
James Comey Breaks Silence After DOJ Fires Daughter: 'Grave Danger'
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
James Comey has warned of a "grave danger" in maintaining trust in federal prosecuting after the Department of Justice (DOJ) fired his daughter, Maurene Comey, from her job as prosecutor for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York (SDNY).
Speaking in a video posted on Substack on Sunday, the former FBI director reacted to his daughter losing her job last week and accused President Donald Trump of "hammering" at the department.
Why It Matters
Maurene Comey most recently led the prosecution of hip-hop mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs and also held a role in the cases against the late disgraced financier and convicted sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein, and his co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell.
Former Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation James Comey speaks at Harvard University's Institute of Politics' JFK Jr. Forum in Cambridge, Mass., Feb. 24, 2020.
Former Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation James Comey speaks at Harvard University's Institute of Politics' JFK Jr. Forum in Cambridge, Mass., Feb. 24, 2020.
AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File
The DOJ did not give a reason as to why she had been fired. The timing of her dismissal, amid ongoing fallout and suspicion swirling over the handling of the Epstein investigation has intensified an already politically charged atmosphere in the country.
Initially, the White House had ordered a review of the case and said it would publish names and evidence about Epstein's associates. However, a recent memo from the Department of Justice and the FBI said there was no "client list" and that no further charges would be brought.
What To Know
James Comey said there was a "reservoir of trust and credibility" in the DOJ but that this was at risk because of the department's recent actions.
He read out a letter his daughter wrote reacting to her firing and said: "I don't have much to add to that, except to say: the reservoir is in grave danger right now."
He added: "Trump and the hacks who lead the Department of Justice are hammering at the dam day after day, trying to turn it into just another gold-leaf-covered Trump subsidiary.
"Our best hope is that good people will stay and do what Maureen asked—have the courage to do the right thing, always. You may get fired for acting that way, but there's honor in that—and nothing but disgrace for those who don't stand up."
James Comey was appointed FBI director in 2013 by then President Barack Obama. He played a pivotal role in the 2016 presidential election by reopening an investigation into Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton's use of a personal email server for official business, shortly before Election Day. Trump fired Comey in 2017, citing his handling of the investigation.
That decision led to critics arguing that his motive may have been linked to the FBI's investigation into potential collusion between Trump's campaign and Russia during the 2016 election.
In 2019, the report by special counsel Robert Mueller found no evidence that the Trump campaign criminally conspired with Russia to interfere in the 2016 election.
In May 2025, James Comey was interviewed by the U.S. Secret Service regarding a an Instagram post that drew accusations of inciting violence against the president.
The post featured a photo of seashells arranged to form the number "8647," which some interpreted as a veiled threat—"86" being slang for "eliminate" and "47" referencing Trump as the 47th U.S. president. Comey deleted the post and said he had no intention of promoting violence, explaining that he was unaware of the potential connotation.
What People Are Saying
In a letter to her colleagues after she was fired on Wednesday, Maurene Comey wrote: "If a career prosecutor can be fired without reason, fear may seep into the decisions of those who remain. Do not let that happen. Fear is the tool of a tyrant, wielded to suppress independent thought."
In an MSNBC interview, Democratic California Senator Adam Schiff said Maurene Comey had been fired to shift the blame over the Epstein files conspiracies. "They created these conspiracy theories," he said. "They fed these conspiracy theories."
Speaking on CNN, former Barack Obama adviser Van Jones said Maurene Comey's was "the head that just rolled."
When asked about whether Trump or the White House had any knowledge of the firing during Thursday's press briefing, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said: "This was a decision that was made by the Department of Justice."
