Justice Department fires Maurene Comey, prosecutor on Epstein case and daughter of ex-FBI director

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department has fired Maurene Comey, the daughter of former FBI director James Comey and a veteran federal prosecutor who worked on the cases against Sean “Diddy” Combs and Jeffrey Epstein, three familiar with the matter told The Associated Press on Wednesday. There was no specific reason given for her firing, according to one of the people. They spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters. Maurene Comey was 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, and the recent case against Combs, which ended earlier this month with a mixed verdict. She didn’t immediately respond to messages seeking comment Wednesday. The Trump administration has moved to fire Justice Department lawyers who have worked on cases that have provoked the president’s ire, and Maurene Comey was long seen as a potential target given her father’s fraught relationship over the last decade with the Republican president. James Comey was the FBI director when Trump took office in 2017, having been appointed by then-President Barack Obama. But his relationship with Trump was strained from the start, and the FBI director resisted a request by Trump at a private dinner to pledge personal loyalty to the president. Trump fired James Comey in May 2017 amid an investigation into potential ties between Russia and Trump’s presidential campaign. The Justice Department recently appeared to acknowledge the existence of an investigation into James Comey, though the basis for that inquiry is unclear.