Maurene Comey, a top Manhattan sex crimes prosecutor who worked on the cases against Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell — and recently Sean “Diddy” Combs — was reportedly fired by the Justice Department on Wednesday.
Comey, whose father is President Trump foe and former FBI Director James Comey, was abruptly let go by the Southern District of New York prosecutor’s office as a senior trial counsel after nearly a decade of service, Politico reported.
Nicholas Biase, a spokesman for Manhattan U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton, declined to comment. Trump appointed Clayton to the role in April.
Patrick McMullan Archives
Patrick McMullan/Patrick McMullan via Getty Image Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell at a 2005 benefit.
The firing comes with Trump on the defensive about the DOJ and FBI’s decision not to release any more information about Epstein, the well-connected financier who died in U.S. custody in 2019 before facing justice on sweeping sex trafficking charges.
The announcement provoked outrage given that Trump’s Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel, and Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino had hyped up a treasure trove of sealed records, including a supposed “client list” revealing the names of powerful people who participated in Epstein’s child sex trafficking ring.
In a particularly fiery Truth Social post earlier Wednesday, Trump claimed Democrats had fabricated an Epstein “HOAX” and chastised his supporters who he said had “bought into this ‘bulls—t,’ hook, line, and sinker.”
“Let these weaklings continue forward and do the Democrats work, don’t even think about talking of our incredible and unprecedented success, because I don’t want their support anymore!” the president wrote.
Comey, who could not immediately be reached for comment, was on the prosecution team that indicted Epstein a month before his suicide in a Manhattan jail cell and later handled the case against his convicted right-hand, Maxwell, who’s currently serving a 20-year sentence for procuring teenage girls for his abuse.
Her dismissal also comes as federal authorities are reportedly investigating her father, a staunch Trump critic whom the president in May accused of threatening to “assassinate” him based on a photo James Comey posted to Instagram of seashells on the beach arranged to spell the numbers “8647.” The term “86” is slang for discarding or canceling something, and Trump is the 47th president.
Comey, who Trump fired during his first term, said he stumbled on the “cool shell formation on my beach walk” and meant nothing intimidating by it.
The New York Times reported last week that the Secret Service had covertly tailed Comey and his wife along the North Carolina coast, through Virginia, and to Washington, D.C., after the post went up.
