Latest news with #Comey
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
The bizarre and toxic feud between Trump and the Comeys will run and run
Once again, President Donald Trump was caught in a scandal and a Comey got fired. The strange and fateful entanglement between two powerful families jumped into a new generation this week when Maurene Comey got the sack from her job as one of New York's top prosecutors. And like her father, former FBI Director James Comey, who was ousted months into Trump's first term, she left with a dramatic warning about encroaching autocracy. 'Fear is the tool of the tyrant,' Comey said in a message to colleagues, obtained by CNN on Thursday, after losing her job at the US attorney's office in the Southern District of New York, where she took part in prosecutions including that of Jeffrey Epstein – who has returned to national attention of late. A controversy over unreleased Justice Department files over the late accused sex trafficker is estranging the president from some in his MAGA base, causing him to absurdly blame Democrats — and James Comey — for orchestrating some kind of 'hoax' Maurene Comey also prosecuted Sean 'Diddy' Combs and high-profile murder, drug and gang violence cases. She said she was let go without explanation. But the only surprise really is that it took so long. A person familiar with the situation said that being a Comey is untenable in this administration because the former FBI chief continues to criticize the president. It works both ways, however, with Trump frequently lambasting his first FBI chief, whom he fired on questionable grounds. James Comey is no stranger to toxic politics This new front in the Trump/Comey feud is the latest dramatic twist in the politically charged story of the former FBI director, whose choices even before Trump stormed onto the scene meant he was sucked into toxic politics in a way that is unusual for a modern incumbent of his former job. After Trump took office in January 2017, Comey quickly became an early symbol of the president's attempts to bend the US government's legal agencies and instruments to his will. He is also one of the most prominent avatars for the conspiracies advanced by Trump and his MAGA crowd — which have escaped the president's capacity to control in the Epstein saga — that there is a pernicious 'deep state' inside the US government plotting to bring down the president and his supporters. Comey said that he was summoned to the White House for an uncomfortable one-on-one dinner with Trump a week into his first term and asked to pledge loyalty to the president, in a breach of the protocol by which FBI directors have sought distance from the Oval Office following the long and Machiavellian rule at the bureau of J. Edgar Hoover. Comey later testified to Congress he told Trump he would be honest but not politically loyal in that encounter, which started the slide to his dismissal in May 2017. In retrospect, and especially in light of the events of Trump's second term, that meeting was one of the first signs of Trump's intention to weaponize the Justice Department and the FBI. Attorney General Pamela Bondi, who is also embroiled in the Epstein storm, and FBI Director Kash Patel are Trump ultra-loyalists and won their jobs by becoming stars in MAGA world. And ironically, the cudgel of politicized justice that Comey refused to provide for Trump seems now to be turned against him. The FBI is investigating its former director and ex-CIA Director John Brennan for possible false statements to Congress relating to the issue that first dragged Comey into the president's bad books — the intelligence community assessment that Russian President Vladimir Putin interfered in the 2016 election to try to help Trump win, CNN reported last week. Comey was also one of the first major public figures to sound the alarm about Trump's autocratic tendencies and a style of leadership that often appears to prioritize his own political and personal goals above a broad definition of the national interest. In a dramatic congressional hearing days after he was fired, Comey talked about contemporaneous memos he wrote after meeting Trump. He said he believed that the president was trying to get 'something in exchange' for allowing him to stay in his job. Later, in his searing book 'A Higher Loyalty,' Comey wrote that dealing with Trump reminded him of his days prosecuting mafia kingpins, with their 'silent circle of assent.' Trump's implication in an interview with NBC after firing Comey that his decision was partly to do with the Russia investigation only heightened concerns about the president's motives. The circumstances of Comey's dismissal were one of the factors that led to the appointment of another former FBI director, Robert Mueller, to head the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Ultimately, Mueller did not establish that members of the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia's election interference effort, but did say the president's team expected to benefit from it. Trump refers to the entire issue