MAJOR UPDATE on Epstein & Maxwell prosecutor

You're watching the legal breakdown. Glenn, there is one name in particular. for someone who's been fired by the. Trump administration within the. Department of Justice that's Maureen. Comey that's captured a lot of attention. because this was the person in charge of. the Ghislaine Maxwell prosecution. summarily fired by Trump thereafter. Um. we now have an update about her. employment in court. Can you explain. what just happened? >> Brian, this is really a potentially. far-reaching judicial ruling. It may not. sound that way. It may sound like it. only affects Maureen Comey, James.

Comey's daughter, but boy, this could. actually be disastrous. for the Trump administration and here's. why. Maureen Comey was one of the most. highly regarded federal prosecutors at. the US Attorney's Office for the. Southern District of New York. She was. heading up the Jeffrey Epstein. investigation indictment and what would. have been a prosecution if he hadn't. ended up dead in his jail cell. She was. the lead prosecutor on the Ghislaine.

Maxwell trial and of course the jury. convicted Maxwell across the board of. several charges in connection with her. being part and parcel of Jeffrey. Epstein's sex trafficking ring. She was. also a hands-on perpetrator of the the. young girls that were being abused by. Epstein. So, what happened? Donald Trump. swooped in after he took power the. second time and fired her. Now, there was no reason to fire her.

Not only was there no reason to fire. her, let me just read the opening salvo. of the judge's ruling because you're. going to see just how badly this went. for the Trump administration when a. judge opens on the following. Mind you, when Maureen Comey is suing the Trump. administration, the Department of. Justice for wrongful termination, here. is how the judge opens his ruling. Maureen Comey was, by all accounts, an. exemplary Assistant United States.

Attorney. In her nearly 10 years working. at the US Attorney's Office for the. Southern District of New York, she was. assigned some of the country's. highest-profile cases, and she. consistently received the highest. accolades from supervisors and peers. alike. But, Comey is also the daughter of James. B. Comey, the former Director of the FBI. and long-time target of President Donald. Trump's ire. And, in the spring of 2025,

prominent supporters of President Trump. began to call for her ouster. based on that connection. And, on July. 16th, 2025, only 1 day after the US. Attorney's Office assigned Comey yet. another high-profile matter to handle, President Trump's supporters got their. wish. Comey was notified by email from. the Department of Justice officials in. Washington, D.C. that her employment was.

terminated effective immediately. And, put a pin in this next sentence because. this is going to come back to haunt the. Trump administration. Comey was given. one and only one reason for her removal, Article 2 of the Constitution, which. vests the executive power in the. President. Brian, I think our viewers. can see where this ruling is going. When. Maureen Comey says, "I was wrongfully. terminated by Donald Trump." And, the.

judge makes clear, Brian, in that. opening salvo, as is obvious to anybody. who reads it or hears it, that, of. course, she was wrongfully terminated in. that she was not terminated for a. performance-based. reason. But, the Department of Justice, Donald. Trump's administration, really has been. enamored of firing people by giving them. no reason other than saying, "Hey, it's. the president's Article Two. prerogative." Well, guess what? That.

term has just come home to roost and it. will haunt the Trump administration. probably for the rest of Donald Trump's. term. Why? Because there is this whole. statutory structure in place. So, there. is what's called the MSPB, the Merit. Systems Protection Board. What does that. do? It protects federal government. employees, civil servants from being.

fired for political reasons rather than. performance-based. reasons. Now, our viewers are going to. have to stick with me here cuz this this. gets a little down in the weeds. The. MSPB, that board that protects civil. servants, was set up by what's called. the CSRA, the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978. And here is the kicker. If Donald Trump and the Department of. Justice, his administration, when they. went on this firing spree after Donald.

