Former federal prosecutor Maurene Comey, speaking publicly for the first time since being fired from the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's Office, warned Monday that the Department of Justice has lost the confidence of judges and the public.
Speaking at a Fordham Law School conference called "Preserving Democracy," Comey leaned on an analogy used by her father, former FBI Director James Comey, comparing the department's credibility to a reservoir.
According to Politico, she said it "takes a long, long time to fill up. But it only takes one little chink in the dam to empty."
"And here we've had an explosion in the dam, and the reservoir is essentially empty," she said. "And so, as a result, even if [assistant U.S. attorneys] are ethical people who are doing their job the same way they have been for years, when they stand up in court and say, 'I represent the United States government,' they no longer have a presumption that what is about to come out of their mouth next is true and is honest."
Comey was terminated last summer by the Trump administration after nearly 10 years as a federal prosecutor.
During her tenure, she handled several high-profile cases, including prosecutions involving the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, his associate Ghislaine Maxwell, and Sean "Diddy" Combs.
She is suing the Trump administration over her firing, which she says came without explanation and alleges occurred "solely or substantially because her father is former FBI Director James B. Comey, or because of her perceived political affiliation and beliefs, or both."
James Comey has been an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump.
One day after she was fired, Maurene Comey reportedly emailed former colleagues, warning that "fear is the tool of a tyrant."
On Monday, she said her goal was to keep respected prosecutors from leaving and to blunt political pressure inside the office.
"I know that when I wrote my email to the folks at SDNY [the Southern District of New York] after I was terminated, what was going on in my head was how important it was to make sure that my colleagues — who I knew were excellent public servants — would stay and would not be intimidated and would not be afraid and would keep doing the work that they had been doing the same way that they had been doing it for years," Comey told attendees, according to Politico.
She reportedly defended staff that she said "are victims of thinned-out resources" and are "doing the best that they can in a horrible situation," while targeting DOJ employees she accused of unethical behavior.
"The other bucket is those who are assigning their names to briefs that are full of vitriol," Comey said, "or who are affirmatively making misstatements of fact and law, are failing to cite controlling cases, are submitting affidavits that they know to be false or misleading.
"I feel no sympathy for them, because that is a violation of their oath to the Constitution and of their ethical duties, not only as government lawyers, but as members of the bar."
Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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