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Following her termination as a federal prosecutor, Maurene Comey referred to as on her colleagues to sentence ‘abuses of energy’.
Maurene Comey — the daughter of James Comey, the previous director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) — has condemned President Donald Trump shortly after being fired from her function as a federal prosecutor in america.
In a memo to colleagues obtained by The Related Press on Thursday, Comey wrote that, if a “profession prosecutor could be fired with out purpose, concern could seep into the selections of those that stay”.
“Don’t let that occur,” she stated. “Concern is the instrument of a tyrant, wielded to suppress impartial thought.”
The memo got here sooner or later after Comey was let go from her function as an assistant US lawyer in New York for the Division of Justice.
The Trump administration has not but supplied a purpose for Comey’s firing. However her place had lengthy been seen as susceptible on account of her affiliation together with her father, who oversaw an investigation into alleged collusion between Trump’s marketing campaign and Russia through the 2016 presidential race.
The elder Comey was fired by Trump early in his first time period, however the former FBI director has remained the subject of the president’s ire.
In congressional testimonies in addition to a 2018 e book, James Comey has decried Trump’s “unethical” and mafia-like method to management. He has additionally argued that Trump’s choice to fireplace him was an effort to undermine the Russia investigation.
Since taking workplace for his second time period, Trump and his allies have sought to purge Division of Justice workers concerned in circumstances he disagreed with.
They embrace prosecutors who labored on particular counsel Jack Smith’s prosecutions, as he pursued two federal felony indictments towards Trump: one for withholding categorised paperwork whereas out of workplace and the opposite for making an attempt to subvert the 2020 election.
Each circumstances have been dropped when Trump was re-elected in November 2024. It’s towards the Justice Division’s insurance policies to prosecute a sitting president.
The Related Press reported earlier this month that extra profession prosecutors, in addition to help employees, concerned in Smith’s indictment had their jobs terminated.
Critics argue that the Trump administration’s choice to fireplace such workers has eroded the Justice Division’s independence. Many additionally level out that profession civil servants don’t select their circumstances and as an alternative serve beneath whichever presidential administration is in workplace, no matter politics.
In her message to colleagues, Maurene Comey urged her fellow prosecutors to make use of their present predicament to battle much more zealously for the honest and neutral rule of regulation.
“As a substitute of concern,” she wrote, “let this second gasoline the fireplace that already burns on the coronary heart of this place.”
“A fireplace of righteous indignation at abuses of energy. Of dedication to hunt justice for victims. Of dedication to fact above all else.”
Veteran lawyer
Previous to her firing, Maurene Comey had been a veteran lawyer for the Southern District of New York, typically thought of one of many high prosecution places of work within the nation.
She had most just lately prosecuted Sean “Diddy” Combs, in a case that noticed the music producer discovered responsible on expenses of transportation for the needs of prostitution, however acquitted on expenses of racketeering conspiracy and intercourse trafficking.
She had beforehand labored on the profitable prosecution of Ghislaine Maxwell on sex-trafficking expenses linked to financier Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuse of underage women.
The firing comes as Legal professional Basic Pam Bondi faces criticism from segments of Trump’s Make America Nice Once more (MAGA) base for not releasing extra proof associated to Epstein, together with a full accounting of his alleged “consumer listing”.
Epstein died by suicide in a Manhattan detention centre in 2019.
Some influential right-wing internet personalities, together with Laura Loomer, have attacked Bondi and likewise referred to as for Comey’s firing.
As well as, US media retailers have reported that the Trump administration is presently investigating James Comey and former director of the Central Intelligence Company (CIA) John Brennan for his or her probe into Russian interference within the 2016 election.
On the time, the US intelligence group concluded that Russia did search to meddle within the election, however that there was not sufficient proof to help the declare that the Trump marketing campaign sought to collude with Russian brokers.
Additional particulars of the reported probe into Comey and Brennan haven’t emerged.
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