of the president’s former national security adviser. If this is accurate, Mr. Boente appears to be one more victim of the Attorney General’s disturbing crusade to turn the Department of Justice into another arm of the president’s political campaign.”

From 2013 to 2015, Dana Boente served as acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. In 2015, following arecommendation from Sens. Warner and Kaine, Boente was nominated and confirmed to serve as U.S. Attorney.

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