Insiders have labeled the indictment of former FBI Director James Comey as the “worst case” ever filed by the Department of Justice.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced on Tuesday that two charges had been filed against Comey, a fierce critic of Donald Trump, for allegedly “knowing and willfully making a threat to kill” the President of the United States in a social media post.
The case relates to a photograph posted by Comey on Instagram in May 2015 of seashells arranged in a pattern making the numbers “86 47,″ which the indictment said could be interpreted as a “serious expression of an intent to do harm” to Trump.
86 is sometimes used as a phrase to expel someone from a bar, or get rid of something, while Trump is the 47th president. Comey deleted the post and apologized. “It never occurred to me, but I oppose violence of any kind so I took the post down,” he wrote on Instagram.
Comey, 65, reacted to the indictment on Tuesday by saying, “Well, they’re back. This time about a picture of sea shells on a North Carolina beach a year ago. And this won’t be the end of it, but nothing has changed with me.”
He added: “I’m still innocent, I’m still not afraid, and I still believe in the independent federal judiciary.”
The indictment marks Comey’s second since Trump’s DOJ first accused him of lying to Congress over press leaks last September. Comey was fired by the president in 2017 over the Russia election interference investigation.
CNN host Kaitlan Collins said on Tuesday that she had spoken to a former Department of Justice official who told her, “This might be the worst case DOJ has filed in my lifetime.”
Former Deputy Assistant Attorney General Tom Dupree told Collins of the former DOJ official’s assessment, “Well, it’s not in the Top 10 of the best cases they’ve ever filed, I’ll put it that way.”
Dupree, who served in the administration of President George W. Bush, said he believed the indictment was a “direct result” of Blanche getting a message from Trump that he needs to “deliver results” after the failure of his predecessor, Pam Bondi.
“The timing of this, the fact that it happened after that horrific episode on Saturday night, I think probably gave the Justice Department maybe a little extra courage to move ahead with this,” Dupree said.
But he said the indictment was “skeletal” and that it would be a difficult case to win.
“They’re not dealing with a threat that was communicated in explicit language,” Dupree said. “This is not a case where a defendant says, ‘I’m going to kill you.’ Instead, Comey communicated through a code, through a slang, through a shorthand, that on its face doesn’t communicate a threat.”
Dupree noted it was “such a tall order” for prosecutors to move it could “very well get thrown out” before it reaches a jury.
Andrew McCabe, the former deputy director of the FBI, told Anderson Cooper he also questioned the strength of the case and said the bureau should be focused on the “real work” they have to do.
“It boggles my mind that they’re still able to find people inside the department and the FBI... who would actually spend their time working on this thing,” McCabe said, questioning whether staff had been “ordered” to investigate Comey.
“If there were even a legitimate argument that that statement was a threat, do you actually think the Secret Service, after having interviewed him the day after the threat was allegedly made, would have allowed Jim Comey to live his life walking around free, doing nothing for the last year?” McCabe added.
“So you think this guy is actually a legitimate threat to the President of the United States, and you waited a year to arrest him? It’s preposterous. This whole thing is an absolute fraud.”
MS NOW’s Chris Hayes aired Fox News’ analyst Jonathan Turley’s response to the indictment to show “just how ludicrous” it is.
“I have to say I must be in a parallel universe to be talking about the shell artwork of James Comey,” Turley, who is also a constitutional law attorney, said.
“I think that just showing the picture is going to be a weak case in terms of a threat. In my view, it would very likely be viewed as protected speech if it was the basis of a criminal indictment.”
CNN host Laura Coates opened her Tuesday night show by telling viewers, “How they’re able to keep a straight face while writing the indictment, I personally will never know.”
