This week New York Times White House correspondent Maggie Haberman had harsh words for Donald Trump’s “vindictive prosecution” against former FBI director James Comey.
Trump publicly called on Attorney General Pam Bondi to pursue legal action against “Comey, Adam ‘Shifty’ Schiff, [and] Leticia [Letitia James]” who are all “guilty as hell” in a post shared to Truth Social Sept. 20. The indictment against Comey was released Thursday.
The former FBI director was indicted on one count for giving a false statement and on one count of obstruction of justice. Both charges were related to his September 2020 testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The former FBI director is the first senior government official, who investigated Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign over possible ties to Russia, to face federal charges.
While speaking to Anderson Cooper on CNN Friday, Haberman explained that the post itself could pose a problem to Trump’s legal threat. She said, “I think that most defense lawyers would probably use that post in some kind of a legal filing trying to get this case thrown out, be it arguing … a vindictive prosecution argument which, it’s not often successful to make that claim, but there can be other arguments against the evidence.”
“And I think, you know, that post plus the fact that there were prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia who put in a memo that they didn’t think that the case was strong enough to take to trial, that they thought that it was too weak to try to win a conviction on. All of that could raise red flags,” she added.
The indictment has been celebrated by MAGA enthusiasts but others have argued it’s unlikely the legal action will stand up in court.
Comey has appeared wholly unbothered by Trump’s threat. “My heart is broken for the Department of Justice, but I have great confidence in the federal judicial system, and I’m innocent,” he said in a video following the announcement. “So let’s have a trial, and keep the faith.”
Trump has had Comey in his crosshairs since the latter’s investigation into Russia’s attempts to influence the 2016 presidential election in the United States. Trump fired Comey from office in 2017, and the former FBI director has since become an outspoken critic of the president.
The case against Comey, who is charged with making a false statement and obstructing a congressional proceeding, could be thrown out early if his legal team is able to establish it was filed out of selective or vindictive prosecution, though the defense team will have to climb a steep hill to prove such an assertion. Per the U.S. Constitution, selection prosecution refers to the use of “an unjustifiable standard such as race, religion, or other arbitrary classification” and vindictive prosecution references legal action taken in retribution for exercising a legal right.
Trump’s pattern of attacking Comey repeatedly and viciously online could offer some support should the former director’s legal team pursue such a designation.
You can watch Haberman’s full interview in the video above.
