There’s been a lot of media buzz this week about an impending indictment of former FBI Director James Comey. We are at proverbial now-or-never time because the statute of limitations on his alleged crime (lying under oath to a Ted Cruz question during a hearing) runs out early next week. However, Trump by God is DEMANDING Comey be charged so we will have to see if it happens. Much as Trump wants it, it might not happen!
Yes, Trump has ripped away all the guardrails between the White House and the Department of Justice. DOJ might as well be DOHTR (kind of sounds like Dotard doesn’t it?) as in Department of Hateful Trump Retribution. Trumpty’s got a list of people he wants in prison and Comey’s in the top few on it. So, as numerous outlets are reporting including this article from the Wall Street Journal, which states Team Trump is ‘racing’ to secure an indictment of Comey:
The Justice Department’s maneuvering comes days after Trump publicly questioned why it hadn’t brought cases against several top adversaries, including Comey, and called on Attorney General Pam Bondi to act quickly. Last Friday, the president ousted the U.S. attorney he had appointed earlier this year in the Eastern District of Virginia, Erik Siebert, who told colleagues he didn’t see a case to bring against Comey. Trump then named one of his former personal attorneys, Lindsey Halligan, in his place.
It must be noted Siebert wasn’t some “RINO” holdover. He was appointed by Trump himself. That appointment wouldn’t have happened had Seibert not passed the rigorous ‘Got to be true MAGA’ screening Trump’s minions at the WH subjected him to. However Seibert also has a long and solid career as a federal prosecutor under his belt. I’m sure he wanted to do Trump’s bidding but unlike typical Trump people he knows his stuff. He realized there was no “there” there and that the case was a loser. My guess is that he tried to protect Trump from himself and got himself fired for it.
Think about that. Imagine in your own job/career having a boss you strongly supported who came up with a really dumbass idea. You go so far as to take a hard look at going ahead and implementing the boss’s doomed-to-fail idea and, try as you might, can’t get past the certainty that it will embarrass, if not HURT the boss if you follow orders. So, to protect your boss from a PR (or even career threatening) disaster you, as diplomatically as you can, say ‘Sorry, but this can’t be done and actually is likely to blow up into a PR disaster. Give me some time to see if I can come up with something better.’ Now, you know there’s nothing ‘better’ to be found but you also know the boss has a short attention span. But what matters in the end is you TRIED to help your boss who was too f**king stupid to realize it and he FIRES you for it.
That’s what happened here. Given the time pressure, Trumpty nominated a sycophant, someone who’d been one of his personal attorneys (a groups not exactly covered in legal glory) with zilch experience as a federal prosecutor. The ONLY qualification she brings to the table is that she will crawl over broken glass to try to give Trump what he wants which is an indictment and conviction of James Comey. She is WAY out of her league here and probably too stupid to know it. Word is that first thing she was given was the memo created by line prosecutors under her predecessor explaining why an attempt to prosecute Comey would almost certainly fail. I wonder if she had an “Oh Oh – what have I gotten myself into?” moment but I doubt it.
Right off the bat however, she’s got a problem. That statute of limitations is RIGHT THERE and about to run out. She can’t just file charges in federal court under a heading of ‘Trump says you have to put Comey on trial.’ No, she needs to secure an indictment from a GRAND JURY. I’m sure you know the old saying about a decent prosecutor can get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich. Truth be told, if there’s actual evidence it’s not hard to do. Actually winning a trial? That’s a whole different question. But I digress.
Perhaps Trumpty’s new toady should have had a little chat with her now colleague Jeanine Pirro over in DC. Pirro tried to do Trump’s bidding and get an indictment. Pirro tried and failed TWICE to get an indictment against Sean Dunn for throwing a Subway sandwich at a Customs and Border Patrol officer, an incident which was caught on video! To add insult to injury, Pirro (the U.S. Attorney for DC) tried and failed THREE times to secure an indictment of Lori Reid for injuring an FBI agent during a pro-immigrant protest at a Washington jail. After three strikes prosecutors wound up filing NON-felony Misdemeanor charges against Reid.
So it turns out, sometimes grand juries are smarter than a ham sandwich. And don’t like prosecutors who come in with an attitude of ‘I’m telling you this person is guilty so indict them. Evidence? I don’t need to show you evidence, just do what I tell you.’ The eastern District of Virginia isn’t MAGA country. Sure, there are plenty of Republicans and even MAGAs in northern Virginia (for the rest of the country that’s the Virginia suburbs across the Potomac from DC) but it’s an area that favors Democrats during general elections. Also, when Manafort was convicted there was at least one hard core MAGA on the jury, and she admitted she wanted to support Trump but had to follow her oath and look at the law and the evidence.
My point is that an indictment might not be the slam-dunk Trump and his more rabid minions assume it will be. When someone as experienced as Seibert looks at the case and thinks it’s a non-starter, and has an office staff with career professionals, who feel the same as a hack like Halligan, is in way over her head. Don’t be surprised if the statute of limitations on Comey runs out with no indictment. But DO enjoy the epic Trump Temper Tantrum that will ensue.
Still, you never know what a jury will do and that includes grand juries. Let’s say for whatever reason (and I can easily envision Miller getting his hands on a list of names and orchestrating threats) Comey is indicted. I saw a legal pundit last night pose some interesting questions. What WILL Trump’s DOJ do?
Comey is not a flight risk. Yes, he has the means to flee the country but he won’t do so. Everyone including probably Trump knows it. He’d have a helluva lot of trouble sneaking o out if he tried, or blending in in any country he’d go to. His face is instantly recognizable and the dude is freaking six feet eight inches tall! Besides, he knows he’ll never be convicted because there’s no actual case against him. Comey isn’t just a former Director of the FBI. He was the U.S. Attorney for the famed Southern District of New York. From there he moved to Deputy Attorney General at main DOJ. It would suck having to spend the money he’d have to for legal representation but hell, he can recover it with a gloating “How I Whipped Trump’s Fat Ass In Court” book.
ANY other defendant (if he is indicted) of his status would be allowed to voluntarily surrender to authorities for formal arrest and processing. The legal pundit indicated Trump will demand, and worse get Comey getting the full ‘slap the cuffs on and perp walk him to jail’ treatment. Here’s another question that was raised. As I’ve said, ordinarily someone like Comey, a first time ‘offender’ with deep ties to the community would be released on their own recognizance. Perhaps surrender their passport. Trump will want Comey in jail until he goes on trial.
Would Halligan risk getting slapped around by a federal judge for requesting such a thing. She might, because if she doesn’t, Trump will throw HER into the meat grinder. Ok, so she’d order some poor line prosecutor to stand there in court and make the request but HER signature would be on the indictment and a savvy, experienced federal prosecutor could affect the right demeanor that the judge would show some mercy and RIP Halligan. Perhaps even Bondi and Trump know this would be too much. That wouldn’t prevent them from asking for an astronomical amount in bail. Millions of dollars. That too is something a federal judge would look harshly upon. However IF they can get an indictment of Comey that’s likely to happen.
Comey I’m sure wants to just go on with his life. But he’s got reason to be particularly pissed at Trump these days. Remember, Bondi (because Trump told her to) fired Comey’s daughter Maureen from her job as a prosecutor at his old SDNY stomping grounds. She was by all accounts an excellent prosecutor and apolitical. However, she was Comey’s daughter and Trump’s vindictiveness knows no limits.
So ladies and gents, we could be in for an interesting few days. (cue cheesy soap opera music) ‘Will Comey be indicted?’ Will Trump have him locked up until his trial? Stay tuned to As the MAGA World Turns…’
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