Maurene Comey, Assistant U.S. Attorney and prosecutor on Combs’ case, arrives at the Federal courthouse during the Sean “Diddy” Combs’ sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy trial at U.S. court in Manhattan, in New York City, U.S., May 21, 2025.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
Maurene Comey, a federal prosecutor involved in criminal cases against Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, sued the Department of Justice on Monday to get her job back after she was fired from the Trump administration in July.
Comey, a daughter of former FBI Director James Comey, received no explanation for her “unlawful and unconstitutional” termination, her attorneys wrote in the lawsuit in federal court in Manhattan.
“In truth, there is no legitimate explanation,” they wrote.
“Rather, Defendants fired Ms. Comey solely or substantially because her father is former FBI Director James B. Comey, or because of her perceived political affiliation and beliefs, or both.”
The lawsuit names the Department of Justice, the Executive Office of the President and their respective leaders as defendants, along with the Office of Personnel Management and the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys.
The Justice Department declined CNBC’s request for comment on the suit.
Comey is the latest among dozens of DOJ employees who have turned to the courts after being terminated during Trump’s second term.
Comey, like a number of other ousted government officials, had been targeted by Laura Loomer, a far-right activist who has taken credit for influencing the Trump administration to fire people.
After Comey was fired in mid-July, Loomer boasted that the move followed “my pressure campaign on [Attorney General Pam Bondi] to fire Comey’s daughter and Comey’s son in law from the DOJ.”
Comey’s husband, Lucas Issacharoff, “voluntarily resigned” from the DOJ in May, according to the lawsuit.
Following her ouster, Comey warned that she was being made an example of in order to quell potential dissent within the DOJ.
“If a career prosecutor can be fired without reason, fear may seep into the decisions of those who remain,” Comey wrote in a farewell note to staff at the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office.
“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. “A fire of righteous indignation at abuses of power. Of commitment to seek justice for victims.”
— CNBC’s Jim Forkin contributed to this report.
Correction: Maurene Comey’s husband is Lucas Issacharoff. An earlier version misspelled his name.
