Latest news with #MaureneComey
Fox News
2 days ago
- Politics
- Fox News
Maurene Comey fired from Trump DOJ after she 'failed' in two major cases, expert says: 'Absolute mess'
Legal analysts are split after the Justice Department fired Maurene Comey, a veteran prosecutor with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, on Wednesday. "It's about time," said Nicole Parker, a former FBI agent and Fox News contributor. "She failed in two cases." One of those was the recent racketeering and sex trafficking case against hip-hop mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs, in which jurors found him not guilty of the most serious charges. The other was the 2019 prosecution of Jeffrey Epstein, which barely got off the ground before federal authorities say he killed himself in a jail cell awaiting trial. Another of her past cases was the conviction of Ghislaine Maxwell, the only Epstein associate held liable by a civil or criminal court. Maxwell is appealing her case while serving 20 years in a federal prison in Florida. Comey has received criticism for arguing in court against unsealing some court documents in the Epstein case. While there are a number of reasons why the government might want to keep them out of the public eye, including Maxwell's pending appeal, President Donald Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi this week announced plans to ask a federal judge to unseal grand jury materials in the case. "There didn't need to be any reason for her firing," said David Gelman, a Philadelphia-area attorney and former prosecutor. "It could be job performance, which would be warranted because the Diddy trial was an absolute mess, and she was the head of it. The outcome was not what the SDNY wanted." Combs beat the most serious charges against him, including a federal RICO case full of salacious allegations and sex trafficking, and was found guilty of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution. "It could also be that she would have been fired previously, but they let her stay to try the Diddy case because of all the resources that were spent on it," Gelman said. " It won't surprise me whatsoever if she goes to the anti-Trump shows and bashes the DOJ and administration. That's the playbook for her family." Still, some analysts view her firing as a political move. "The firing is pretty remarkable," said Andrew Stoltmann, a Chicago-based attorney and adjunct law professor at Northwestern University. "It's a very clear shot across the bow of everyone at the DOJ to get in line." Former Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Yoo suggested another route could have been taken. "I totally get why President Trump doesn't trust her, if he believes what he says about Comey (her father), how he cooked up the Russia hoax," Yoo told "The Story" Thursday. "Not the daughter, but the father, remember how he tried to entrap President Trump and ran back to his car and typed up and hid documents with friends, claiming that President Trump committed perjury." Still, he said, he doesn't think the daughter's firing was appropriate. "I would just maybe reassign her to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Alaska," he said. Comey is the daughter of former FBI head James Comey and a longtime federal prosecutor with the Southern District of New York. Fox News Digital reported earlier this month that the FBI had launched criminal investigations into the elder Comey and former CIA Director John Brennan. President Trump fired her father from the FBI during his first term. When asked why Trump fired the younger Comey during a news briefing Thursday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the decision came from inside the Justice Department. Comey did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
CTV News
3 days ago
- Politics
- CTV News
Request to unseal Epstein grand jury transcripts likely to disappoint, ex-prosecutors say
This photo combination shows from top left, Assistant U.S. Attorney Maurene Comey listening in New York, July 8, 2019, attorney Todd Blanche after a hearing, Sept. 5, 2024, in Washington, Attorney General Pam Bondi speaking during a news conference at the Justice Department, June 6, 2025, in Washington and and President Donald Trump speaking at an event in the East Room of the White House, July 18, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, Jose Luis Magana, Julia Demaree Nikhinson, Alex Brandon, file) NEW YORK — A Justice Department request to unseal grand jury transcripts in the prosecution of chronic sexual abuser Jeffrey Epstein and his former girlfriend is unlikely to produce much, if anything, to satisfy the public's appetite for new revelations about the financier's crimes, former federal prosecutors say. Attorney Sarah Krissoff, an assistant U.S. attorney in Manhattan from from 2008 to 2021, called the request in the prosecutions of Epstein and imprisoned British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell 'a distraction.' 'The president is trying to present himself as if he's doing something here and it really is nothing,' Krissoff told The Associated Press in a weekend interview. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche made the request Friday, asking judges to unseal transcripts from grand jury proceedings that resulted in indictments against Epstein and Maxwell, saying 'transparency to the American public is of the utmost importance to this Administration.' The request came as the administration sought to contain the firestorm that followed its announcement that it would not be releasing additional files from the Epstein probe despite previously promising that it would. Epstein is dead while Maxwell serves a 20-year prison sentence Epstein killed himself at age 66 in his federal jail cell in August 2019, a month after his arrest on sex trafficking charges, while Maxwell, 63, is serving a 20-year prison sentence imposed after her December 2021 sex trafficking conviction for luring girls to be sexually abused by Epstein. Krissoff and Joshua Naftalis, a Manhattan federal prosecutor for 11 years before entering private practice in 2023, said grand jury presentations are purposely brief. Naftalis said Southern District prosecutors present just enough to a grand jury to get an indictment but 'it's not going to be everything the FBI and investigators have figured out about Maxwell and Epstein.' 