'Wicked cycle': Scarborough delivers stunning warning on Trump’s 'weaponization of justice'

On Wednesday, October 8 in a federal courthouse in Alexandria, Virginia, former FBI Director James Comey pleaded "not guilty" to two charges: lying to Congress and obstruction of Congress. A trial date was set for early January 2026.

Many legal analysts on MSNBC and CNN have been highly critical of the indictment, describing the charges against Comey as highly flawed at best. And MSNBC's Joe Scarborough — a Never Trump conservative, former GOP congressman and 1990 graduate of the University of Florida law school — views the Comey indictment as politically motivated and a glaring example of President Donald Trump's thirst for revenge against political opponents.

During the Thursday, October 9 broadcast of "Morning Joe," Scarborough warned that the Comey case won't be the last of Trump's politically motivated indictments.

Scarborough told fellow host Mika Brzezinski, MSNBC legal analyst Lisa Rubin and the Rev. Al Sharpton, "I just fear we've entered a new era, and this weaponization of justice is going to be a wicked cycle. And some of the very Republicans right now doing it may be the targets three years from now…. What goes around, comes around. And again, these lawyers who are smart enough to say, 'I want no part of this,' they'll be in good shape."

Scarborough continued, "We can look back to Donald Trump's first term. We can look back to the people that went out and did his bidding just because he was telling them to do it, who no longer have law licenses. Again, what goes around comes around. And if you're like going into court filing bogus charges because you were told to by the president — like, obedience, rev, (is) not a defense when you're in front of the bar committee."

Sharpton agreed with Scarborough's analysis, stressing, "We can't normalize using the justice system or judicial process for vengeance…. The Democrats should not do that, nor the Republicans."

Rubin lamented that the U.S. Department of Justice's (DOJ) Eastern District of Virginia "is in chaos right now" thanks to the Comey indictment. Federal prosecutors, Rubin noted, are telling Lindsey Halligan — who is prosecuting the case — that the charges have no merit.

The MSNBC legal analyst told the panel, "Morale is sinking there. Why? Because all these people are watching this prosecution take place that their own colleagues wrote an extensive memo to Lindsey Halligan about, saying: We don't believe this is in the interest of justice. We don't believe we can win a conviction. Under the justice manual — which is a bible for federal prosecutors — if you don't believe you can get a conviction, you're not supposed to bring the case."