Trump took office the second time, if. they had simply said, "Well, we're. terminating you in accordance with the. CSRA. and the Merit Systems Protection Board. and you will now have to go through the. appropriate MSPB procedures to if you. want to contest your firing." They. didn't say any of that. What they said. is. Trump is firing you pursuant to Article. Two of the Constitution because he can,

because he's president. Well, guess what. the judge ruled? Because that was the. reason given for Maureen Comey's firing, she doesn't have to go through all of. the procedural niceties by bringing her. challenge first to the Merit Systems. Protection Board, having it adjudicated. there. If she doesn't like it, she can. file an appeal. If she doesn't like. that, she can maybe eventually make her. way into federal court to sue for. wrongful termination. But of course,

Brian, in the interim, what has Trump. done? He's decimated the Merit Systems. Protection Board. So, it's backed up a. mile long. In February of 2025, he. summarily fired the head of the MSPB, and there still isn't a Senate-confirmed. head of the MSPB. So, he figured, "I can. just bog it all down, and nobody will. ever be able to make their way into. federal court to challenge these. terminations." And the judge said, "You.

know what, Trump administration, Department of Justice? You're out of. luck. You said you were firing her. pursuant to the president's unfettered. prerogative. That means she doesn't have. to go through all those procedures. She. can go right to court. She can file her. lawsuit, and let's get our litigation. on." I'm obviously paraphrasing the way. the judge put it, but I'm doing it for. emphasis. So, Brian, when I read what. the judge just ruled, the phrase that.

came comes to mind is it looks like. Donald Trump and his DOJ have been. hoisted on their own petard. >> Glenn, to what extent do you think that. Maureen Comey, aside from being related. to James Comey, um is being punished. because of the fact that uh she was in. charge of and knows all of the accurate. information about the Epstein. investigation and the the Maxwell. prosecution? And And beyond that, isn't. there more that she can do from the.

outside by, for example, waiting to be. subpoenaed by. uh a Democratic Oversight Committee once. midterms come and go than she would be. able to do from the inside where. presumably she would be barred from. saying certain things or speaking freely. because her boss would be, you know, high-ranking DOJ officials. who are clearly more deferential to. Trump um than than to the truth. >> Ryan, it's a great observation and. argument and I I think you should be.

advising the Democrats in the House at. this point because you're exactly right. If Maureen Comey had remained part of. the Department of Justice, she would. have to be radio silent, right? She. couldn't say anything about her. knowledge of what's in the Epstein files. courtesy of being the one who was. getting ready to prosecute Jeffrey. Epstein himself and the one who did. prosecute Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey. Epstein's co-conspirator. She would have. been radio silent. Now, she's been.

keeping her powder dry. She hasn't been. giving public interviews yet, perhaps. because she has this lawsuit lost. perhaps because she has this lawsuit. pending. But, you know what? She knows. where all of the Epstein and Maxwell. bodies are buried figuratively speaking. And I think, you know, it it's a twofer. for the Trump administration. One, she. is This is Donald Trump speaking. She is. my avowed enemy James Comey's daughter,

so I want to retaliate against her. And. she knows too much about Epstein and. Maxwell. Therefore, if she ever decides. to come forward and speak publicly about. what she undoubtedly knows is still in. the Epstein files that has not yet been. disclosed by Acting Attorney General. Todd Blanche or Attorney General Pam. Bondi before him, all of those failures. to disclose are an obvious violation of.

federal law, the Epstein Files. Transparency Act. If Maureen Comey would. start telling the public what she knows. about what's in those files, oh, she's. just a disgruntled employee because she. was let go. So, you can see they were. trying to kind of pre-sully her by. firing her. So, I think it was a Trump. two-fer. Punish her because she's. Comey's daughter and make sure you do. everything you can to try to diminish. her credibility in the event she starts. speaking the truth about what she knows.

is in the Epstein files. And there's a. third nefarious benefit to this. Remember Todd Blanche was the one who. went down to that Florida prison and. accepted all of the lies that Ghislaine. Maxwell told him that Donald Trump never. did anything wrong, that Jeffrey Epstein. never did anything wrong, that she never. did anything wrong notwithstanding being. convicted by a jury of her peers of I. believe a total of six felony charges. and being ordered to serve 20 years in.

