The real reason Todd Gilbert was forced out: Turns out, he’s a stand-up dude?

We were told that Todd Gilbert resigned as the new U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Virginia because he refused to fire one of his assistants.

Seems that the real reason he was fired was because he refused to play ball with the Trumpers’ desire to launch a sham investigation into the FBI’s handling of Russia, Russia, Russia.

They’re making it so that we’re going to have to like Todd Gilbert now.

Damn them, damn them to hell.

The New York Times broke this new twist to the story involving Gilbert, the former Virginia House Speaker and a 1993 UVA alum, who stepped down from his House seat in the summer after being appointed by Trump to the U.S. Attorney post.

Gilbert, in the news recently because of texts dating to 2022 from Jay Jones, the Democratic Party nominee for attorney general, didn’t end up hanging around very long as U.S. Attorney, resigning a few weeks into his tenure – the original word on that being, he resisted pressure to fire Zachary Lee, an assistant U.S. Attorney in his office, who has since stepped down from his post.

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ICYMI

• Boy, that escalated quickly: Trumpers run off Todd Gilbert from U.S. Attorney post
• Todd Gilbert update | Former U.S. Attorney has a new job
• Dem AG nominee Jay Jones releases new statement on Todd Gilbert texts
• Immediately, if not sooner | Jay Jones needs to end his attorney general campaign

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Lee was a holdover from the Biden era; the reason given, initially, for why the Trumpers wanted him gone was, obviously, the guy is a far-left lunatic.

The Times report this week gives us more meat on the bone – turns out, per the reporting, FBI Director Kash Patel wanted Gilbert to investigate whether classified documents had been stored in “burn bags” at FBI headquarters.

Gilbert followed through, and after his review, he concluded that there wasn’t enough evidence to warrant a grand jury investigation.

Pam Bondi, the attorney general, blamed Lee, who the Trumpers felt was influencing Gilbert on the matter.

When Gilbert refused to fire Lee, he was told that he would be fired, and he resigned before he could be pink-slipped.

When Lee, earlier this week, announced that he was leaving the U.S. Attorney office for a job in the private sector, Gilbert, now an assistant Commonwealth’s attorney in Page County, posted a note to his socials praising his former colleague.

“Zach Lee is a consummate professional and respected career prosecutor,” Gilbert wrote. “I quickly learned to appreciate and respect his talent and wisdom. Zach dutifully carried out his duties for years no matter the situation, and his departure is a tremendous loss to all.”

Damn them for making me like Todd Gilbert.