Former FBI director James Comey was not surprised when he was formally charged with making false statements and obstruction of justice on Thursday. “My family and I have known for years that there are costs to standing up to Donald Trump,” Comey said in a video posted to Instagram shortly after the charges were announced, “but I couldn’t imagine living any other way.”Rather than adhering to the presidential precedent of attempting to stand above or apart from any criminal proceedings, Trump gave Comey, whom he fired in 2017, months into his first term as president, both barrels on his Truth Social platform. “One of the worst human beings this Country has ever been exposed to is James Comey, the former corrupt head of the FBI,” Trump wrote. In a post that appears to have since been deleted on Saturday, Trump had publicly asked attorney general Pam Bondi to pursue Comey, along with California Democratic senator Adam Schiff and New York attorney general Letitia James.Though the charges, which could lead to a five-year prison sentence, focus on Comey’s testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2020, Trump’s desire for revenge after Comey’s FBI investigated contacts between his presidential campaign and Russian officials in 2016 is widely regarded to be the motivation. Unusually, the charges filed on Thursday were signed only by Lindsey Halligan, once Trump’s personal lawyer, who assumed the position of the US attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia on Monday.
‘This was treason’
Halligan’s predecessor, Erik Siebert, resigned on September 19 under pressure from the Trump administration after he failed to bring charges against James for mortgage fraud. “It looks to me like she’s really guilty of something, but I really don’t know,” said the president, who has also called James “corrupt” without any proof. Former Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook was fired from her post after similar mortgage fraud claims but has not been charged and is suing Trump over the dismissal.The president has also floated the idea of targeting onetime allies. Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie has been threatened with investigation over a scandal involving lane closures on a bridge, known as Bridgegate, in his state over a decade ago. When associates of Christie, then a Trump ally, were charged by the administration of Barack Obama in 2016, Trump called Bridgegate an “Obama DOJ scam.” Now that Christie himself has criticized the president’s use of the Justice Department to target opponents, Trump apparently sees new merit in the case, telling reporters that he “always felt he (Christie) was guilty.” Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton, another ally who changed his views on the president had his house and offices raided in August. Though the investigation into whether Bolton possessed classified information had started during the administration of Joe Biden, the raid was viewed as an escalation and was carried out by the FBI during a period when the president was posting about Bolton on Truth Social.As well as using the US legal system in unprecedented ways, Trump has a habit of making public accusations against people, attacking their reputations, even if his investigators fail to find any evidence against them, as was the case with James. Most notably he has accused his two predecessors: Joe Biden and Barack Obama. He said the former was “essentially guilty” of retaining classified documents, despite a special counsel’s declining to even charge him, and that Obama committed “treason” by undermining Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. “Look, he’s guilty. It’s not a question,” Trump said. “This was treason.” No evidence of such was ever provided. He has also stripped security clearance and secret service protection from scores of former politicians, lawyers, intelligence officials and civil servants.
Trump’s ‘retribution presidency’
During the 2024 campaign and in the weeks after the election, Trump’s second term was signposted, by him and his allies and enemies alike, as a “retribution presidency.” “WHEN I WIN, those people that CHEATED will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law, which will include long term prison sentences so that this Depravity of Justice does not happen again,” he wrote on Truth Social in September 2024.He also declared in the wake of the Charlie Kirk shooting that mere political debate is not for him. “That’s where I disagreed with Charlie,” Trump said. “I hate my opponent, and I don’t want the best for them.”A 2024 study by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a group that advocates for accountable democracy, examined more than 13,000 messages Trump had posted on Truth Social. CREW found that Trump consistently cited his 2020 election loss and the various charges brought against him between his presidencies as justification and motivation for going after his enemies. “He has constantly seeded this idea that the numerous charges against him are trumped-up charges and it seems almost to have given him license to openly say: #You’ve done this to me, so I’m going to do it to you,'” Robert Maguire, the vice president for research and data at CREW, said at the time.
Revenge as strategy?
Regardless of what might ultimately happen in courtrooms, or if the investigations will even reach them, Trump’s open accusations against opponents helped fire up core supporters and likely contributed to his return to power. Lower stakes moves, such as revoking security clearances, also contribute to the picture that opponents are somehow untrustworthy.But the case against Comey is a new frontier. Siebert, the US attorney who resigned and was replaced by Trump’s pick, Halligan, reportedly had significant doubts about the strength of the case. With Siebert gone, Trump’s Justice Department appears confident that it can carry out the president’s mission.“No one is above the law,” Bondi said after Comey was charged. “Today’s indictment reflects this Department of Justice’s commitment to holding those who abuse positions of power accountable for misleading the American people.”One wonders if a Justice Department that is increasingly accountable only to Trump will also be able to hold him accountable should that day come.
