“If a career prosecutor can be fired without reason, fear may seep into the decisions of those who remain,” Comey said in the note, which was obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday. “Do not let that happen. Fear is the tool of a tyrant, wielded to suppress independent thought.”

Maurene Comey, the Manhattan federal prosecutor who was fired from the US attorney’s office this week, has prosecuted a number of high-profile cases and followed in her father’s, James Comey, footsteps with her work at the Southern District of New York.