of Russian election interference as a hoax. Comey's showdown with Trump started even before he was president Comey's tortured relationship with Trump began when he was among senior intelligence officials who went to Trump Tower to meet the incoming commander in chief two weeks before he was sworn in for the first time. Comey pulled Trump aside and told him about a dossier of allegations against him that also detailed interactions between his aides and Russians. The dossier later became the centerpiece of Trump's allegations that the intelligence agencies plotted against him. It reinforced the view of many supporters that there is a shady secret government that runs the United States — a conspiracy theory that helps explain the resonance of the story around Epstein, who MAGA activists claim was murdered in prison and kept a list of famous clients. Comey's dealings with Trump were not the first time he was pulled into the country's treacherous politics. In a move that Democrats claim cost their nominee the White House in 2016, he sensationally sent a letter to Congress announcing he was reopening the Hillary Clinton State Department email probe only 11 days before the election. He has since described the episode as a nightmare, but at the time he maintained he'd had no choice to tell the public about new evidence, because if he didn't do so he'd have been accused of covering it up and potentially helping Clinton win. This episode reinforced claims by critics on both sides of the aisle that Comey is sometimes a grandstander and has a rather too finely developed sense of his own integrity that leads him into tricky political situations. Americans first saw the moral certainty Comey brought to his professional life during the George W. Bush administration. As deputy attorney general, he rushed to a Washington hospital to thwart an attempt by White House counsel Alberto Gonzales and White House Chief of Staff Andy Card to get a seriously ill Attorney General John Ashcroft to reauthorize a surveillance program. The sense that Comey sees himself as a guardian of some of America's most fundamental democratic values has surrounded his public moves ever since. And the message his daughter released after her dismissal suggests the apple didn't fall far from the tree. 'If a career prosecutor can be fired without reason, fear may seep into the decisions of those who remain,' she wrote to her colleagues. 'Do not let that happen.' Maurene Comey's dismissal occurred two months after the previous bizarre development in the Comey-Trump melodrama. Her father was interview by Secret Service Agents over a photograph he posted to social media showing shells on a beach spelling out '86 47' — a code for removing Trump from the presidency. Some senior Trump officials accused Comey of calling for the president's assassination. Comey said he had no idea that some people associated the code with violence. But the feud between Trump and Comey is as bitter as ever, and there are surely new chapters to come — which might not be out of place in the legal thrillers the former FBI chief has taken to writing in his retirement.
New Indian Express
5 days ago
- Politics
- New Indian Express
'Fear is the tool of a tyrant': Fired US federal prosecutor Maurene Comey tells colleagues
WASHINGTON: Maurene Comey, the daughter of former FBI director James Comey who as a federal prosecutor in Manhattan worked on cases against Sean 'Diddy' Combs and Jeffrey Epstein, said in a note to colleagues that 'fear is the tool of a tyrant' and that her firing without reason should fuel 'a fire of righteous indignation at abuses of power.' '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." 'Instead of fear,' she added, 'let this moment fuel the fire that already burns at the heart of this place. A fire of righteous indignation at abuses of power. Of commitment to seek justice for victims. Of dedication to truth above all else.' Until her firing Wednesday, Comey had been a veteran lawyer in the Southern District of New York, long considered the most elite of the Justice Department's prosecution offices. Her cases included the sex trafficking prosecution of Epstein, who killed himself behind bars in 2019 as he was awaiting trial, and the recent case against Combs, which ended earlier this month with a mixed verdict. Her termination represented the latest Justice Department effort to fire lawyers without explanation, a trend that has raised alarm over a disregard for civil service protections designed to remove attorneys for political reasons. The department has also fired a number of prosecutors who worked on cases that have provoked Donald Trump's ire, including some who handled US Capitol riot cases and lawyers and support staff who worked on special counsel Jack Smith's prosecutions of the Republican president. She was long seen as a potential target given her father's fraught relationship over the last decade with Trump. The Justice Department recently appeared to acknowledge the existence of an investigation into James Comey, though the basis for that inquiry is unclear.
