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There was no specific reason given for her firing, according to one of the people. They spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters.

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. Her cases included the sex trafficking prosecution of Epstein,آ , and the recent case against Combs, which ended earlier this month with a mixed verdict.

She didn't immediately respond to messages seeking comment Wednesday.

It's the latest move by the Justice Department to fire lawyers without explanation, which raised alarm over a disregard for civil service protections designed to prevent terminations for political reasons.

The Justice Department also fired a number of prosecutors who worked on cases that provoked President Donald Trump's ire, including some who handled U.S. Capitol riot cases and lawyers and support staff who worked onآ آ of Trump.

Maurene Comey was long seen as a potential target given her father's fraught relationship over the last decade with the Republican president. The Justice Department recently appeared to acknowledge the existence ofآ آ though the basis for that inquiry is unclear.

Most recently, she was the lead prosecutor among six female prosecutors in the sex trafficking and racketeering case against Combs. The failure to convict the hip-hop mogul of the main charges, while gaining a conviction on prostitution-related charges that will likely result in a prison sentence of just a few years, was viewed by some fellow lawyers as a rare defeat by prosecutors.

She was successful in numerous other prosecutions, most notably the conviction ofآ آ on sex trafficking charges for helping financier Epstein sexually abuse underage girls. In that case, she delivered a rebuttal argument during closings, as she did in the Combs case.

Her firing came asآ آ faces intense criticism from some members of Trump's base for the Justice Department's decision not to release any more evidence in the government's possession from Epstein's sex trafficking investigation.

Some right-wing internet personalities, like Laura Loomer, who were critical of Bondi's handling of the Epstein files called for Maurene Comey's firing.

James Comey was the FBI director when Trump took office in 2017. Before he was appointed by Democratic President Barack Obama, he served as a senior Justice Department official in President George W. Bush's administration. His relationship with Trump was strained from the start, and the FBI director resistedآ Trump'sآ request at a private dinner to pledge personal loyalty to the president — an overture that so unnerved the FBI director, he documented it in a contemporaneous memorandum.

آ amid an investigation into potential ties between Russia and Trump's presidential campaign. That inquiry, later taken over by special counsel Robert Mueller, ultimately found that while Russia interfered with the 2016 election and the Trump team welcomed the help, there was insufficient evidence to prove a criminal collaboration.

Trump's fury at the older Comey continued long after firing him from the bureau, blaming him for a “hoaxâ€‌ and “witch huntâ€‌ that shadowed much of his first term.

Comey disclosed contemporaneous memos of his conversations with Trump to a friend so that their content could be revealed to the media, and the following year he published a book calling Trump “ego drivenâ€‌ and likening him to a mafia don.

Trump, for his part, accused Comey and other officials of treason.