What Happens Next
It is not yet known who will replace Maurene Comey. Several members of Congress have said they would continue pressing for transparency about the Epstein files.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
4 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump's trip to Scotland as his new golf course opens blurs politics and the family's business
EDINBURGH, Scotland (AP) — Lashed by cold winds and overlooking choppy, steel-gray North Sea waters, the breathtaking sand dunes of Scotland's northeastern coast rank among Donald Trump 's favorite spots on earth. 'At some point, maybe in my very old age, I'll go there and do the most beautiful thing you've ever seen," Donald Trump said in 2023, during his New York civil fraud trial, talking about his plans for future developments on his property in Balmedie, Aberdeenshire. At 79 and back in the White House, Trump is making at least part of that pledge a reality, traveling to Scotland on Friday as his family's business prepares for the Aug. 13 opening of a new course it is billing as 'the greatest 36 holes in golf." While there, Trump will talk trade with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, a meeting he's said will take place at 'probably one of my properties.' The Aberdeen area is already home to another of his courses, Trump International Scotland, and the president also plans to visit a Trump course near Turnberry, around 200 miles (320 kilometers) away on Scotland's southwest coast. Using this week's presidential overseas trip — with its sprawling entourage of advisers, White House and support staffers, Secret Service agents and reporters — to help show off Trump-brand golf destinations demonstrates how the president has become increasingly comfortable intermingling his governing pursuits with promoting his family's business interests. The White House has brushed off questions about potential conflicts of interest, arguing that Trump's business success before he entered politics was a key to his appeal with voters. White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers called the Scotland swing a 'working trip." But she added that Trump 'has built the best and most beautiful world-class golf courses anywhere in the world, which is why they continue to be used for prestigious tournaments and by the most elite players in the sport.' Trump family's new golf course has tee times for sale Trump went to Scotland to play his Turnberry course during his first term in 2018 while en route to a meeting in Finland with Russian President Vladimir Putin. This time, his trip comes as the new golf course is about to debut and is already actively selling tee times. It's not cheap for the president to travel. The helicopters that operate as Marine One when the president is on board cost between $16,700 and nearly $20,000 per hour to operate, according to Pentagon data for fiscal year 2022. The modified Boeing 747s that serve as the iconic Air Force One cost about $200,000 per hour to fly. That's not to mention the military cargo aircraft that fly ahead of the president with his armored limousines and other official vehicles. 'We're at a point where the Trump administration is so intertwined with the Trump business that he doesn't seem to see much of a difference,' said Jordan Libowitz, vice president and spokesperson for the ethics watchdog organization Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. 'It's as if the White House were almost an arm of the Trump Organization.' During his first term, the Trump Organization signed an ethics pact barring deals with foreign companies. An ethics frameworks for Trump's second term allows them. Trump's assets are in a trust run by his children, who are also handling day-to-day operations of the Trump Organization while he's in the White House. The company has inked many recent, lucrative foreign agreements involving golf courses, including plans to build luxury developments in Qatar and Vietnam, even as the administration continues to negotiate tariff rates for those countries and around the globe. Trump's first Aberdeen course has sparked legal battles Trump's existing Aberdeenshire course, meanwhile, has a history nearly as rocky as the area's cliffs. It has struggled to turn a profit and was found by Scottish conservation authorities to have partially destroyed nearby sand dunes. Trump's company also was ordered to cover the Scottish government's legal costs after the course unsuccessfully sued over the construction of a nearby wind farm, arguing in part that it hurt golfers' views. And the development was part of the massive civil case, which accused Trump of inflating his wealth to secure loans and make business deals. Trump's company's initial plans for his first Aberdeen-area course called for a luxury hotel and nearby housing. His company received permission to build 500 houses, but Trump suggested he'd be allowed to build five times as many and borrowed against their values without actually building any homes, the lawsuit alleged. Judge Arthur Engoron found Trump liable last year and ordered his company to pay $355 million in fines — a judgment that has grown with interest to more than $510 million as Trump appeals. Golfers-in-chief Family financial interests aside, Trump isn't the first sitting U.S. president to golf in Scotland. That was Dwight D. Eisenhower, who played in Turnberry in 1959. George W. Bush visited the famed course at Gleneagles in 2005 but didn't play. Many historians trace golf back to Scotland in the Middle Ages. Among the earliest known references to game was a Scottish Parliament resolution in 1457 that tried to ban it, along with soccer, because of fears both were distracting men from practicing archery — then considered vital to national defense. The first U.S. president to golf regularly was William Howard Taft, who served from 1909 to 1913 and ignored warnings from his predecessor, Teddy Roosevelt, that playing too much would make it seem like he wasn't working hard enough. Woodrow Wilson played nearly every day but Sundays, and even had the Secret Service paint his golf balls red so he could practice in the snow, said Mike Trostel, director of the World Golf Hall of Fame. Warren G. Harding trained his dog Laddie Boy to fetch golf balls while he practiced. Lyndon B. Johnson's swing was sometimes described as looking like a man trying to kill a rattlesnake. Bill Clinton, who liked to joke that he was the only president whose game improved while in office, restored a putting green on the White House's South Lawn. It was originally installed by Eisenhower, who was such an avid user that he left cleat marks in the wooden floors of the Oval Office by the door leading out to it. Bush stopped golfing after the start of the Iraq war in 2003 because of the optics. Barack Obama had a golf simulator installed in the White House that Trump upgraded during his first term, Trostel said. John F. Kennedy largely hid his love of the game as president, but he played on Harvard's golf team and nearly made a hole-in-one at California's renowned Cypress Point Golf Club just before the 1960 Democratic National Convention. 'I'd say, between President Trump and President John F. Kennedy, those are two of the most skilled golfers we've had in the White House,' Trostel said. Trump, Trostel said, has a handicap index — how many strokes above par a golfer is likely to score — of a very strong 2.5, though he's not posted an official round with the U.S. Golf Association since 2021. That's better than Joe Biden's handicap of 6.7, which also might be outdated, and Obama, who once described his own handicap as an 'honest 13.' The White House described Trump as a championship-level golfer but said he plays with no handicap. ___ Associated Press writer Chris Megerian in Washington contributed to this report.


