Justice Department fires Maurene Comey, who helped prosecute Sean "Diddy" Combs and Jeffrey Epstein
The Justice Department has fired Maurene Comey, a federal prosecutor in New York who recently led on the criminal case against Sean "Diddy" Combs and previously worked on the prosecutions of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.
CBS News and other outlets reported her firing Wednesday evening, and Comey confirmed her departure in a note to colleagues that CBS News obtained on Thursday.
"Yesterday was unexpectedly my last day in the Office. I was summarily fired via memo from Main Justice that did not give a reason for my termination," Comey wrote, referring to Justice Department headquarters in Washington.
"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 added, noting that the "focus was really on acting 'without favor'" for most of her tenure.
"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," she continued. "Fear is the tool of a tyrant, wielded to suppress independent thought."
Comey served as a federal prosecutor in Manhattan, where she was the lead prosecutor on the criminal case against Combs — a case that ended in acquittal on the most serious charges but convictions for interstate prostitution.
She also helped lead the criminal prosecutions of Epstein and Maxwell. Maxwell was convicted and sentenced to 20 years for helping Epstein sexually abuse underage girls for at least a decade between the 1990s and 2000s. She appealed her conviction to the Supreme Court.
Comey is also the daughter of ex-FBI director James Comey, who has publicly clashed with President Trump for years. In 2017, Mr. Trump terminated James Comey as FBI director, amid the department's investigation into any ties between Mr. Trump's associates and Russia. James Comey is currently under a Justice Department investigation after he provoked an outcry from the Trump administration in May when he briefly posted a photo to Instagram that federal officials alleged was a call for violence against Mr. Trump.
Maurene Comey worked as a prosecutor at the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York since 2015, according to her . Prior to that, she was a law clerk to Chief Judge Loretta A. Preska in New York and an associate at Debevoise & Plimpton.
She graduated from Harvard Law School in 2013 and received her bachelor's from the College of William and Mary in 2010.
