CNN
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Maurene Comey, a federal prosecutor in Manhattan and the daughter of former FBI Director James Comey, has been fired from her job in the Southern District of New York, according to people familiar with the situation.
Comey was a prosecutor in the case against accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and more recently against Sean “Diddy” Combs.
The reason for her firing was not immediately clear, but a person familiar with the situation said being a Comey is untenable in this administration given James Comey is “constantly going after the administration.”
The former FBI chief, a Donald Trump critic, is currently under investigation for possible false statements to Congress. He was separately questioned in May by the US Secret Service after he posted a photo on social media showing seashells on a beach that spelled out “86 47.”
Maurene Comey’s dismissal also comes as Trump faces growing pressure to release more information on Epstein, the disgraced financier. The Justice Department last week released a memo that there was no Epstein “client list,” and the Trump administration announced that it didn’t plan to release any more documents in the investigation.
Epstein is a convicted sex offender whose criminal case has long captured significant public attention. In 2019, while he was awaiting trial in a federal criminal case, Epstein was found unresponsive in his cell at New York’s Metropolitan Correctional Center. He was later pronounced dead at a hospital, and his death was ruled a suicide.
Comey was a lead prosecutor on the investigation and prosecution of Epstein and his former girlfriend and accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell. Maxwell was convicted and is serving a 20-year sentence. She has appealed.
Earlier Wednesday, Trump called the controversy around Epstein “bullsh*t” on social media and said that his supporters who care about it are “weaklings.” The president also attacked the credibility of the federal investigation into Epstein on Tuesday, claiming that the files “were made up by Comey, they were made up by Obama, they were made up by Biden (administration).”
Many of the president’s supporters hoped that releasing additional information on the case would implicate other high-profile figures, or undercut the notion that Epstein killed himself.
A spokesperson for SDNY declined to comment on the firing.
This story has been updated with additional details.
CNN’s Donald Judd, Evan Perez and Katie Bo Lillis contributed to this report.
