“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, a federal prosecutor and the daughter of former FBI director James Comey, told her former colleagues in an email that her sudden firing should “fuel the fire” of their work fighting abuses of power.