Maurene Comey, a career federal prosecutor who helped lead the sex trafficking case against Jeffrey Epstein, is speaking out after being fired — and she’s not holding back.
Comey was dismissed Wednesday from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, where she had worked for nearly a decade. The next day, she sent a blistering memo to her colleagues, warning that fear is creeping into the Justice Department — and threatening the independence of its prosecutors.
“Fear is the tool of a tyrant, wielded to suppress independent thought,” Comey wrote in the message, obtained by multiple outlets.
She urged prosecutors still in the office to keep doing their jobs with integrity — even under political pressure.
“Do the right thing, the right way, for the right reasons without fear of retribution and without favor to the powerful,” she said.
Comey’s firing was confirmed Thursday during a White House briefing. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that the decision came from the Department of Justice. No official reason was given.
The move immediately sparked questions, given her high-profile work — and her family’s history with Donald Trump. Her father, James Comey, the former FBI Director, was fired by Trump in 2017 and later became one of his most outspoken critics. James Comey also played a key role in launching the investigation into possible ties between Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia.
But Maurene Comey’s record stood on its own. She helped prosecute Epstein before his death in 2019, and later went after his longtime associate, Ghislaine Maxwell. More recently, she was involved in the criminal case against music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs.
In her memo, she spoke about what the Justice Department used to represent — and what she believes is now under threat.
“For the majority of my nearly ten years in SDNY, fear was never really conceivable,” Comey wrote. “We don’t fear bad press; we have the luxury of exceptional security keeping us physically safe; and, so long as we did our work with integrity, we would get to keep serving the public in this office.”
But now, she warned, that belief is fading. Her concern: if a career prosecutor can be fired without explanation, others might start to hesitate, stay quiet, or back down.
“If a career prosecutor can be fired without reason, fear may seep into the decisions of those who remain. Do not let that happen,” she said.
Comey made it clear what was at stake — the ability to pursue justice without bowing to power.
“Our focus was really on acting ‘without favor.’ That is, making sure people with access, money, and power were not treated differently than anyone else; and making sure this office remained separate from politics and focused only on the facts and the law,” she wrote. “But we have entered a new phase where ‘without fear’ may be the challenge.”
She ended her message with a powerful call to stand firm:
“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.”
