Legal analysts are divided following the decision by the Justice Department to dismiss Maurene Comey, a seasoned prosecutor from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, on Wednesday.
“It’s about time,” said Nicole Parker, a former FBI agent and Fox News contributor. “She failed in two cases.”
Among her notable cases was the recent racketeering and sex trafficking trial against hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, where the jury acquitted him of the most critical charges. She was also involved in the 2019 prosecution of Jeffrey Epstein, which was cut short when federal authorities reported that he died by suicide in his jail cell while awaiting trial.
Ghislaine Maxwell is seen walking and jogging around the track on July 10, 2025, at FCI Tallahassee in Tallahassee, Fla., where she is serving a 20-year sentence for her involvement in the sex trafficking operation led by Jeffrey Epstein. (Matthew Symons for Fox News Digital)
Still, some analysts view her firing as a political move.
“The firing is pretty remarkable,” said Andrew Stoltmann, a Chicago-based attorney and adjunct law professor at Northwestern University. “It’s a very clear shot across the bow of everyone at the DOJ to get in line.”
Former Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Yoo suggested another route could have been taken.
“I totally get why President Trump doesn’t trust her, if he believes what he says about Comey (her father), how he cooked up the Russia hoax,” Yoo told “The Story” Thursday. “Not the daughter, but the father, remember how he tried to entrap President Trump and ran back to his car and typed up and hid documents with friends, claiming that President Trump committed perjury.”
A sketch of Sean “Diddy” Combs’ reaction as the jury foreperson and courtroom deputy read verdicts before Judge Arun Subramanian on the five counts against him, during Combs’ sex trafficking trial in New York, N.Y., July 2, 2025 (Jane Rosenberg)
Still, he said, he doesn’t think the daughter’s firing was appropriate.
“I would just maybe reassign her to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Alaska,” he said.
Comey is the daughter of former FBI head James Comey and a longtime federal prosecutor with the Southern District of New York.
Fox News Digital reported earlier this month that the FBI had launched criminal investigations into the elder Comey and former CIA Director John Brennan.
Former FBI Director James Comey (Getty Images)
President Trump fired her father from the FBI during his first term. When asked why Trump fired the younger Comey during a news briefing Thursday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the decision came from inside the Justice Department.
Comey did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
