Welcome to The Logoff: Donald Trump’s campaign of retribution against his perceived political enemies is escalating after the Thursday evening indictment of former FBI director James Comey.
What happened? Comey was indicted in the Eastern District of Virginia on two charges: lying to Congress and obstructing a congressional proceeding.
As my colleague Zack Beauchamp wrote, the charges are remarkably slapdash and were reportedly presented to a grand jury over the opposition of career federal prosecutors.
What’s going on in the Eastern District of Virginia? The charges against Comey were brought by interim US Attorney Lindsey Halligan, formerly a personal lawyer to Trump.
Halligan ended up with that job after the previous US attorney resigned last week under pressure for refusing to indict another Trump foe, New York Attorney General Letitia James; the next day, Trump endorsed Halligan in a social media post addressed to Attorney General Pam Bondi.
What happens next? Trump has made it clear that he sees the Comey indictment as only the start of his retaliation campaign, warning Friday that “there’ll be others.” In the aforementioned Saturday post to Bondi, he wrote:
“What about Comey, Adam ‘Shifty’ Schiff, Leticia??? … We can’t delay any longer, it’s killing our reputation and credibility. They impeached me twice, and indicted me (5 times!), OVER NOTHING. JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!”
On Thursday, the New York Times also reported that Justice Department leadership is directing an effort to prosecute George Soros’s Open Society Foundation, a major supporter of pro-democracy initiatives and liberal causes, on charges potentially including material support of terrorism.
What’s the big picture? Trump has long called for his opponents to be investigated and charged, but now it’s actually happening. It’s possible there are things we still don’t know about the Comey indictment — but from everything we do know, it’s a grave abuse of power by Trump and a serious attack on the rule of law.
