Maurene Comey, Prosecutor of Jeffrey Epstein, Is Fired

Maurene Comey, who is the daughter of the former F.B.I. director James Comey, worked on the criminal cases against Jeffrey Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell.

For the latest news on Maurene Comey’s firing, go here.

Maurene Comey, a Manhattan federal prosecutor who worked on the criminal cases against Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, was abruptly fired on Wednesday by the Trump administration, according to six people with knowledge of the matter.

Though the reason for Ms. Comey’s firing was not immediately clear, her dismissal immediately raised questions, given her involvement in the Epstein-related cases that have roiled the White House in recent days.

Ms. Comey was informed of her firing in a letter that cited Article II of the Constitution, which describes the powers of the president, according to two of the people.

Ms. Comey is also the daughter of the former F.B.I. director James Comey, an adversary of President Trump who has recently been under scrutiny by federal law enforcement authorities.

A spokesman for the Southern District of New York declined to comment on Ms. Comey’s firing. The White House press office did not immediately respond to a request for comment, including about whether it had asked the Justice Department to fire Ms. Comey. Ms. Comey could not immediately be reached for comment.

For more than a week, Mr. Trump and his attorney general, Pam Bondi, have been seeking to quell outrage from many of the president’s supporters over the administration’s reluctance to release files related to Mr. Epstein’s sex-trafficking case.

Mr. Epstein, a disgraced financier, hanged himself in jail in 2019 before he could go to trial and his case has remained an object of fascination, particularly among Mr. Trump’s supporters, who have long called for the release of any and all related information.

Since a memo was released by the Justice Department earlier this month affirming that no list of Mr. Epstein’s clients existed and that he had in fact killed himself, the issue has sowed significant dissent and infighting among Mr. Trump’s base.

In recent days, Mr. Trump has claimed without evidence that files related to Mr. Epstein’s crimes were concocted by Mr. Comey, as well as by former Presidents Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Barack Obama.

He has also hit back at critics, including his own supporters, who have assailed the administration for refusing to release Epstein-related files.

“I don’t understand why they would be so interested,” Mr. Trump said to reporters on Tuesday. “He’s dead for a long time. He was never a big factor in terms of life. I don’t understand what the interest or what the fascination is, I really don’t.”

There was no explicit indication that Ms. Comey’s firing was related to her work on the cases against Mr. Epstein and Ms. Maxwell, who was convicted in 2021 for her role in a yearslong scheme to sexually exploit underage girls.

But as recently as Tuesday, Ms. Comey’s role in their cases was highlighted in a Politico article, which noted that she had argued against the disclosure of investigative records.

It stands to reason that Ms. Comey, as one of the lead prosecutors in Mr. Epstein’s case, would have asked that certain information remain private, as is standard in sensitive cases involving victims of sexual violence. The Justice Department could move to unseal those files, if it chose.

But the firing raises the possibility that Ms. Comey is being set up as a scapegoat as the administration fights to move past the scandal.

The abrupt firing of a prosecutor — especially a veteran like Ms. Comey — was once unusual. But such episodes have become more common as President Trump has taken close control of the Justice Department.

Still, Ms. Comey’s dismissal is the most high-profile departure from her office since February, when the Trump administration moved to abandon corruption charges against Mayor Eric Adams of New York. That decision led to the resignation of at least eight prosecutors in New York and Washington, including Danielle R. Sassoon, then the interim U.S. attorney in Manhattan.

Ms. Comey was also a prosecutor in the trial of Sean Combs, the hip-hop mogul known as Diddy, who was acquitted of the most serious charges against him earlier this month.

She told several close colleagues about her firing in an impromptu meeting on Wednesday with the co-chief of the public corruption section of the U.S. attorney’s office, according to one of the people with knowledge of the matter.

Mr. Epstein’s private conduct has been the subject of intense public interest for years. In 2017, the gossip site Radar Online sued the F.B.I. in the Southern District under the Freedom of Information Act, seeking the release of certain documents related to the investigation and prosecution of Mr. Epstein.

In a declaration submitted in that case in January 2024, Ms. Comey wrote that releasing the documents could damage the government’s case in a potential retrial of Ms. Maxwell, including by subjecting witnesses “to possible embarrassment and harassment” that could make them less likely to testify.

Later that year, the judge overseeing that case sided with the F.B.I.

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