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Maurene Comey, the pb national authoritative astatine Sean “Diddy” Combs sex-trafficking trial, is suing the Trump medication implicit her “unlawful and unconstitutional” firing successful July.
Comey, the girl of erstwhile FBI manager James B. Comey, says she was terminated soon aft the Diddy verdict arsenic governmental payback due to the fact that her a begetter is 1 of President Donald Trump’s astir celebrated foes.
“The politically motivated termination of Ms. Comey … upends bedrock principles of our ideology and justness system,” her lawyers write. “Assistant United States Attorneys similar Ms. Comey indispensable bash their jobs without fearing oregon favoring immoderate governmental enactment oregon perspective.”
Comey, who worked astatine the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s Office since 2015, roseate to prominence arsenic 1 of the pb prosecutors successful the enactment trafficking lawsuit against Ghislaine Maxwell, a apical accomplice of Jeffrey Epstein, yet securing a blameworthy verdict and a 20-year situation sentence.
In December, she joined the squad preparing to spell to proceedings against Combs, who faced charges of racketeering, enactment trafficking and prostitution implicit allegations that helium “abused, threatened and coerced women” into partaking successful drug-fueled enactment parties.
At Diddy’s blockbuster proceedings successful May, Comey often took halfway signifier arsenic the pb authoritative connected the case, questioning witnesses during the two-month courtroom showdown. But the results successful that lawsuit were much mixed: Jurors largely acquitted Combs, convicting him lone connected lesser prostitution charges. He’ll look sentencing successful October connected those counts.
Weeks aft the Diddy verdict dropped, Comey was terminated by the Department of Justice without explanation. In a leaked memo, she said she had been fired without origin and urged her erstwhile colleagues to amusement “righteous indignation astatine abuses of power.”
“If a vocation authoritative tin beryllium fired without reason, fearfulness whitethorn seep into the decisions of those who remain. Do not fto that happen,” she wrote astatine the time, according to the Associated Press. “Fear is the instrumentality of a tyrant, wielded to suppress autarkic thought.”
In her suit connected Monday, Comey made those vague allegations much explicit: That she had been fired illegally due to the fact that of her father, who drew Trump’s ire during his archetypal medication and has go a persistent professional since Trump fired him successful 2017.
“Ms. Comey’s termination was designed to retaliate against her based connected her familial narration arsenic the girl of James B. Comey, oregon due to the fact that of her perceived governmental affiliation and beliefs, oregon both,” she says. “No different plausible mentation exists for her termination—and surely nary was provided.”
Comey says she “consistently received ‘Outstanding’ reviews and glowing feedback from her superiors.” She besides says the determination cannot beryllium implicit her handling of the high-profile Epstein and Combs cases – since she was the lone authoritative fired from those teams.
Instead, her lawyers accidental she was fired for politics. They cited societal media statements from blimpish activistic Laura Loomer, including 1 aft quality broke of Comey’s firing: “This comes 2 months aft my unit run connected Pam Blondi [sic] to occurrence Comey’s girl and Comey’s lad successful instrumentality from the DOJ,” Loomer wrote connected X (formerly Twitter).
The suit sheds much airy connected the nonstop lead-up to Comey’s termination, including that she was fired via email astatine 4:57 p.m. connected July 16 – a determination that near her supervisors “visibly shocked and upset by the news.” When she instantly met with Manhattan U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton, she says helium offered small further explanation.
“Ms. Comey asked the ground for the termination,” her lawyers write. “U.S. Attorney Clayton responded, successful sum and substance: ‘All I tin accidental is it came from Washington. I can’t archer you thing else’.”
In method terms, the suit accuses the authorities of violating Comey’s law rights to escaped code and owed process, of breaching the law separation of powers, and of violating civilian work protections for national employees.
Spokespersons for some the Justice Department and Clayton did not instantly instrumentality requests for comment.
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