Comey indictment 'isn't justice–it’s revenge': Trump blasted after 'weaponizing the DOJ'

The federal indictment of former FBI Director James Comey on Thursday night unleashed a deluge of contempt directed at President Donald Trump, who pursued the case from his perch in the Oval Office, shattering the line that has long separated the operations of the Justice Department from direct presidential influence.

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, said the charges against Comey—filed by one of Trump’s former personal defense attorneys, Lindsey Halligan, installed as US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia just days ago, show that Trump “refuses to allow the facts or the law to stand in the way of his wrath and vengeance campaign.”

Comey is charged with lying to Congress and obstruction of congressional proceedings related to testimony he gave to a US Senate committee in 2020, but the previous prosecutorial team in the Eastern District concluded there was not sufficient evidence to bring such a case. Earlier this week, Trump forced Halligan’s predecessor, Erik Siebert, to resign after he refused to bring the charges. “He didn’t quit,” Trump said of Siebert, “I fired him.”

Trump has named Comey as a political enemy and accused the former director of misconduct in relation to the 2016 FBI investigation into Trump and his staff over alleged ties to Russian interference with that year’s presidential campaign, which Trump ultimately won against Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.

“This vindictive prosecution shows just how far Trump and his toadies will go to exact retribution on perceived enemies.”

The relentless pursuit of Comey by Trump since then, and now a federal indictment, say critics, shows that Trump is the one willing to weaponize the Justice Department against perceived political enemies, regardless of the existence or quality of evidence.

As The New York Timesnotes:

[The indictment] represents the most significant legal step yet by the Trump administration to harry, punish and humiliate a former official the president identified as an enemy, at the expense of procedural safeguards intended to shield the Justice Department from political interference and personal vendettas.The bare-bones, two-page indictment was signed only by Ms. Halligan, a former defense lawyer for Mr. Trump who personally presented the case to the jury, despite her lack of any previous prosecutorial experience. Typically such filings are also endorsed by career prosecutors who have gathered the evidence in the case.

The president, said Raskin in his statement, “forced Mr. Seibert to resign in order to replace him with one of his former defense attorneys, Lindsey Halligan, who has literally no prosecutorial experience but is clearly willing to blindly carry out the president’s orders. As if by magic, within mere days of being appointed, Ms. Halligan delivered for the president by filing the exact baseless charges against Mr. Comey that her predecessor had rejected.”

Trump responded to the charges Thursday night by declaring, “Justice in America!” in a social media post, while Comey professed his innocence in a statement, said he looks forward to defending himself at trial, and that he would not be cowed. “We will not live on our knees,” said Comey, “and you shouldn’t either.”

The indictment of Comey, said Christina Harvey, executive director of the progressive advocacy group Stand Up America, “isn’t justice – it’s revenge.”

“By weaponizing the DOJ to settle political scores,” said Harvey, Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi “have shredded the last scraps of the Department’s independence. Americans do not want our president using taxpayer-funded prosecutors and law enforcement to exact revenge.”

Lisa Gilbert, co-president of Public Citizen, called Comey’s indictment “a perversion of our justice system” and a worrying sign of what’s to come.

“This vindictive prosecution shows just how far Trump and his toadies will go to exact retribution on perceived enemies. And how large perceived slights loom on the president’s priorities list,” warned Gilbert. “Installing a hand-picked prosecutor to bring a meritless case demonstrates the danger our democracy is in from this wannabe dictator.”

The co-chairs of the Not Above the Law coalition, which includes Public Citizen, the Constitutional Accountability Center, MoveOn, and Stand Up America, released a joint statement, saying the prosecution of Comey represents the “dangerous ongoing weaponization of our justice system” and continued:

This has all the hallmarks of a vindictive and meritless prosecution. Yet Trump’s handpicked replacement is proceeding anyway, ignoring both DOJ guidelines and prosecutorial ethics. When the Department of Justice becomes a tool for settling personal grudges rather than protecting Americans from real threats, our liberties are in grave danger. Agencies that should investigate terrorism and organized crime must not become personal revenge squads for the president. Congress must act to restore independence to our justice system and stop this authoritarian abuse of power—Trump’s attorney general has made clear she won’t.

For Raskin’s part, he said, “I have no doubt that a jury of his peers will acquit and vindicate Mr. Comey after being afforded the opportunity to hear all the relevant evidence. But, until that happens, Mr. Comey will be forced to spend time, money, and energy defending himself against this blatantly fraudulent and vindictive indictment.”

“The rule of law was supposed to replace vendettas, blood feuds, and mad kings exacting vengeance on their perceived enemies,” he added. “This sordid episode is one more savage assault on justice in America.”