New Straits Times
5 days ago
- Politics
- New Straits Times
US prosecutor in Epstein, Maxwell cases abruptly fired
WASHINGTON: A US federal prosecutor who handled the case of notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and is the daughter of a prominent critic of President Donald Trump has been abruptly fired, US media reported. Maurene Comey, the daughter of former FBI director James Comey, was dismissed on Wednesday from her position as an assistant US attorney in Manhattan, several major US outlets reported. The Justice Department declined to confirm Comey's firing to AFP, saying it would have "no comment on personnel." Politico published a message Comey, who spent 10 years in the US attorney's office, sent to her former colleagues in which she said she had been "summarily fired" by the Justice Department with no reason given. She also encouraged them not to fall prey to "fear." "If a career prosecutor can be fired without reason, fear may seep into the decisions of those who remain," Comey said. "Do not let that happen. Fear is the tool of a tyrant." Comey's dismissal comes a week after the Justice Department confirmed it had opened an unspecified criminal investigation into her father, a long-time Trump adversary. It also comes amid mounting pressure on Trump to release material from the probe into Epstein, who committed suicide in a New York prison in 2019 after being charged with sex trafficking. Comey was among the prosecutors who handled the case involving the wealthy financier, which never went to trial because of his death. She also prosecuted Ghislaine Maxwell, the only former Epstein associate who has been criminally charged in connection with his activities. Trump is facing the most serious split in his loyal right-wing base since he returned to power over claims his administration is covering up lurid details of Epstein's crimes to protect rich and powerful figures. The Trump-supporting far-right has long latched on to the scandal, claiming the existence of a still-secret list of Epstein's powerful clients and that the late financier was in fact murdered in his cell as part of a cover-up. The Justice Department and FBI said this month that there was no evidence that Epstein kept a "client list" or was blackmailing powerful figures. Comey's father, the former FBI chief, has had a contentious history with Trump dating back to his first term in the White House. Trump fired Comey in 2017 as the then-FBI chief was leading an investigation into whether any members of the Trump campaign had colluded with Moscow to sway the 2016 presidential vote, in which the Republican beat Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. Since taking office in January, Trump has taken a number of punitive measures against his perceived enemies, stripping former officials of their security clearances and protective details, targeting law firms involved in past cases against him and pulling federal funding from universities.
NBC News
5 days ago
- Politics
- NBC News
Maurene Comey urges DOJ colleagues to stand up to 'abuses of power' in memo after her firing
A day after she was fired from her job as a U.S. attorney, Maurene Comey — the daughter of former FBI Director James Comey — urged her colleagues not to let fear of retribution "seep into" their decisions and to fight back against "abuses of power." "Every person lucky enough to work in this office constantly hears four words to describe our ethos: Without Fear or Favor. Do the right thing, the right way, for the right reasons without fear of retribution and without favor to the powerful," she wrote in a memo Thursday to her colleagues. Comey was fired by the Justice Department on Wednesday. She was a key figure in high profile cases such as the trial of Sean 'Diddy' Combs and the prosecutions of Jeffrey Epstein and his co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell. Epstein, the financier and convicted sex offender who died in prison, has been the subject of conspiracy theories that have become a major source of contention between President Donald Trump and some of his supporters. Comey said she was not given a reason and that her termination was done via a memo. A source familiar with the matter told NBC News on Wednesday that the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York cited Article II of the Constitution, which establishes the executive power of the president. In her memo, Comey talked about how "fear was never really conceivable" during her nearly ten-year tenure for the Southern District of New York. "We don't fear bad press; we have the luxury of exceptional security keeping us physically safe; and, so long as we did our work with integrity, we would get to keep serving the public in this office," she wrote. "Our focus was really on acting 'without favor.' That is, making sure people with access, money, and power were not treated differently than anyone else; and making sure this office remained separate from politics and focused only on the facts and the law." But, Comey said, they are now in a "new phase where 'without fear' may be the challenge." "If a career prosecutor can be fired without reason, fear may seep into the decisions of those who remain. Do not let that happen," the memo read. "Fear is the tool of a tyrant, wielded to suppress independent thought. Instead of fear, let this moment fuel the fire that already burns at the heart of this place. A fire of righteous indignation at abuses of power. Of commitment to seek justice for victims. Of dedication to truth above all else." Her father, James Comey, has for years been in a public feud with Trump. James Comey was one of the key figures in launching a probe of Russia's involvement in the 2016 presidential election. During his first term as president, Trump fired James Comey, and earlier this month, his administration launched a criminal investigation targeting him and former CIA Director John Brennan. The details of the investigation remain unclear. When asked at a press briefing Thursday about the firing, the White House said, "This was a decision made by the Department of Justice."
