If You Want to Keep Epstein Out of the News, Maybe Don’t Fire the Person Who Prosecuted Him

Call me crazy, but if I were trying to get the Jeffrey Epstein business off the top of every news cycle, and if I were trying to mollify the hair-on-fire element in my political base, firing the federal prosecutor who prosecuted both Epstein and his chief procurer, Ghislaine Maxwell, probably isn't the way to go. From Politico:

Maurene Comey, who prosecuted Jeffrey Epstein and is former FBI Director James Comey’s daughter, was fired Wednesday from her job in the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office, according to two people familiar with the matter who were granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. The reason for her firing was not immediately clear. She did not immediately respond to phone calls and an email seeking comment. Spokespeople for the Justice Department and the U.S. attorney’s office declined to comment.

In a mind as laden with old sins as the president's, this probably looked like a twofer. He rids the Department of Justice of the lawyer who likely knows the most about Epstein, Maxwell, and their large coterie of prominent international pervs and mountebanks. And he also exacts further revenge on the Comey family. And since cover up and vengeance are at the top of the administration's to-do list, firing Maurene Comey must have seemed a regular coup de main. However, once you leave the confine of the president's mind, and after the required decontamination shower, you realize that this may become more trouble than its worth.

Comey’s firing also comes as the Trump administration is reportedly investigating her father, whom Trump has long reviled. The investigations apparently relate to James Comey’s role in the probe of links between Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia, as well as a recent Instagram post by James Comey that Trump allies saw as threatening to Trump. And in recent months, Maurene Comey has been the target of renewed attacks by voices in Trump’s right-wing base, including Laura Loomer, who called on Bondi to fire her in May. More recently, Loomer has been leading the MAGA base’s outcry over the Justice Department’s decision not to release further Epstein-related documents.

Will this man always act with such conspicuous ingratitude toward a man who did so much to make him president in 2016? Comey's letter with its last-minute intervention was more important to the president's win than any document not written in Cyrillic. And, for the love of Mary, can he stop listening to Loomer? This is like reaching cruising altitude and learning that your pilot is Curly Howard.

The firing is the latest episode to rock the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s office, formally known as the Southern District of New York. Earlier this year, the acting U.S. attorney and several other prosecutors resigned in protest after the DOJ ordered the office to abandon the corruption prosecution of New York City Mayor Eric Adams. On Wednesday evening, prosecutors in the office, still shaken by that tumult, rallied around Comey, with dozens of them banding together to escort her out of the office for the last time, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Again, were I trying to bury this story, the last thing I would want is a honked-off U.S. Attorney's office. Then again, I am not a stable genius, so what do I know, anyway?