Maurene Comey is suing the Trump administration over her firing as a federal prosecutor in New York, calling the move a “politically motivated” one that “upends bedrock principles of our democracy and justice system.”
In a complaint filed Monday, she says the government gave her no explanation for her abrupt firing in July. Her attorneys argue that “there is no legitimate explanation” but rather that she was fired “because her father is former FBI Director James B. Comey, or because of her perceived political affiliation and beliefs, or both.”
The court filing highlights one of the administration’s latest apparent acts of revenge through firings, how such actions are propelled by outside agitator Laura Loomer, and how the administration’s dismantling of the mechanism for challenging firings — backed by the Supreme Court — entrenches Donald Trump’s power in his second term.
The complaint recounts that Comey’s firing came after a call from Loomer, a Trump ally who does not work for the government, to fire the prosecutor for being the daughter of James Comey, whom Trump fired from the FBI in his first term and who has criticized Trump since then. The complaint says that Maurene Comey asked the head of the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton, about the basis for her termination and that he “responded, in sum and substance: ‘All I can say is it came from Washington. I can’t tell you anything else.’”
Comey, who had prosecuted Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxell and other high-profile figures, noted that federal employees would normally be able to seek relief through the Merit Systems Protection Board. “However, any complaint filed before the MSPB will be futile,” her lawyers wrote in the complaint. They noted the board lacks a quorum after Trump fired a board member whose term was set to expire in 2028, and that the Supreme Court has provisionally endorsed that firing and so the member isn’t currently serving. Comey’s lawsuit follows a recent one from fired FBI officials alleging lawless terminations, as the Trump administration continues to attempt to fire officials to consolidate the president’s power and apparently exact revenge. The administration will have an opportunity to respond to Comey’s complaint in court. Subscribe to the Deadline: Legal Newsletter for expert analysis on the top legal stories of the week, including updates from the Supreme Court and developments in the Trump administration’s legal cases.
Jordan Rubin is the Deadline: Legal Blog writer. He was a prosecutor for the New York County District Attorney’s Office in Manhattan and is the author of “Bizarro," a book about the secret war on synthetic drugs. Before he joined MS NOW, he was a legal reporter for Bloomberg Law.
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