More than a half-dozen prosecutors have been demoted or pushed out of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia due to fallout from the Justice Department’s push to prosecute former FBI director James B. Comey, leaving a key prosecutorial office understaffed and weakened.

Others prosecutors have voluntarily decamped or scrambled to find new jobs, fearful they could be asked to work on cases that violate their principles, according to 10 current and former prosecutors familiar with the office and the case. Major cases, including one involving a terrorist attack in Afghanistan, have been hobbled by the turmoil.

That’s not to mention the money and investigative resources spent on the two indictments of Comey, which most legal analysts say have little merit and stem primarily from President Donald Trump’s animus toward the former FBI chief.

As the Justice Department gears up for the second prosecution of Comey, the costs to the department of the president’s crusade are mounting. The shock waves rippling through the Justice Department underline the high price of the president’s single-minded pursuit of his adversaries to its personnel, resources and mission.

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