prison. She never did anything wrong. And Todd Blanche, and this makes my my. blood boil as a former career. prosecutor, didn't even confront her. with the mountain of evidence that the. jury used to convict her hands down of. her crimes. Instead, Todd Blanche. accepted all of those lies, sort of. figuratively locking them in so she. could never walk away from those lies. without running the risk of lying to a. federal official, a 5-year offense, so.

she would always remain quiet on. anything Donald Trump may have done that. she knew about. So, it's kind of almost. a three-for-one, not just a two-fer. All. kinds of reasons to want to, you know, diminish, to marginalize, to push, you. know, onto the sidelines Maurene Comey. for all purposes. >> Well, if we get to a point where. Democrats win the midterms and take over. control of Congress and you have a. Democrat-led, Robert Garcia-led. oversight committee, is there a world.

where the oversight committee could. corroborate her claims if she's called. to testify? So, not only can she reveal. the truth about what she knows regarding. the Epstein and Maxwell prosecutions, but. Congress could then use its power, um, either with the files that have already. been released or to continue to work to. get the full release of the other. outstanding 3 million files and. corroborate her claims so that we're not. in a position where, oh, Maureen Comey. just said something in the public space.

and she's just a disgruntled employee. and and we can't back up anything she. said. Like, I feel like there is a world. where. the Democrats, once they're in control. of Congress, might actually be able to. use some of the tools at their disposal. to to to validate what it is she's. saying so that the Trump administration. can't just paint her as a disgruntled. employee who's lying to make him look. bad. >> Yeah, Brian, if I were giving tactical. advice to the Democrats on the committee. that has been running the Epstein. investigation,

um, I I I would say y'all might want to. lay low with respect to issues like. subpoenaing Maureen Comey, subpoenaing. Ghislaine Maxwell. That is never going. to end well for the truth if you ever. subpoena Ghislaine Maxwell. But, I I. agree with you. What I would probably. advise is, listen, once the Dems are. back in power after the midterms and. they undeniably will be given the way. the numbers are looking, that's probably. when you might want to subpoena Maureen.

Comey and have her testify about. everything she knows about the Epstein. files and about, uh, Maxwell and about. Donald Trump. The only caveat is Maureen. Comey would not be permitted to testify. about anything that enjoys grand jury. secrecy protections and she knows how to. navigate that. There was a public trial. There are all sorts of files that do not. enjoy grand jury secrecy protection. She. could probably testify for days. And.

Brian, you know, she's one of those. people, given the work, her body of. work, given how highly regarded she was. as a federal prosecutor in New York, she's going to take the stand and you're. going to believe her. She's going to be. thoughtful, she's going to be careful, she's going to be circumspect, she's. going to be factual and accurate, and. she's going to be corroborated by. probably hundreds, if not thousands of. other sources of information, documents, other witnesses. That will be the time.

that the whole truth may end up coming. out about the Epstein file. So, you. know, right now, this ruling is. important, but it's sort of a small. piece of a much bigger puzzle that I. think the members of Congress can begin. to assemble for the American people. after the midterms. So, the puzzle, the. picture on that puzzle begins to emerge. for all of us. >> Well, we will, of course, stay on top of. this. As soon as we have any updates as.

far as Maurene Comey or the Epstein. investigation is more broadly, we'll. bring them to you. For those who are. watching right now, if you want to. follow along, the best way to do that is. to subscribe to our channels. It's. completely free to do so, but it's a. great way to support our work and. independent media more broadly. So, I'm. going to put those links right here on. the screen and also in the post. description of this video. I'm Brian. Tyler Cohen. >> And I'm Glenn Kirschner. >> You're watching the Legal Breakdown. >> [music].