A Manhattan federal prosecutor who worked on the cases against Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell has been fired.
Per a report from the New York Times, Maurene Comey was fired on Wednesday. She was a member of legal teams that brought criminal cases against the sex traffickers, including the case against Epstein that was ultimately abandoned when he died in jail. She is also the daughter of former FBI Director James Comey. Her firing comes amid increased scrutiny of the case against Epstein, brought on by the Department of Justice’s refusal to release a long-promised “client list.” Sources who spoke to the Times said Comey’s termination letter referenced Article II of the Constitution, which discusses powers granted to the president.
A DOJ memo shared last week said that no such list existed and claimed no evidence of foul play in Epstein’s death. The release has caused a schism among President Donald Trump‘s supporters, who elected him in part on the promise to reveal the names of powerful people they believed were tied to the late financier and his partner.
Trump has spent the last week defending Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI head Kash Patel from his disappointed followers. The president lashed out against Republicans who were upset by the news on Wednesday, saying on social media that they were “weaklings” who “bought into…bulls**t.”
Epstein, who died in custody in 2019, was arrested and charged during Trump’s first term. That hasn’t stopped Trump from pinning the story on the opposition. In the Oval Office on Wednesday, Trump called the story around Epstein a “hoax” and accused his political enemies of cooking it up.
“It‘s all been a hoax perpetrated by the Democrats and some stupid Republicans and foolish Republicans fall into the net,” he said.” I call it the Epstein hoax.”
