Federal judge rules Maurene Comey was wrongfully fired, orders DOJ reinstatement

A judge ruled Monday that Maurene Comey was wrongfully terminated from her position as a former assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, ordering the Justice Department to reinstate her with backpay.

Comey, the daughter of former FBI Director James Comey, was fired in July 2025. The DOJ did not provide a rationale for her ousting at the time, citing only Donald Trump's authority to do so as the sole justification.

In a federal lawsuit, Comey argued that her firing was part of the president's political retribution campaign against her father, who testified before Congress during Trump's first term regarding the federal investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Judge's Opinion

In a 55-page opinion, U.S. District Judge Jesse M. Furman declared that Comey's termination was not only unfounded but also illegal, as it fundamentally violated the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978.

The government's other defense—citing Article II of the Constitution, which bars Congress from regulating the removal of assistant U.S. attorneys—was similarly flawed, as it "flies in the face of nearly two centuries of Supreme Court precedent," according to Furman.

"Indeed, to accept Defendants' argument would be to unsettle the very equilibrium established by this Nation's constitutional system," Furman wrote.

This is a developing story.

Read more: James Comey Exposes Major Flaw in Trump's Lawsuit Against Him

Trump Keeps Talking About People's Bodies at Midterm Rally

President Donald Trump can't stop talking about other people's posteriors during his midterm campaign blitz.

At a rally in Port Huron, Michigan, on Saturday, Trump continued to rave about Ohio Senator Jon Husted's buttocks.

"I looked at his ass, and I've never done that with a man before," Trump said. "Off the record, women yes, men no."

Then Trump decided to ogle someone who was actually in the state instead.

"By the way I looked at one hell of a beautiful ass before: Nicki Minaj!" Trump said, as the crowd cheered. "That's hard to miss! That's—stand up! That's hard to miss!"

The rapper-singer joined Trump onstage, telling the president that she'd support him if he ran a third time. It's not clear what any of this had to do with Michigan's Senate race. Trump did eventually turn his attention to making wildly Islamophobic remarks against Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed, calling him a "jihadist" who was "on the side of the terrorists."

The president's frequent fantasizing about other people's bodies has become a mainstay of his political rallies, which have started to feel more like a farewell tour than a campaign blitz. Even if Trump isn't impeached following the midterm elections, it's not looking likely that the 80-year-old president will hit the campaign trail again.

Read more: Seriously, Why Does Trump Keep Talking About Men's Bodies Like This?

Two Catholic Bishops Apologize for White House Photo Op With Trump

Two Catholic bishops have expressed intense regret over their recent photo op with President Trump, calling the widely circulated images of their White House meeting an exploitative act that was "publicized by the administration without the consent of the participants."

"The meeting was in no way an endorsement of the president, his policies, or his party. ... We were told the meeting was to be a private discussion, that several Catholic members of the cabinet might make an appearance, and that there could be an opportunity to pray privately with the president," Milwaukee Archbishop Jeffrey Grob wrote Sunday in a statement titled "A Public Apology."

"We were then directed to stand behind him and pray. After which several photos were taken and we were ushered out. Unbeknownst to the group of bishops a video was also taken. But permission for the public distribution or posting of either the video or photos was not given by the bishops," Grob continued. "It did not take long thereafter for the White House to post a video and photos of the prayer. I soon began receiving messages of serious concern over the possibility that I had inadvertently participated in a political event less than two weeks before a national election. I also heard from some who felt wounded because of the ways they or their family had been harmed by the president's policies."

Iowa Bishop William Joensen expressed similar sentiments.

"I wish I had been more shrewd and less simple, like those who exploited our meeting for partisan political purpose," he wrote. "I pray I am more prudent and wise going forward, even as I remain resolute in my openness to engaging and praying for political leaders at all levels."

The White House meeting was organized by the ultra-conservative Heritage Foundation. Trump is about as pious as his policies (not very), which made the images from the meeting and the shady nature in which it unfolded all the more questionable—and regrettable—for some of the clergymen involved.

