NEW YORK — A Trump loyalist will defend the administration in a lawsuit brought by Maurene Comey over her abrupt firing after her former office recused itself from the case, according to a Thursday court filing.
The U.S. Attorney’s office for the Northern District of New York, headed by staunch Donald Trump ally John Sarcone III, will represent the government in place of the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s office, where Comey worked as a prosecutor for nearly a decade until July.
Thursday’s filing from Sarcone came roughly two months after Comey sued, and in the interim the Justice Department hadn’t said who would represent it, an indication that the department may have struggled to find an office to take the case.
The filing also indicated that Sarcone’s office plans to try to have the lawsuit moved out of the Southern District court.
A lawyer for Comey declined to comment.
Comey, who was given no explanation for her firing, alleged in her lawsuit that her termination was “unlawful and unconstitutional.” The daughter of former FBI Director James Comey, she prosecuted numerous high-profile cases during her tenure as a federal prosecutor, including the cases against the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted of sex trafficking.
Comey’s lawsuit now pits her against lawyers from an office run by a U.S. attorney with no former prosecutorial experience who has appeared eager to help carry out Trump’s political retribution campaign. Earlier this year, Sarcone’s office issued a pair of subpoenas to Trump foe New York Attorney General Letitia James stemming from a pair of politically charged civil cases against Trump and the National Rifle Association.
After Sarcone’s temporary appointment to the job expired in July and the judges of the district declined to keep him in the role, the Trump administration used a workaround to keep Sarcone in office.
The legitimacy of that appointment is being challenged by James as part of her pushback on the subpoenas.
