Al Sharpton thinks that President Donald Trump” picked the wrong” enemy with his indictment of New York Attorney General Letitia James.
While speaking with MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace on “Deadline: Whitehouse” Thursday, Sharpton explained that not only would putting James more in the public eye backfire on the president, but another indictment after James Comey would continue to make the reasons behind them look questionable to the public.
“I think that if he were going to pick an enemy, he picked the wrong one because the strength as well as the eloquence of Tish James will now be on the national stage,” he said. “Because one, I agree with some of the panelists that the case will probably be thrown out. If it is not, it is going to really expose the weaponization of this president against any of his political enemies or his perceived enemies.”
Sharpton later added: “There’s no one that can doubt that this is all vengeance — a misuse of the criminal justice system. And I think that what he’s done is going to really backfire.”
James was indicted Thursday on mortgage fraud charges after insistence from Trump. This comes just two weeks after Comey was indicted and charged for allegedly lying to Congress. The president has vowed to take on his political enemies, and Comey and James were both prominent adversaries to Trump since his first election in 2016.
Watch the full “Deadline: White House” segment via MSNBC, which also airs James’ full response to the indictment, in the video below:
“This is nothing more than a continuation of the president’s desperate weaponization of our justice system,” James said following the indictment. “He is forcing federal law enforcement agencies to do his bidding, all because I did my job as the New York State Attorney General. These charges are baseless, and the president’s own public statements make clear that his only goal is political retribution at any cost.”
She added: “The president’s actions are a grave violation of our constitutional order and have drawn sharp criticism from members of both parties. His decision to fire a United States Attorney who refused to bring charges against me and replace them with someone who is blindly loyal not to the law but to the president is antithetical to the bedrock principles of our country.”
James wrapped up her statement by saying she was “not fearful — I’m fearless.” She said she planned to fight the charges and keep working.
