Federal prosecutor Maurene Comey sent a blistering email to colleagues warning them of the chilling effect of fear in the Justice Department after being abruptly fired by the Trump administration.
“If a career prosecutor can be fired without reason, fear may seep into the decisions of those who remain,” the daughter of former FBI director and Trump foe James Comey wrote in an email, according to The New York Times. “Do not let that happen.”
Maurene Comey—who was the prosecutor in the case against sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein—called fear “the tool of a tyrant, wielded to suppress independent thought.”
The senior law enforcer, 36, was dismissed from her job as assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York on Wednesday.
She had been working at there for 10 years and most recently was on the team that prosecuted Sean “Diddy” Combs and failed to win a conviction on the most serious charges.
The White House and the Justice Department have refused to explain the reason for her dismissal, but the timing of it is raising questions given her role in the case against Epstein and his former girlfriend and associate Ghislaine Maxwell.
Comey’s firing comes as President Donald Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi face a political firestorm for failing to release the so-called Epstein files, which had been the subject of MAGA conspiracy theories for years.
But six months into his second presidency, Trump now claims the files are a Democratic hoax and has branded supporters as “weaklings” if they think otherwise.
“My PAST supporters have bought into this “bulls--t,” hook, line, and sinker. They haven’t learned their lesson, and probably never will, even after being conned by the Lunatic Left for 8 long years,” Trump said on Wednesday.
Some suspect Maurene Comey’s position was untenable in the administration given her father was a known critic of the president.
Trump loyalist Laura Loomer had publicly called for Comey’s dismissal on that basis.
The president fired James Comey as FBI director in 2017 amid outrage over the agency’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Reports emerged last week that Comey, 64, is currently under investigation by the administration for alleged false statements to Congress.
He was separately questioned in May by the U.S. Secret Service after posting a photo on Instagram of seashells on a beach that spelled out “86 47”—numbers that some viewed as a call for violence against the president.
The former FBI director denied that but removed the post after a social media backlash from Trump’s MAGA base.
The New York Times, citing two unnamed sources, reported that Maurene Comey was informed of her firing in a letter that cited Article II of the Constitution, which describes the powers of the president.
The White House declined to comment about the firing, saying it was a matter for the Justice Department. A spokeswoman for the department said they would not comment on personnel matters.
