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The costs are weak. That is not likely the purpose.
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Former FBI Director James Comey pleaded not responsible Wednesday to 2 federal crimes a federal grand jury in Virginia charged him with final month. Comey now awaits a January 5 trial within the Japanese District of Virginia. The costs introduced by the Justice Division embody making a false assertion to Congress and obstruction of a congressional continuing.
He’s accused of mendacity about authorizing a leak to the media throughout his time as director when questioned about it throughout a 2020 Senate listening to. As per MSNBC, Comey served as FBI director when President Donald Trump first took workplace however was rapidly fired for refusing to drop an investigation into attainable ties between the Trump marketing campaign and Russia. Within the years since, he has remained a vocal critic of Trump and a relentless goal of the president’s anger.
Neither cost appears significantly sturdy and even critical, and even when performing U.S. Lawyer Lindsey Halligan manages to get a conviction, it’s solely attainable that Comey will serve little to no jail time. The actual function behind this prosecution will not be getting a conviction in any respect. When Trump was standing trial in New York in 2024, one particular person near him advised The Washington Submit that “the phrase round right here is ‘the method is the punishment.’”
Trump’s Revenge Marketing campaign Targets Extra Than Simply Comey
The very act of getting to point out up at court docket day in and time out was meant to humiliate Comey. Comey having to defend himself in any respect might be seen as his punishment for having gone in opposition to Trump’s early calls for for loyalty.
New York Lawyer Normal Letitia James and Senator Adam Schiff might quickly discover themselves in the identical state of affairs. Trump has by no means been quiet about his goals of revenge for the assorted investigations, impeachments and prison and civil instances introduced in opposition to him over time.
Schiff served as lead impeachment supervisor in opposition to Trump in 2020. James efficiently introduced a civil case in opposition to the Trump Group in 2022, getting a fraud conviction that is still regardless of huge fines being thrown out by a New York appeals court docket this yr.
Each Schiff and James at the moment are below federal investigation in Maryland and New York over claims of mortgage fraud. The investigations had been began after referrals from William Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Company. Lawyer Normal Pam Bondi individually named Ed Martin as a “particular legal professional” in August to look into James’ and Schiff’s mortgages as properly. Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo can be reportedly below investigation by Trump’s Division of Justice over his testimony to Congress about his dealing with of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Neither the Schiff investigation nor the James investigation seems to be going anyplace. MSNBC correspondents Carol Leonnig and Ken Dilanian reported Monday {that a} “high prosecutor in Virginia has knowledgeable colleagues she plans to say no to hunt prices” in opposition to James. It was reported final month that Martin “seems to have scant proof exhibiting that the alleged wrongdoing was something greater than paperwork errors.”
Halligan’s rush to prosecute Comey clearly exhibits what a decided Trump loyalist can do if she locations successful his approval over successful in court docket. U.S. Lawyer Erik Siebert resigned below strain from Trump in late September after he refused to convey prices in opposition to Comey. His departure opened the door for Halligan’s sudden appointment and her rush to beat the statute of limitations.
She went after prices in opposition to Comey regardless of a memo from profession prosecutors “documenting why they believed possible trigger didn’t exist” for an indictment. The identical strategy may very well be used in opposition to James or Schiff ought to Martin or Halligan handle to get indictments in opposition to them.
