NEW YORK — Maurene Comey, a former federal prosecutor who brought criminal cases against Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell and music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, sued President Donald Trump’s administration on Monday over her abrupt July firing.
Comey, the eldest daughter of former FBI director and longtime Trump adversary James Comey, said in a lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court against the Justice Department and the Executive Office of the President that she was not provided any cause for her removal.
“Defendants fired Ms. Comey solely or substantially because her father is former FBI Director James B. Comey,” Maurene Comey’s lawyers wrote in the lawsuit. A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment. Comey’s lawsuit could test the administration’s ability to swiftly fire line prosecutors, as the Republican president’s critics warn that he is seeking to politicize the Justice Department. The department has been firing prosecutors who have worked on cases involving Trump or his political allies.
Trump fired James Comey during his first term and has attacked the former FBI director for his role in investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, which Trump won. Trump and his allies say the Justice Department was “weaponized” against conservatives during Democratic former President Joe Biden’s administration. Line prosecutors like Maurene Comey are not politically appointed, and their careers with the Justice Department frequently span both Republican and Democratic administrations. Comey is asking a judge to reinstate her in her former role as a prosecutor with the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s office, where she worked for 10 years.