In recent weeks, President Donald Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi have faced a firestorm of criticism over their decision not to release additional files related to Epstein, the disgraced financier who was accused of running a child sex trafficking ring. Prosecutors in the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office, including Comey, charged Epstein in 2019 with sex trafficking of minors. He died by suicide in jail while awaiting trial on those charges.

Maxwell was convicted of sex trafficking and sentenced to 20 years in prison. She is appealing her conviction.

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.

Maurene Comey was given no explanation for her firing, according to a third person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to discuss it publicly. That person also said the decision to fire her didn’t come from the office’s interim U.S. attorney, Jay Clayton, meaning it was likely made by someone at the Justice Department’s headquarters.