Maurene Comey, a career federal prosecutor who was fired by the Trump administration, sent an email to her colleagues where she urged them to not let fear make their decisions.
"If a career prosecutor can be fired without reason, fear may seep into the decisions of those who remain," Comey, who worked on the Jeffrey Epstein case and was the lead prosecutor in the trial of music mogul Sean Combs, wrote in the email, obtained by the New York Times. "Do not let that happen."
Comey warned that fear is "the tool of a tyrant."
Comey, the daughter of former FBI Director James Comey, was not given a reason for her firing. In a letter notifying her of her termination, a Justice Department official cited Article II of the Constitution, which describes the powers of the president, the New York Times reported.
Maurene Comey was a veteran lawyer in the Southern District of New York, long considered the most elite of the Justice Department's prosecution offices.
She was long seen as a potential target given her father's fraught relationship over the past decade with President Donald Trump.
James Comey was the FBI director when Trump took office in 2017, having been appointed by then-President Barack Obama. But his relationship with Trump was strained from the start, and the FBI director resisted a request by Trump at a private dinner to pledge personal loyalty to the president.
Trump fired James Comey in May 2017 amid an investigation into potential ties between Russia and Trump's presidential campaign.
The Justice Department recently appeared to acknowledge the existence of an investigation into James Comey, though the basis for that inquiry is unclear.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
Sam Barron ✉
Sam Barron has almost two decades of experience covering a wide range of topics including politics, crime and business.
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