Maurene Comey, the Manhattan intercourse crimes prosecutor fired by President Trump’s Justice Division — who went additional than any of her friends in holding infamous sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein and his convicted madame Ghislaine Maxwell to account — warned her longtime colleagues Thursday of a darkish new period during which “fear is the tool of a tyrant.”
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Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. (Getty)
“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,” Comey wrote.
However Comey wrote that prosecutors had “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. 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.”
Throughout his first time period, the president sought to oust then-U.S. Lawyer Geoffrey Berman, who led the distinguished prosecutor’s workplace when it introduced the bombshell indictment towards Epstein in 2019. Berman finally left on his phrases.
Whereas Trump hasn’t commented on Comey’s firing, hypothesis has been rife that the transfer was politically motivated. ABC on Thursday reported that the president had not too long ago vented “about having a Comey work in his administration.”
Trump has for years confronted criticism from Comey’s father, former FBI Director James Comey, an Obama appointee whom he fired in 2017 amid an FBI investigation into Trump’s dealings with Russia — a probe Trump has lengthy excoriated as a “hoax” and that his DOJ is reportedly investigating.
FILE – Former Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation James Comey speaks at Harvard College’s Institute of Politics’ JFK Jr. Discussion board in Cambridge, Mass., Feb. 24, 2020. (AP Picture/Charles Krupa, File)
The firing, which Politico first reported, additionally comes as Trump has been on the defensive concerning the DOJ’s resolution to not disclose any extra supplies regarding Epstein, dealing with a firestorm of criticism.
A memo launched by the division and the FBI final week mentioned additional disclosures could be unwarranted, {that a} systematic evaluation had turned up “no incriminating’ client list,’” and reiterated findings that the well-connected wealth supervisor died by suicide, which conspiracy theorists have lengthy questioned.
The memo has led to uproar amongst lots of Trump’s supporters after his Lawyer Basic Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel, and Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino had stoked conspiracy theories and puffed up a supposed treasure trove of knowledge within the authorities’s possession. Bondi, in February, claimed the so-called “client list” was “sitting on my desk right now to review.”
Jeffrey Epstein, left, and Donald Trump as they pose collectively on the Mar-a-Lago property, Palm Seashore, Fla., 1997. (Picture by Davidoff Studios/Getty Photos)
Comey, a extremely revered veteran prosecutor, not too long ago tried the intercourse trafficking case towards Sean “Diddy” Combs, which resulted in a combined verdict that noticed him convicted of prostitution offenses and acquitted on probably the most critical counts.
Comey was on the trial crew that secured Epstein’s indictment on conspiracy and intercourse trafficking expenses in July 2019. A decade prior, the multimillionaire financier had evaded significant accountability when former South Florida U.S. Lawyer Alexander Acosta, who would go on to develop into Trump’s Labor secretary, provided him a sweetheart deal that notoriously allowed him to plead to low-level state prostitution expenses in change for a 13-month stint in a county jail, during which he was permitted to depart for work.
Epstein killed himself in a Manhattan jail cell in August 2019, based on a number of federal and state authorities businesses, denying victims of the deep-pocketed financier’s intercourse trafficking ring a second likelihood at justice.
The next summer season, the Manhattan U.S. lawyer’s workplace filed an indictment towards Maxwell, which Comey took the lead on. Jurors at Maxwell’s trial heard from 4 ladies, considered one of whom has since died of an overdose, about being horrifically abused by Epstein and Maxwell beginning once they have been as younger as 14.
In a searing rebuttal days earlier than the British socialite was convicted for procuring victims for Epstein’s abuse in December 2021, Comey spoke to the perverted duo’s causes for concentrating on teenagers from deprived backgrounds.
“In her eyes, they were just trash, beneath her. Those girls would never stand up to a power couple like Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell,” Comey mentioned.
“And if they ever did, who would believe them? Who would believe Jane or Kate or Carolyn or Annie over Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein, who rubbed shoulders with presidents and celebrities and business leaders?”
Manhattan U.S. Lawyer Danielle Sassoon. (Southern District of New York)
Comey is the most recent veteran prosecutor to be ousted on the Southern District of New York since Trump’s second return to energy. Danielle Sassoon, whom he appointed to steer the workplace in an interim capability after his inauguration, stop weeks later quite than obey an order from the Justice Division to drop the general public corruption case towards Mayor Adams, which she mentioned stemmed from a quid professional quo meant to safe Adams’ cooperation with Trump’s mass deportation agenda. The prosecutors dealing with Adams’ later-dismissed case resigned or have been fired.
Comey couldn’t be reached for touch upon Thursday. A spokesman for the Manhattan U.S. lawyer’s workplace declined to remark.
Initially Printed: July 17, 2025 at 4:27 PM EDT