Boston Globe
5 minutes ago
- Boston Globe
What to know about the man charged with trying to assassinate Trump in Florida
Here's what to know about the case. The judge lets Ryan Routh represent himself U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon signed off Thursday on Ryan Routh's request to represent himself during his trial but said court-appointed attorneys need to remain as standby counsel. Advertisement The judge told Routh that she believed it was a bad idea for Routh to represent himself, but he wouldn't be dissuaded. Routh, who has described the extent of his education as two years of college after earning his GED certificate, told Cannon that he understood and would be ready. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up On Friday, the judge was hearing a motion from prosecutors to limit unrelated evidence at trial. 'As the Court knows, Routh has been very explicit in his desire to turn this trial into a circus where his supposed good character is weighed against the President's,' the prosecutors wrote. Routh is a self-styled mercenary leader The 59-year-old Routh was a North Carolina construction worker who in recent years had moved to Hawaii. A self-styled mercenary leader, Routh spoke out to anyone who would listen about his dangerous, sometimes violent plans to insert himself into conflicts around the world, witnesses have told The Associated Press. Advertisement In the early days of the war in Ukraine, Routh tried to recruit soldiers from Afghanistan, Moldova and Taiwan to fight the Russians. In his native Greensboro, North Carolina, he had a 2002 arrest for eluding a traffic stop and barricading himself from officers with a fully automatic machine gun and a 'weapon of mass destruction,' which turned out to be an explosive with a 10-inch-long fuse. In 2010, police searched a warehouse Routh owned and found more than 100 stolen items, from power tools and building supplies to kayaks and spa tubs. In both felony cases, judges gave Routh either probation or a suspended sentence. Routh is charged with attempted assassination Authorities said Routh tried to assassinate Trump, who was running for his second term last September as the GOP presidential nominee, while he played golf at his golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida. Routh is facing five felony counts in federal court in Fort Pierce, Florida. They include attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate; possessing a firearm to carry out a violent crime; assaulting a federal officer; felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition; and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. Judge presided over Trump's classified documents case If the judge's name sounds familiar, it's because she presided over another high-profile case involving Trump — the classified documents case. Last year, Cannon sided with Trump's lawyers who said the special counsel who filed the charges was illegally appointed by the U.S. Justice Department. Cannon's ruling halted a criminal case that at the time it was filed was widely regarded as the most perilous of all the legal threats the president faced before he returned to office last January. Advertisement Cannon was a former federal prosecutor who was nominated to the bench by Trump in 2020. Trump was not hurt in the incident He was fine. U.S. Secret Service agents stationed a few holes up from where Trump was playing golf noticed the muzzle of an AK-style rifle sticking through the shrubbery that lines the course, roughly 400 yards away. An agent fired, and the gunman dropped the rifle and fled in an SUV, leaving the firearm behind along with two backpacks, a scope used for aiming and a GoPro camera. He was later stopped by law enforcement in a neighboring county. Last September's assassination attempt took place just nine weeks after Trump survived another attempt on his life in Pennsylvania.


