Donald Trump, humself a convicted criminal, HAS indicated that the former FBI Director ‘Is a Bad man’….
(He also wants New York Attorney General Indicted also)
THAT is surely a signal to his Attorney General to ‘go get’m’…
(Trump has installed a rookie Lawyer in the Justice Dept. to carry out his wishes)
BUT?
If Pam Bondi DOES in fact do so?
(She will or have to quit?)
There IS going to have sloppy collateral damage ALL Around…..
After a two-month investigation, federal prosecutors in Virginia were unable to gather sufficient evidence to support bringing criminal charges against former FBI Director James Comey for allegedly lying to Congress, sources tell ABC News.
The prosecutors earlier this week summarized their findings — that probable cause does not exist to secure an indictment, let alone a conviction at trial — in a detailed declination memo for Lindsey Halligan, President Donald Trump’s newly appointed U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, sources said.
Nevertheless, sources say Halligan plans to ask a grand jury in the coming days to indict Comey, escalating Trump’s unprecedented directive to prosecute some of his political adversaries.
On Thursday, Trump called Comey a “bad person” but said the decision to prosecute is up to the Department of Justice.
“They’re going to make a determination. I’m not making that determination. I think I’d be allowed to get involved if I want, but I don’t really choose to do so,” Trump told reporters in the White House Thursday, just days after imploring the Justice Department to act….
…
Halligan is working against the clock, with the five-year statute of limitations to prosecute Comey for allegedly making false statements expiring on Tuesday.
The rapid push for an indictment, despite the recommendation of career prosecutors, comes at a fraught time for the high-profile attorney’s office, which handles a bulk of the country’s national security cases.
Trump’s previous pick for the job, Erik Siebert, resigned last week after being pressured to bring mortgage fraud charges against James, and Trump, who said he fired Siebert, placed Halligan in the role — overruling senior DOJ leadership — with a clear goal of securing criminal charges against James, Schiff, and Comey.
Note…
The history here is also worth remembering. Comey, a Republican, was appointed to run the FBI by then-President Barack Obama. He later investigated Hillary Clinton’s email server and was the guy who arguably tipped the 2016 election to Trump after Comey announced he would reopen that investigation just days before Election Day.
Comey’s term as director then continued under Trump, who quickly made clear that he wanted a very close relationship with the historically independent FBI. You might recall a video of Trump embracing a visibly uncomfortable Comey, which then prompted the director to try and blend in with the curtains.
Or maybe you remember Comey’s retelling of a private meeting where he said the new president pressured him to do the administration’s bidding — specifically, to drop the investigation into Trump’s friend and onetime national security adviser Mike Flynn, who ultimately pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.
Comey was later fired for refusing the president’s entreaties — a firing he says he learned about from catching a glimpse at the television while at an event for the bureau — and he has been a frequent target of Trump’s ever since.
Earlier this year, the White House and Fox News tried to manufacture a controversy in which they claimed an Instagram post by Comey spelling out the numbers “86 47” with rocks on the beach was a credible threat to the president’s life.
Not long after that, Comey’s daughter Maurene Comey was fired from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York, reportedly as a direct act of retaliation by Trump against her father. She’s now suing the Justice Department.
All of this petty vindictiveness is because Comey refused to turn the FBI into a weapon that Trump could use to protect his friends and punish his enemies — and it’s clear that Trump’s new Justice Department and FBI have no such reservations….
Note…
Wouldn’t be interesting if a grand jury failled to indict Comey?
image….The Wall Street Journal