The second indictment is not just absurd, its deeply troubling.
Trying to prosecute a guy for threatening the presidents life by posting a picture of seashells?
After a previous, much broader indictment against the fired FBI director despised by was thrown out of court?
But dont take my word for it:
ABCs Jonathan Karl: “Even Trumps allies are privately calling it embarrassing, or as one very prominent former Trump DOJ official told me last night, depressing.”
National Reviews Andy McCarthy, a former federal prosecutor: “This farce, then, is nothing more than a continuation of Trumps lawfare campaign against a political enemy. It is inconceivable that Comey could be convicted of a crime in these circumstances, but the presidents minions are putting him through the anxiety, expense, and stigma of the judicial process.”Â
Constitutional law professor Jonathan Turley said on Fox: “I must be in a parallel universe to be talking about the shell art of James Comeyâ¦Just showing the pictures going to be a weak case in terms of a threat.”
“Itll be thrown out. Its classic revenge,” Ty Cobb, a Trump lawyer in the first term, told CNN.
The seashell collection, which Comey said he found on a North Carolina beach, said 86 47. In restaurant parlance, 86 means to get rid of a customer or dish, not kill them. And the other numbers refer to the 47th president. It was spectacularly bad judgment for Comey to post the photo on his Instagram account.
But after an uproar, Comey deleted the posting and said he in no way meant to suggest political violence.
 “I’m still innocent, I’m still not afraid, and I still believe in the independent federal judiciary, so lets go,” Comey said after the new charges were filed.
Its no secret at this point that the Justice Department has become an aggressive player in Trumps retribution campaign. One reason he fired Pam Bondi as attorney general is that he was unhappy with the pace of the probes.
denied yesterday that the president had ordered him to bring the indictment. “Anybody who tries to put forward some narrative that this is just about seashells or something to the contrary is missing the point,” he told CBS. “You cannot threaten the president of the United States.”
But Trump didnt have to make a secret phone call to demand the indictment. He talks openly about those he views as enemies, such as Letitia James. He said he was glad when ex-special prosecutor Bob Mueller died.
In the past, Trump has referred to Comey as “scum,” “slimeball” and a “lying scumbag.”
Trump told reporters yesterday that 86 is “a mob term for kill them, you know? You ever see the movies? “86 em, the mobster says to one of his wonderful associates.”
Pressed by CNNs Kaitlan Collins on whether he felt his life was in danger, Trump said “probably.”
“The people like Comey have created tremendous danger, I think, for politicians and others. You know, Comey is a dirty cop, hes a very dirty cop…Hes a crooked man.”
Other presidents might have declined comment on what is now an ongoing criminal prosecution, but thats not Donald Trump.
The first indictment, last September, came after Secret Service agents tracked down the . It included charges of leaking and lying to Congress, but Tuesdays stripped-down version deals only with the shell photo.
Trump defenders say he was persecuted during his first term with four criminal cases. So this, in their view, is proper payback.
But during the campaign I lost track of how many times Trump told me “the best retribution will be success.”
SUBSCRIBE TO HOWIE’S MEDIA BUZZMETER PODCAST, A RIFF ON THE DAY’S HOTTEST STORIES
Instead, hes gone after political opponents, law firms, news organizations and others with a vengeance.
These efforts have so far
