'Vindictive prosecution': Former DOJ official reveals how Comey can get charges thrown out

For the first time in U.S. history, a former FBI director is now a federal criminal defendant, after President Donald Trump's Department of Justice (DOJ) indicted James Comey — who led the bureau during Trump's first administration — on two felony counts Thursday evening. But according to one former federal prosecutor, Comey may end up getting his charges dismissed almost as quickly as they were brought.

During a Thursday appearance on former CNN host Jim Acosta's Substack show, Glenn Kirschner — who was an assistant U.S. attorney in the District of Columbia under both Democratic and Republican presidents — declared that September 25, 2025 will one day be remembered as the day that Attorney General Pam Bondi's DOJ permanently lost its legitimacy. He further noted that Comey's legal team has multiple tools at their disposal to get the charges dismissed.

"If you look at the Richter scale on a scale of one to 10 on the prosecutorial misconduct, on the vindictive prosecution front, this is not even on the charts," Kirschner said. "It's a 28 on a scale of one to 10. And I think what we're about to see, Jim, is the most robust motion to dismiss that we have ever seen in the history of our courts."

"We're going to have to go to that old saying that a grand jury will indict a ham sandwich," he continued. "And that is only true if the prosecutor that presents the case to the grand jury is not loyal to the facts, to the law, or to the ethical obligations that he or she has to make a full and accurate presentation of the evidence to the grand jury."

The actual indictment – which is only two pages long — charged Comey on one count of making false statements to Congress, and one count for obstruction of justice. Kirschner said those charges are "not small potatoes" and come with significant maximum sentences if a defendant is convicted. He doubted the ability of acting U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan — who assumed the role only after her predecessor was ousted for refusing to charge Comey — to be able to secure a conviction. He noted that Halligan was a "repeat beauty pageant contestant" and one-time insurance lawyer with no prior experience as a prosecutor.

"She was also in charge of scrubbing facts from Smithsonian museums," Kirschner observed. "She has zero experience or expertise [and] has never prosecuted so much as a traffic ticket."

The former DOJ prosecutor also opined that Comey has a significant "amount of evidence in support of a vindictive motion to dismiss with prejudice," meaning that the charges would be thrown out without the ability to later be refiled.

"I just can't overstate how powerful that motion is going to be," he added.

Watch the segment below:

- YouTubewww.youtube.com