'People want the entire file from however long. That's just not what this is,' he said, estimating that the transcripts, at most, probably amount to a few hundred pages. 'It's not going to be much,' Krissoff said, estimating the length at as little as 60 pages 'because the Southern District of New York's practice is to put as little information as possible into the grand jury.' 'They basically spoon feed the indictment to the grand jury. That's what we're going to see,' she said. 'I just think it's not going to be that interesting. ... I don't think it's going to be anything new.' Ex-prosecutors say grand jury transcript unlikely to be long Both ex-prosecutors said that grand jury witnesses in Manhattan are usually federal agents summarizing their witness interviews. That practice might conflict with the public perception of some state and federal grand jury proceedings, where witnesses likely to testify at a trial are brought before grand juries during lengthy proceedings prior to indictments or when grand juries are used as an investigatory tool. In Manhattan, federal prosecutors 'are trying to get a particular result so they present the case very narrowly and inform the grand jury what they want them to do,' Krissoff said. Krissoff predicted that judges who presided over the Epstein and Maxwell cases will reject the government's request. With Maxwell, a petition is before the U.S. Supreme Court so appeals have not been exhausted. With Epstein, the charges are related to the Maxwell case and the anonymity of scores of victims who have not gone public is at stake, although Blanche requested that victim identities be protected. 'This is not a 50-, 60-, 80-year-old case,' Krissoff noted. 'There's still someone in custody.' Appeals court's 1997 ruling might matter She said citing 'public intrigue, interest and excitement' about a case was likely not enough to convince a judge to release the transcripts despite a 1997 ruling by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that said judges have wide discretion and that public interest alone can justify releasing grand jury information. Krissoff called it 'mind-blowingly strange' that Washington Justice Department officials are increasingly directly filing requests and arguments in the Southern District of New York, where the prosecutor's office has long been labeled the 'Sovereign District of New York' for its independence from outside influence. 'To have the attorney general and deputy attorney general meddling in an SDNY case is unheard of,' she said. Cheryl Bader, a former federal prosecutor and Fordham Law School criminal law professor, said judges who presided over the Epstein and Maxwell cases may take weeks or months to rule. 'Especially here where the case involved witnesses or victims of sexual abuse, many of which are underage, the judge is going to be very cautious about what the judge releases,' she said. Tradition of grand jury secrecy might block release of transcripts Bader said she didn't see the government's quest aimed at satisfying the public's desire to explore conspiracy theories 'trumping — pardon the pun — the well-established notions of protecting the secrecy of the grand jury process.' 'I'm sure that all the line prosecutors who really sort of appreciate the secrecy and special relationship they have with the grand jury are not happy that DOJ is asking the court to release these transcripts,' she added. Mitchell Epner, a former federal prosecutor now in private practice, called Trump's comments and influence in the Epstein matter 'unprecedented' and 'extraordinarily unusual' because he is a sitting president. He said it was not surprising that some former prosecutors are alarmed that the request to unseal the grand jury materials came two days after the firing of Manhattan Assistant U.S. Attorney Maurene Comey, who worked on the Epstein and Maxwell cases. 'If federal prosecutors have to worry about the professional consequences of refusing to go along with the political or personal agenda of powerful people, then we are in a very different place than I've understood the federal Department of Justice to be in over the last 30 years of my career,' he said. Krissoff said the uncertain environment that has current prosecutors feeling unsettled is shared by government employees she speaks with at other agencies as part of her work in private practice. 'The thing I hear most often is this is a strange time. Things aren't working the way we're used to them working,' she said. Larry Neumeister, The Associated Press Associated Press Writers Eric Tucker and Alanna Durkin Richer contributed to this report.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Maurene Comey issues fiery memo after ouster from US attorney's office