"I feel a heavy sadness, not only over the pain I caused, but also for the fact that something so sacred to a group of religious leaders, prayer to our Heavenly Father, would be manipulated in that way," Grob continued. "We came in good faith to try to work for the betterment of our fellow human beings, to ease their suffering, to build up the common good, and to pray with a president, not to pose for a political photo opportunity to benefit the few. We should never have been put in that position by the White House."

Anthropic's Claude Accessed Georgia Voter Data Without Human Authorization

Anthropic's Claude got around a paywall to access Georgia voters' data without human authorization.

Anthropic confirmed to Axios on Sunday that the company's artificial intelligence model had, without prompting, requested a digital entry pass, or "access token," to collect aggregate vote counts for a statistics project.

"Claude did not access the state's voter registration system, change any voting records, or pull any individual voter records," Anthropic said, adding that it had placed guardrails to prevent the chatbot from taking these sorts of actions in the future.

The company first notified the Georgia secretary of state's office and the White House three weeks ago about the spontaneous access. Trump administration officials urged the state office to disclose the incident, but those calls went unheeded, a source told Axios.

The revelation comes as Anthropic unveiled its Initial Public Offering filing Monday, ahead of what is expected to be one of the largest stock debuts in history at an estimated value of more than $2 trillion. It also comes weeks after one of its researchers warned that the company's product could cause a mass extinction event.

This is just the latest instance of an AI company being forced to disclose its model's unauthorized behavior.

Read more: AI Bots Are Accessing People's Bank Accounts Unprompted

House Democrats Accuse Trump of Participating in Epstein's Sex Schemes, Allege DOJ Cover-Up

Democrats just dropped a heavy hammer on the president, eight days out from Election Day.

House Judiciary Committee Democrats released a 50-page report Monday morning accusing Donald Trump of participating in Jeffrey Epstein's criminal sex schemes. The caucus also accused the Trump administration of a broad cover-up designed to shield the president from blowback as it tried to roll out the release of the Epstein files to the general public.

The report cites the experiences of 11 women, FBI records, and documents released through the Epstein Files Transparency Act. At least five women accused Trump of rape or sexual assault in Epstein's company, according to interviews conducted by the committee. Others said there were "apparent attempts" by Epstein and his longtime girlfriend and associate Ghislaine Maxwell to traffic them to the real estate magnate.

Beatrice Keul told lawmakers that Trump "violently raped" her at a November 1993 pageant at the Plaza Hotel. She further described the beauty pageants as a "hunting ground" that Epstein and Trump would use to find and "prey" on young women and girls. Jill Harth also shared an account of a party at Mar-a-Lago in 1994, where she said Trump aggressively pursued and sexually assaulted her. Trump and Epstein were the only men present, Harth told lawmakers.

In total, at least 28 women have accused Trump of rape or sexual misconduct.

The report concludes that Trump and Paolo Zampolli, a former modeling agent and longtime friend of the president as well as a former senior Trump administration official, "may have been co-conspirators" in Epstein's sex trafficking ring in the 1990s.

The report also claims that Trump's Justice Department deliberately or prematurely shut down investigations into Trump-related allegations made by some Epstein survivors. It also accuses Attorney General Todd Blanche of specifically instructing Maxwell not to discuss a survivor whose account implicated the president.

"Trump's Justice Department appears to be covering up these crimes to protect the President," said Judiciary Committee ranking member Jamie Raskin in a statement. "The women who survived Epstein deserve to be heard, Congress must have the complete files required by law, and an independent special counsel must investigate Epstein's co-conspirators and DOJ's cover-up and ensure that state and foreign prosecutors have the evidence they need to pursue justice."

Last week, reports emerged that White House officials were involved in drafting the infamous July 2025 FBI-DOJ memo that effectively shut down future Epstein-related investigations. The memo created explosive public backlash even among MAGA supporters for declaring at the time that there was no Epstein "client list," no punishable co-conspirators to the pedophile's crimes, and no grounds for further investigation.

Read more: White House Directly Intervened to Shut Down Epstein Files Probe

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