Boston Globe
5 minutes ago
- Boston Globe
Trump's trip to Scotland as his new golf course opens blurs politics and the family's business
While there, Trump will talk trade with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, a meeting he's said will take place at 'probably one of my properties.' Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up The Aberdeen area is already home to another of his courses, Trump International Scotland, and the president also plans to visit a Trump course near Turnberry, around 200 miles (320 kilometers) away on Scotland's southwest coast. Advertisement Using this week's presidential overseas trip — with its sprawling entourage of advisers, White House and support staffers, Secret Service agents and reporters — to help show off Trump-brand golf destinations demonstrates how the president has become increasingly comfortable intermingling his governing pursuits with promoting his family's business interests. The White House has brushed off questions about potential conflicts of interest, arguing that Trump's business success before he entered politics was a key to his appeal with voters. Advertisement White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers called the Scotland swing a 'working trip.' But she added that Trump 'has built the best and most beautiful world-class golf courses anywhere in the world, which is why they continue to be used for prestigious tournaments and by the most elite players in the sport.' Trump family's new golf course has tee times for sale Trump went to Scotland to play his Turnberry course during his first term in 2018 while en route to a meeting in Finland with Russian President Vladimir Putin. This time, his trip comes as the new golf course is about to debut and is already actively selling tee times. It's not cheap for the president to travel. The helicopters that operate as Marine One when the president is on board cost between $16,700 and nearly $20,000 per hour to operate, according to Pentagon data for fiscal year 2022. The modified Boeing 747s that serve as the iconic Air Force One cost about $200,000 per hour to fly. That's not to mention the military cargo aircraft that fly ahead of the president with his armored limousines and other official vehicles. 'We're at a point where the Trump administration is so intertwined with the Trump business that he doesn't seem to see much of a difference,' said Jordan Libowitz, vice president and spokesperson for the ethics watchdog organization Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. 'It's as if the White House were almost an arm of the Trump Organization.' During his first term, the Trump Organization signed an ethics pact barring deals with foreign companies. An ethics frameworks for Trump's second term allows them. Trump's assets are in a trust run by his children, who are also handling day-to-day operations of the Trump Organization while he's in the White House. The company has inked many recent, lucrative foreign agreements involving golf courses, including plans to build luxury developments in Qatar and Vietnam, even as the administration continues to negotiate tariff rates for those countries and around the globe. Advertisement Trump's first Aberdeen course has sparked legal battles Trump's existing Aberdeenshire course, meanwhile, has a history nearly as rocky as the area's cliffs. It has struggled to turn a profit and was found by Scottish conservation authorities to have partially destroyed nearby sand dunes. Trump's company also was ordered to cover the Scottish government's legal costs after the course unsuccessfully sued over the construction of a nearby wind farm, arguing in part that it hurt golfers' views. And the development was part of the massive civil case, which accused Trump of inflating his wealth to secure loans and make business deals. Trump's company's initial plans for his first Aberdeen-area course called for a luxury hotel and nearby housing. His company received permission to build 500 houses, but Trump suggested he'd be allowed to build five times as many and borrowed against their values without actually building any homes, the lawsuit alleged. Judge Arthur Engoron found Trump liable last year and ordered his company to pay $355 million in fines — a judgment that has grown with interest to more than $510 million as Trump appeals. Golfers-in-chief Family financial interests aside, Trump isn't the first sitting U.S. president to golf in Scotland. That was Dwight D. Eisenhower, who played in Turnberry in 1959. George W. Bush visited the famed course at Gleneagles in 2005 but didn't play. Many historians trace golf back to Scotland in the Middle Ages. Among the earliest known references to game was a Scottish Parliament resolution in 1457 that tried to ban it, along with soccer, because of fears both were distracting men from practicing archery — then considered vital to national defense. Advertisement The first U.S. president to golf regularly was William Howard Taft, who served from 1909 to 1913 and ignored warnings from his predecessor, Teddy Roosevelt, that playing too much would make it seem like he wasn't working hard enough. Woodrow Wilson played nearly every day but Sundays, and even had the Secret Service paint his golf balls red so he could practice in the snow, said Mike Trostel, director of the World Golf Hall of Fame. Warren G. Harding trained his dog Laddie Boy to fetch golf balls while he practiced. Lyndon B. Johnson's swing was sometimes described as looking like a man trying to kill a rattlesnake. Bill Clinton, who liked to joke that he was the only president whose game improved while in office, restored a putting green on the White House's South Lawn. It was originally installed by Eisenhower, who was such an avid user that he left cleat marks in the wooden floors of the Oval Office by the door leading out to it. Bush stopped golfing after the start of the Iraq war in 2003 because of the optics. Barack Obama had a golf simulator installed in the White House that Trump upgraded during his first term, Trostel said. John F. Kennedy largely hid his love of the game as president, but he played on Harvard's golf team and nearly made a hole-in-one at California's renowned Cypress Point Golf Club just before the 1960 Democratic National Convention. Advertisement 'I'd say, between President Trump and President John F. Kennedy, those are two of the most skilled golfers we've had in the White House,' Trostel said. Trump, Trostel said, has a handicap index — how many strokes above par a golfer is likely to score — of a very strong 2.5, though he's not posted an official round with the U.S. Golf Association since 2021. That's better than Joe Biden's handicap of 6.7, which also might be outdated, and Obama, who once described his own handicap as an 'honest 13.' The White House described Trump as a championship-level golfer but said he plays with no handicap. Associated Press writer Chris Megerian in Washington contributed to this report.