Time Magazine
6 days ago
- Politics
- Time Magazine
Who Is Maurene Comey, the Fired U.S. Attorney and Prosecutor of Jeffrey Epstein?
The Department of Justice has abruptly fired a prosecutor who worked on the case against the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, and Sean 'Diddy' Combs. Maurene Comey was fired Wednesday from her job in the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's Office, Politico first reported. CNN and the Associated Press also reported on Comey's firing, citing unnamed sources familiar with the situation. While the reason remains unclear, Comey's firing comes at a time of heightened interest in the Trump Administration's handling of the so-called Epstein files. A memo released last week by the Justice Department and FBI effectively dismissed the existence of an Epstein 'client list,' and said that the agencies will disclose no further information on the case. Some high-profile supporters of President Trump have criticized the decision. During his campaign for the presidency, Trump had promised to release the Epstein files and had fueled intrigue in his death. Epstein died by suicide in 2019 at a New York correctional center while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges. Trump shrugged off outrage this week over the Epstein files and rebuked his own supporters for buying into a 'Jeffrey Epstein Hoax.' Read More: A Timeline of Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein's Relationship as It Draws Renewed Attention When asked about Comey's firing, the White House referred TIME to the Justice Department, which has not immediately responded to a request for comment. Who is Maurene Comey? Comey had worked at the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) since November 2015, and has served leadership roles in its public corruption unit and violent and organized crime unit. Comey is the daughter of former FBI Director James Comey, who led SDNY from 2002 to 2003. Trump fired James Comey in May 2017 over his handling of the inquiry into Hillary Clinton's emails, but Democrats have said the move was a result of the FBI investigating alleged links between the Trump campaign and Russia. James Comey, who is seen as an adversary of Trump, was recently followed by law enforcement after sharing a post on social media critical of the U.S. President. The FBI is also investigating the elder Comey for possible false statements to Congress. A person familiar with Maurene Comey's firing told CNN that being a Comey is impossible in this Administration as her father is 'constantly going after the Administration.' Comey is married to Lucas Issacharoff, who works at SDNY's Civil Division as an assistant attorney. As a federal attorney, Comey has also taken on high-profile cases. Among them are the prosecutions of Treasury Department whistleblower Natalie Edwards, and Robert Hadden, a top New York doctor who was sentenced for luring patients across state lines so he could sexually abuse them. 'She is truly a prosecutor's prosecutor,' Kristy Greenberg, former deputy chief of the SDNY's criminal division, told MSNBC, adding that many people look up to her and that she is 'beloved' in the agency. How is Maurene Comey involved in the Epstein case? Comey was one of three lead prosecutors in the case against Epstein and the British socialite Maxwell, who was convicted for helping the disgraced Epstein sexually abuse young girls. She has been serving a 20-year sentence since 2022. Last year, Comey filed a declaration in federal court seeking to bar the release of Epstein-related records in response to a Freedom of Information Act request. In the declaration, Comey said that the release of the records—which contained witness information and statements as well as business records—'could reasonably be expected to interfere' in any retrial of Maxwell, who unsuccessfully appealed her sex trafficking conviction and has petitioned the Supreme Court to vacate her conviction. U.S. District Judge Paul Gardephe upheld the FBI's denial of access to the bulk of the Epstein records. Influential right-wing figures have supported Comey's firing. '+1 for Blondi today,' Laura Loomer said on X, using a moniker for Attorney General Pam Bondi, who has been facing MAGA calls for her resignation over the decision to not release the Epstein files. Read More: Trump Urges Supporters to Move On From Epstein, as MAGA Conspiracists Demand Transparency Sen. Adam Schiff (D, Calif.) said in a video that Comey's firing amid the reignited Epstein controversy raises questions: 'Did they fire her because she's James Comey's daughter? That would be improper for one reason. Did they fire her because she was a prosecutor in the Epstein case? That would just feed into what the MAGA base is already suspicious of.'
