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James Comey's second indictment isn't just ridiculous, it's deeply troubling.
Trying to prosecute a guy for threatening the president's life by posting a picture of sea shells?
After the previous, far-reaching case against the fired FBI director who was despised by President Donald Trump was thrown out of court?
But don't take my word for it:
JAMES COMEY IS CONSIDERED FOR THREATS TO GET TRUMP: DOJ
Former FBI Director James Comey was indicted for the “86 47” social media post. (Content by Ralph Alswang/Disney General Entertainment via Getty Images)
ABC's Jonathan Karl: “Even Trump allies are privately calling it 'embarrassing,' or as the most senior Trump DOJ official told me last night, 'depressed.'
Andy McCarthy of the National Review, a former federal prosecutor: “This means he continues Trump's legal campaign against a political enemy. It is unlikely that Comey will be convicted in these circumstances, but the president's supporters are putting him in the worries, costs and actions of the judicial process.”
Constitutional law professor Jonathan Turley said on Fox: “I have to be in the same space to talk about James Comey's shell art…Just showing the picture would be a weak case for the threat.”
“It's going to be thrown out. It's an old revenge,” Ty Cobb, Trump's White House attorney for the first time, told CNN.
LEGAL EXPERTS WARN COMEY '86 47' LAW FACES FIRST AMENDMENT CHALLENGES
A collection of seashells, which Comey said he found on a North Carolina beach, said 86 47. In restaurant parlance, 86 means to drive away a customer or a dish, not kill it. And the other numbers refer to the 47th president. It was an incredibly bad decision for Comey to post this photo on his Instagram account.
But after the uproar, Comey deleted the post and said he didn't mean to suggest political violence.
“I'm innocent, I'm still fearless, and I still believe in an independent jury, so let's go,” Comey said after the new charges were filed.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche denied that President Donald Trump ordered him to bring the case. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
It's no secret by now that the Justice Department has become an aggressive player in Trump's campaign for revenge. One of the reasons he fired Pam Bondi as attorney general was that he was unhappy with the way the investigation was going.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche yesterday denied that the president ordered him to bring the case. “Anyone who tries to make the case that this is about sea shells or something to the contrary is missing the point,” he told CBS. “You can't threaten the president of the United States.”
But Trump didn't have to make a secret phone call to demand impeachment. He speaks openly about those he considers enemies, such as Letitia James. He said he was happy when former special prosecutor Bob Mueller died.
In the past, Trump has called Comey “scum,” “slimeball” and a “lying scumbag.”
Trump told reporters yesterday that 86 “is the name of the mobster, you know? You ever see the movies? “'86 'em,' the mobster says to one of his good friends.”
Pressed by CNN's Kaitlan Collins about how he feels his life is in danger, Trump said “maybe.”
“People like Comey have created a great danger, I think, to politicians and others. You know, Comey is a dirty cop, a very dirty cop…He's a crooked man.”
Other presidents may have refused to comment on ongoing criminal prosecutions, but that's not Donald Trump.
EX-FBI DIRECTOR SAYS COMEY IS CHARGING OBJECTIVE EVIDENCE AND JURY CONDUCT
Trump was nothing but mum on the impeachment. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)
The first case, last September, came after the Secret Service tracked down a former FBI agent. It included accusations of leaking and lying to Congress, but Tuesday's watered-down version only mentions the shell image.
Trump's defenders say he was prosecuted during his first term on four felony charges. So this, in their opinion, is a fair return.
But during the campaign I lost track of how many times Trump told me that “good revenge will be success.”
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Instead, he went after political opponents, law firms, news organizations and others with a vengeance.
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These efforts have so far been unsuccessful in court. Comey's case is so simple that even many legal analysts are not defending it.
