Two weeks after Sean “Diddy” Combs’ victory in his federal criminal sex trafficking trial, the Trump administration has fired the case’s lead prosecutor, U.S. Attorney Maurene Comey.
Comey, as it happens, embodied several unlikely coincidences within the administration. First and foremost she is the daughter of former FBI Director James Comey, who Trump fired in 2017 over the bureau’s investigation of the president’s alleged ties to Russia. She also worked on the federal case against Jeffery Epstein before his death by an apparent suicide in 2019, and later led the successful prosecution against Epstein’s accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell.
It’s unclear if Comey was fired specifically over the outcome of the Combs trial. But according to ABC News, President Donald Trump has privately expressed anger about having a member of the Comey family working in his administration. The failure to secure conviction against the rap mogul on all but two prostitution charges may have provided justification.
Combs faced multiple serious charges that could have seen him sentenced to life in prison. But on July 2, the jury found him not guilty of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking charges.
Epstein, meanwhile, is back in the news due to a major schism within the Republican Party caused by the abrupt declaration last week from Attorney General Pam Bondi that the billionaire sex offender never kept a list of clients or other incriminating blackmail information. Just months earlier, Bondi declared authoritatively that she was in possession of that list and would release it soon.
Since then, Trump himself has attempted to downplay or even dismiss Epstein’s importance, and core supporters have since been rocked by infighting, even at the highest levels of the party. Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino reportedly threatened to step down over Bondi’s claim, and several prominent right-wing media personalities have argued bitterly over the matter.