Maurene Comey, a career federal prosecutor and the daughter of former FBI Director James Comey, issued a fiery memo a day after being ousted from her job at the U.S. attorney's office for the Southern District of New York (SDNY), telling colleagues that 'fear is the tool of a tyrant, wielded to suppress independent thought.' 'Do the right thing, the right way, for the right reasons without fear of retribution and without favor to the powerful,' Maurene Comey wrote in the Thursday message, which was obtained by multiple outlets. 'For the majority of my nearly ten years in SDNY, fear was never really conceivable. 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 said. Comey was fired Wednesday from her post at the U.S. attorney's office, where she worked for nearly a decade. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at a briefing Thursday that the decision came from the Justice Department. Comey's father has had a contentious relationship with President Trump; he was fired during Trump's first White House term after helping kick-start the investigation into alleged ties between Trump's 2016 campaign and Russia. Maurene Comey's firing was largely seen as connected to her father. She worked on criminal cases against Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. She was part of a team that brought sex trafficking charges against Epstein, the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender who died by suicide while awaiting trial in 2019. Comey was also on the team that handled the prosecution of Sean 'Diddy' Combs. '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,' Comey said in the memo, adding, 'but we have entered 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. Fear is the tool of a tyrant, wielded to suppress independent thought,' she continued. '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.' James Comey recently came under criticism for posting a photo of seashells on the beach arranged to form the numbers 86-47, with the president claiming it was a call for his assassination. The former FBI chief called the backlash a 'distraction.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
James Comey's daughter who worked on Epstein case fired as federal prosecutor: Reports
Maurene Comey, the daughter of former FBI Director James Comey, was fired on Wednesday from her job as a prosecutor for the U.S. attorney's office for the Southern District of New York (SDNY), according to multiple news outlets. Maurene Comey worked on the criminal cases against Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell that have troubled the Trump administration in recent weeks amid pressure to release further information about the financier's dealings. Comey was on the team that brought sex trafficking charges against Epstein, and he later killed himself in jail while awaiting trial. Comey has also handled other high-profile cases, including the prosecution of Sean 'Diddy' Combs. There was no specific reason given for her firing, according to The Associated Press, which cited a person who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters. Politico was the first to report on the firing. The Department of Justice declined to comment, and the Southern District of New York did not immediately respond to request for comment. Politico first reported the development. Comey's firing comes after several recent dismissals of other career Justice Department officials. Last week, Attorney General Pam Bondi fired several prosecutors who had worked on Jan. 6 cases, including former special counsel Jack Smith's team. Bondi on Friday also fired the top career ethics official at the Justice Department. And Sen. Dick Durbin (Ill.), the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, disclosed Tuesday that a Chicago-based immigration court judge was fired shortly after meeting with him and giving him a tour. In dismissal letters, Bondi has routinely cited the second article of the Constitution, which establishes the presidency, as the authority for the removal. Comey's father has also had run-ins with the Trump administration. James Comey was fired as FBI director under the first Trump administration and has since been a vocal critic of the president. He recently came under scrutiny after sharing a photo of seashells arranged to read 86-47. While the White House claimed the message could be viewed as a threat on Trump's life, others noted the term originated in the hospitality industry, where it can refer to booting a customer or running out of a particular item. James Comey said he was unaware the term had any violent connotation. The New York Times reported that the Secret Service followed the former FBI director and tracked the location of his cellphone in the days after his post. Updated on July 17 at 7:41 a.m. EDT. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
DOJ rocked by wave of Trump firings
The Justice Department has been rocked by a wave of recent firings, a sign the administration is not done culling the ranks of career officials as it seeks to shape the department under a second Trump term. Maurene Comey, a New York-based federal prosecutor and the daughter of the former FBI director, was fired Wednesday without explanation. And news broke this week that the Justice Department also fired immigration court Judge Jennifer Peyton, who served as head of the Chicago immigration court system, shortly after the jurist gave a tour to Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), ranking member of the Judiciary Committee. Those firings come on the heels of the dismissal of at least 20 staffers who worked under special counsel Jack Smith, a group that includes not only attorneys but also support staff and even U.S. Marshals. Attorney General Pam Bondi last week also fired the top career ethics official at the department, Joseph Tirrell, the latest in a string of ethics officials pushed out under President Trump. 'Every time I think we're at some point when the firings are over, there's another wave. So I would predict we'll see more,' said Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. 'It's more dedicated career professionals being given walking papers when they really deserve to be elevated and empowered. And to fire the ethics attorney, I think, speaks volumes about where she's taking the department,' Blumenthal said. Justice Connection, a network of the department's alumni dedicated to protecting 'colleagues who are under attack,' estimate that more than 200 employees have been terminated at DOJ, a figure that includes firings at the FBI and other agencies, as well as prosecutors that worked on the cases of Jan. 6 rioters at the U.S. Attorney's Office in D.C. 