Manhattan prosecutor’s office recuses itself from Maurene Comey’s lawsuit challenging her firing
A U.S. attorney’s office in Albany will defend the Trump administration in a lawsuit filed by fired prosecutor Maurene Comey after her former Manhattan office recused itself from the case.
Maurene Comey is suing the Justice Department, alleging that sudden shooting in July was illegal and “politically motivated” given his father James Comey’s longtime criticism of President Trump, who fired the elder Comey as FBI director in 2017.
On Thursday, a lawyer with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of New York informed a federal judge that she would represent the Justice Department in the lawsuit, according to a court document – marking the first official appearance by a government lawyer since the the file has been filed in September.
The lawyer, Karen Folster Lesperance, explained in a letter that the Northern District – located in Albany – agreed to take on the case last month because of the recusal of the Southern District, based in Manhattan. She asked for an extension of next week’s deadline to respond to the case, which she said Comey’s lawyers had agreed to.
“While we work diligently to familiarize ourselves with this matter and prepare the government’s response, additional time is necessary to draft an advance motion to dismiss and consult with department officials if necessary,” Lesspérance wrote.
She also said most members of her office’s civil division were furloughed due to the government shutdown and only returned to the office on Thursday.
The letter does not specify why the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York recused itself. But Maurene Comey had been a prosecutor in that office for years, working on the high-profile prosecutions of Sean “Diddy” Combs, Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. His father also ran the office in the early 2000s.
Maurène Comey was released in July. She said in a memo to colleagues obtained by CBS News that she was “summarily terminated via a Main Justice memo that did not provide a reason for my termination.”
Two months later, she sued the government over the firing, calling it illegal and arguing that she was unconstitutionally punished because her father came up against Mr. Trump for years. She asked a federal judge to declare her firing illegal and order the Justice Department to let her return to work with back pay.
Separately, her father, James Comey, was criminally charged in September for allegedly lying to Congress. His lawyers have pushes for charges to be droppedcalling them vindictive and motivated by Mr. Trump’s “personal animosity.”
Now, Maurene Comey’s lawyers will have to face civil attorneys in the Northern District of New York, an office headed by Acting U.S. Attorney John Sarcone.
Sarcone — appointed by Trump — previously served as the office’s acting U.S. attorney, a role limited to 120 days. When that deadline expired, federal district judges refused to extend his term, and the Justice Department named him acting U.S. attorney – a controversial decision which the Trump administration has attempted in several other offices, sparking legal challenges in some cases.
CBS News has contacted the Justice Department, Sarcone, Lesperance and Maurene Comey’s attorney for comment. A spokesperson for the Southern District of New York declined to comment.
