Following her termination as a federal prosecutor, Maurene Comey referred to as on her colleagues to sentence ‘abuses of energy’.
Maurene Comey — the daughter of James Comey, the previous director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) — has condemned President Donald Trump shortly after being fired from her position as a federal prosecutor in the US.
In a memo to colleagues obtained by The Related Press on Thursday, Comey wrote that, if a “profession prosecutor might be fired with out purpose, worry might seep into the choices of those that stay”.
“Don’t let that occur,” she mentioned. “Worry is the device of a tyrant, wielded to suppress unbiased thought.”
The memo got here at some point after Comey was let go from her position as an assistant US lawyer in New York for the Division of Justice.
The Trump administration has not but supplied a purpose for Comey’s firing. However her place had lengthy been seen as susceptible resulting from her affiliation along with her father, who oversaw an investigation into alleged collusion between Trump’s marketing campaign and Russia throughout the 2016 presidential race.
The elder Comey was fired by Trump early in his first time period, however the former FBI director has remained the topic of the president’s ire.
In congressional testimonies in addition to a 2018 guide, James Comey has decried Trump’s “unethical” and mafia-like strategy to management. He has additionally argued that Trump’s resolution to fireplace him was an effort to undermine the Russia investigation.
Since taking workplace for his second time period, Trump and his allies have sought to purge Division of Justice workers concerned in circumstances he disagreed with.
They embrace prosecutors who labored on particular counsel Jack Smith’s prosecutions, as he pursued two federal felony indictments towards Trump: one for withholding categorised paperwork whereas out of workplace and the opposite for trying to subvert the 2020 election.
Each circumstances have been dropped when Trump was re-elected in November 2024. It’s towards the Justice Division’s insurance policies to prosecute a sitting president.
The Related Press reported earlier this month that extra profession prosecutors, in addition to assist workers, concerned in Smith’s indictment had their jobs terminated.
Critics argue that the Trump administration’s resolution to fireplace such workers has eroded the Justice Division’s independence. Many additionally level out that profession civil servants don’t select their circumstances and as an alternative serve underneath whichever presidential administration is in workplace, no matter politics.
In her message to colleagues, Maurene Comey urged her fellow prosecutors to make use of their present predicament to battle much more zealously for the truthful and neutral rule of regulation.
“As an alternative of worry,” she wrote, “let this second gasoline the hearth that already burns on the coronary heart of this place.”
“A fireplace of righteous indignation at abuses of energy. Of dedication to hunt justice for victims. Of dedication to fact above all else.”
Veteran lawyer
Previous to her firing, Maurene Comey had been a veteran lawyer for the Southern District of New York, typically thought of one of many prime prosecution workplaces within the nation.
She had most not too long ago prosecuted Sean “Diddy” Combs, in a case that noticed the music producer discovered responsible on expenses of transportation for the needs of prostitution, however acquitted on expenses of racketeering conspiracy and intercourse trafficking.
She had beforehand labored on the profitable prosecution of Ghislaine Maxwell on sex-trafficking expenses linked to financier Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuse of underage ladies.
The firing comes as Lawyer Basic Pam Bondi faces criticism from segments of Trump’s Make America Nice Once more (MAGA) base for not releasing extra proof associated to Epstein, together with a full accounting of his alleged “consumer checklist”.
Epstein died by suicide in a Manhattan detention centre in 2019.
Some influential right-wing web personalities, together with Laura Loomer, have attacked Bondi and in addition referred to as for Comey’s firing.
As well as, US media retailers have reported that the Trump administration is at present investigating James Comey and former director of the Central Intelligence Company (CIA) John Brennan for his or her probe into Russian interference within the 2016 election.
On the time, the US intelligence group concluded that Russia did search to meddle within the election, however that there was not sufficient proof to assist the declare that the Trump marketing campaign sought to collude with Russian brokers.
Additional particulars of the reported probe into Comey and Brennan haven’t emerged.