'The senseless terminations at the Justice Department are growing exponentially. The very institution created to enforce the law is trampling over the civil service laws enacted by Congress. It's shameful, and it's devastating the workforce,' Stacey Young, executive director and founder of the group, said in a statement to The Hill 'DOJ leadership is making clear the ability to keep your job is not tied to your performance, your expertise, or your commitment to uphold and defend the Constitution. Those who remain at the department are now worried about how to uphold their professional ethical standards when it seems that their willingness to do whatever they are ordered matters more than any other aspect of their work.' The Justice Department declined to comment on personnel matters. Many of the attorneys that were fired have received brief letters saying they were terminated under the authority of the second article of the constitution, the one that establishes the presidency. A letter from Comey to her colleagues referenced the guiding ethos of the Justice Department: to pursue cases 'without fear or favor.' '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,' Comey said in the memo, adding, 'but we have entered a new phase where 'without fear' may be the challenge.' In the case of Peyton, Durbin said he sees a direct line between the tour she gave him – something he called a routine oversight visit – and her termination. 'Judge Peyton took time to show me the court and explain its functions. Soon after, she received an email from Department of Justice political appointees. The email claimed that immigration judges should not directly communicate with members of Congress and congressional staff and required all communications from congressional offices to be forwarded to headquarters for review and response,' Durbin said in a Tuesday email. 'Judge Peyton was fired soon after. Her abrupt termination is an abuse of power by the Administration to punish a non-political judge simply for doing her job.' On Smith's team, the recent firings make for at least 37 staffers who have been dismissed, according to Reuters. And on the ethics front, beyond Terrill, Jeffrey Ragsdale, the head of the Office of Professional Responsibility, which reviews the conduct of attorneys in the department, was fired in March. Brad Weinsheimer, another top ethics official, resigned after he was reassigned to a new working group focused on cracking down on sanctuary cities. Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), also a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he sees two primary patterns. 'This is Pam Bondi attempting to go after all the president's perceived political enemies, to go after dedicated prosecutors who brought cases successfully to conviction. It's also part of the broader effort to completely rewrite history about Jan. 6,' he told The Hill, adding that he expects more firing of those 'deemed insufficiently pro-MAGA.' He then listed a string of officials inside and outside of DOJ that have been fired under Trump, including the heads of the Office of the Special Counsel and the Office of Government Ethics. 'They seem to be doing everything they can to eviscerate any kind of watchdog or ethical oversight – clearly part of a pattern of trying to eliminate all accountability,' said Schiff, who sent a letter to Bondi this week asking for more details on Terrill's firings and plans to comply with ethics guidelines at the department. Beyond the firings, many Justice Department lawyers have left the department of their own accord, with several sharing with The Hill they feared being asked to do something illegal or would be forced to defend unlawful actions. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, said the result is a culture of fear at the Justice Department. 'The Department of Justice is now a joke. When you look at the history of a once storied and legendary department, Pam Bondi has defined her job as doing whatever Donald Trump wants. She's completely sycophantic and subservient. And there may be some lawyers still left in the building who are trying to do their jobs in an honest way consistent with professional ethics, but everything has been supported, subordinated to the political will of Donald Trump,' he told The Hill. 'It's a tough thing for the real lawyers who are still there, and they express a lot of fear and anxiety about where the DOJ is going.' He added that some Republican colleagues, largely former prosecutors, have privately expressed concern over the firings. 'I have had Republican colleagues who were former federal prosecutors telling me privately that they are absolutely appalled that United States assistant attorneys are being fired because they worked on the January 6 case,' Raskin said. 'Think about the implications of that. People are being fired for doing their jobs well, and their job was bringing cases against people who violently assaulted federal police officers,' he said. But that concern was not publicly shared by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), the chair of the panel. 'I have confidence in President Trump, confidence in his team at the Justice Department, if that's what they think is in the best interest of fulfilling their mission, that's their call,' he told The Hill. 'I don't know this particulars about each individual, but if that's what the attorney general believes is in the best interest of the Justice Department's mission, that's fine.' Comey and Terrill both addressed morale in letters to their colleagues. Comey said unjustified firings mean 'fear may seep into the decisions of those who remain.' 'Do not let that happen. 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,' she wrote. Terrill, too, hinted at a call to action from colleagues. 'I believe in the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. – 'the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice,'' he wrote in a post on LinkedIn that included his brief termination notice. 'I also believe that Edmund Burke is right and that 'the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
