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The Justice Department gave no reason for its dismissal of Maurene Comey, a longtime federal prosecutor in Manhattan and the daughter of the former F.B.I. director, James Comey.
Sept. 15, 2025, 11:38 a.m. ET
Maurene Comey, a federal prosecutor who handled criminal cases against Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, is contesting her abrupt July firing in a lawsuit that challenges Donald J. Trump’s claim of sweeping presidential power.
Ms. Comey, whose father, James B. Comey, is a former F.B.I. director, says in the lawsuit filed on Monday that she was never given a reason for her dismissal. She contends that no plausible explanation exists other than that she is the daughter of one of the president’s best-known adversaries — or her perceived political affiliations.
Ms. Comey is among many federal prosecutors and Justice Department officials who have been fired in President Trump’s second term, with no reason given beyond Article II of the Constitution, which broadly describes the president’s powers. Some have challenged their dismissals before administrative judges; others have sued in federal court.
Ms. Comey’s lawsuit, filed in federal court in Manhattan, names as defendants the Office of the President, the Justice Department, Attorney General Pam Bondi and others, and calls her firing from the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York illegal.
“The politically motivated termination of Ms. Comey — ostensibly under ‘Article II of the Constitution’— upends bedrock principles of our democracy and justice system,” the lawsuit says. “Assistant United States attorneys like Ms. Comey must do their jobs without fearing or favoring any political party or perspective, guided solely by the law, the facts and the pursuit of justice.”
Ms. Comey, a 10-year-veteran who was among the most highly regarded trial lawyers in the Manhattan prosecutor’s office, was fired as the White House sought to quell frustration from its base about its reluctance to release files related to Mr. Epstein, the disgraced financier. Mr. Epstein killed himself in a federal jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges. His associate, Ms. Maxwell, was convicted of sex trafficking a minor and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
The brief memorandum informing Ms. Comey of her termination gave no explanation for the firing, but cited Article II. In the lawsuit, Ms. Comey said that the U.S. attorney, Jay Clayton, was unable to provide her with a rationale.
“All I can say is it came from Washington,” Mr. Clayton told her, according to the lawsuit. “I can’t tell you anything else.”
The White House and the Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.
The lawsuit argues that Ms. Comey’s firing was done without cause, advance notice or an opportunity to contest it, and was unlawful and unconstitutional. It says that the dismissal was retaliation for “her father’s protected speech, or because of her perceived political affiliation and beliefs, or both.”
Ms. Comey contends that the law provides no authority for the president to fire rank-and-file prosecutors, who are protected by civil service laws passed by Congress and signed by past presidents.
“Neither the president nor the Department of Justice have unlimited authority to remove” prosecutors, according to the lawsuit, which was filed by Ms. Comey’s lawyers Nicole Gueron, Ellen Blain, Deepa Vanamali and Margaret M. Donovan.
Like some of the other fired officials, Ms. Comey was targeted by the far-right activist Laura Loomer who, the suit notes, called for her firing on social media. After the termination, Ms. Loomer celebrated online, taking credit for a “pressure campaign.”
Ms. Comey’s suit, which seeks back pay and legal fees, asks that she be reinstated and that the Trump administration not act against her without affording her due process. Her termination, the suit says, came without advance notice or an opportunity to contest it.
The suit makes the case that she had an exemplary career from the time that she was hired in 2015.
She personally handled 11 trials and obtained more than 200 convictions, the lawsuit says. She served as the co-chief of a unit that prosecutes violent and organized crime and later of the unit that pursues public corruption offenses. In the second role, she supervised the prosecution of Robert Menendez, the former Democratic senator from New Jersey, on bribery charges; he was convicted and is serving an 11-year sentence.
She also led the trial against Sean Combs this year. He was convicted of transportation to engage in prostitution and will be sentenced in October.
Among the cases she worked, the investigation and indictment of Mr. Epstein and the prosecution of Ms. Maxwell have attracted the most attention, with renewed intensity in recent months.
In 2019, Ms. Comey was assigned to the team that prosecuted Mr. Epstein for sex trafficking before his death that August. She then led the successful prosecution of Mr. Epstein’s former companion, Ms. Maxwell.
The Epstein and Maxwell cases returned to the headlines this summer when officials in Mr. Trump’s Justice Department released a memo asserting that their review of files related to Mr. Epstein “revealed no incriminating ‘client list.’” Members of the president’s base, many of whom believed the files would incriminate prominent Democrats, revolted.
William K. Rashbaum is a Times reporter covering municipal and political corruption, the courts and broader law enforcement topics in New York.
Jonah E. Bromwich covers criminal justice in the New York region for The Times. He is focused on political influence and its effect on the rule of law in the area's federal and state courts.
Benjamin Weiser is a Times reporter covering the federal courts and U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan, and the justice system more broadly.
