FILE PHOTO: Maurene Comey, assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York, stands at a news conference announcing the upcoming arraignment of Jeffrey Epstein, who faces charges of sex trafficking of minors and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors, in New York, U.S., July 8, 2019.
Shannon Stapleton | Reuters
The Jeffrey Epstein prosecutor who was abruptly fired by the Justice Department as President Donald Trump comes under pressure to release files suggested Thursday that she was being targeted by a “tyrant.”
“If a career prosecutor can be fired without reason, fear may seep into the decisions of those who remain,” the prosecutor, Maurene Comey, wrote in a farewell note to staff at the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s Office. “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 in the heart of this place,” she wrote in the note. “A fire of righteous indignation at abuses of power. Of commitment to seek justice for victims.”
Comey was terminated Wednesday by the Justice Department from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, where her high-profile criminal cases included ones against Epstein, his procurer Ghislaine Maxwell, and Sean “Diddy Combs.
Comey is the daughter of former FBI Director James Comey, whom Trump has considered an enemy since he fired the director in 2017.
Hours before Maurene Comey was fired, Trump lashed out at Republicans who are demanding that the Justice Department release more files about the Epstein case.
“Their new SCAM is what we will forever call the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax, and my PAST supporters have bought into this ‘bull—-,’ hook, line, and sinker,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.
A number of Trump’s supporters have criticized the recent decision by Attorney General Pam Bondi not to release previously undisclosed evidence that was assembled during the Justice Department’s investigation of Epstein.
The well-connected financier killed himself in jail in August 2019, a month after he was arrested on federal sex-trafficking charges.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Maurene Comey is outside court during the Sean “Diddy” Combs’ sex trafficking trial, June 3, 2025.
Ted Shaffrey | AP