Thomas Baker writes for the Federalist about the latest legal challenges for former FBI Director James Comey.
Last week, the Department of Justice announced that former FBI director James B. Comey has been again indicted by a Federal Grand Jury, this time in the Eastern District of North Carolina.
The criminal offenses charged against Comey are precise and limited; two counts of threating harm to the President. They involve his posting of images of seashells arranged as “86 47.” 86 being slang for kill and Trump being the 47th president.
Kash Patel, the current FBI director, commented that Comey “disgracefully encouraged a threat on President Trump’s life and posted it on Instagram for the world to see.” However, many have opined that the current charges are petty and vindictive.
Comey’s defense team may be able to get the charges dismissed, or Comey may be found not guilty. Last November a different indictment against Comey was tossed out by a judge in Virginia, who ruled that the U.S. attorney overseeing it had been unlawfully appointed. Nonetheless, there certainly was plenty of malfeasance and misfeasance on Comey’s part during his tenure as FBI director, starting with the Clinton email case and continuing with the entire Russian collusion chimera.
In his overwhelming arrogance, Comey usurped the role of a prosecutor by announcing, in July 2016, that no charges would be brought against Clinton in the email case. At the same time he announced there would be no charges, he besmirched the uncharged Clinton by delivering a litany of her irresponsible conduct. An inspector general’s report criticized him for these actions and then Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein cited this in a memo justifying Comey’s firing. Rosenstein asserted that the FBI must have “a Director who understands the gravity of his mistakes and pledges never to repeat.” But he saw no hope for Comey.
