'Flagrant abuse of power': Experts call Comey indictment a 'scandal of massive proportion'

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FBI Director James Comey testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee on June 8, 2017 (Image: Shutterstock)

On Thursday evening, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that former FBI Director James Comey had been formally indicted on two criminal counts. The Department of Justice — and the Trump administration at large — is being widely condemned for what is being characterized as a blatant act of political retribution.

"No one is above the law. Today’s indictment reflects this Department of Justice’s commitment to holding those who abuse positions of power accountable for misleading the American people," Bondi posted to her official X account. "We will follow the facts in this case."

Comey has been charged on one count of making false statements to Congress, and one count of obstruction of justice. The charges were announced just days after Trump called on Bondi to act "NOW" to indict the former FBI director in a post to his Truth Social platform.

Most notably, the charges were announced after U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan was sworn in to helm the DOJ's operations in the Eastern District of Virginia, after former U.S. Attorney Erik Siebert — a Trump loyalist appointed to the post in May — declined to bring charges against Comey and other Trump rivals due to a lack of evidence.

During a Thursday appearance on MSNBC, former DOJ pardon attorney Liz Oyer said in addition to Halligan, other DOJ staff are also at risk of losing their law licenses for bringing cases against defendants despite a lack of evidence. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that some DOJ staffers had been advised by former department staffers to obtain legal malpractice insurance in the event they were compelled to bring cases against Trump's political opponents.

"There went Lindsey Halligan's law license, right up the chimney," tweeted Ukrainian armed forces veteran John Jackson.

Aaron Fritschner, who is a deputy chief of staff to Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.), wrote on X: "Trump has done so many corrupt things, but this is one of the most corrupt acts of a very corrupt person who has lived a lifetime of corruption."

"The indictment of James Comey over the objections of the Interim US Attorney's *own staff* and at the direction of President Donald Trump is a scandal of massive proportion," tweeted Democratic strategist and SiriusXM host Max Burns. "In any other time, with any other president, this would bring down the entire White House."

"Let’s call this precisely what it is: the president of the United States using the Department of Justice to target his political opponents," wrote MSNBC columnist Michael A. Cohen (who is not Trump's former fixer). "It’s straight up authoritarianism and a more flagrant abuse of power than anything that happened during Watergate."

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