Harry Litman - 10 Fundamental Flaws with the Comey Prosecution

The indictment of former FBI director James Comey is momentous, and in the worst possible way: it stands alone as a corruption and derogation of the rule of law unlike anything Trump, Bondi, Bove, or Blanche have perpetrated so far. I have been shouting from the rooftops that prosecuting a defendant without sufficient evidence, at the insistence of a President acting for reprisal and revenge, is the ultimate abomination. The combination of lacking bona fide proof and political reprisal from the top is virtually unprecedented, even compared to the worst corruptions of the DOJ under Nixon. In my view, this is the single most shameful act in the Department of Justice’s history.

It may or may not be that the Comey atrocity co-exists with a number of legitimate prosecutions. But week by week, we see reports that Bondi—serving Trump and indifferent to career DOJ professionals—is hollowing out the Department. Indeed, some sources suggest mass defections may be in the offing in the Eastern District of Virginia if the Comey case proceeds.

But given the gravity of the betrayal of everything the Department stands for, those other prosecutions don’t change the core problem. It may be that divorces or auto accidents are handled fairly in courts in Russia, Hungary, or Turkey. But if an enemy of the president can be charged with a federal crime the Department knows it can’t prove, then the Department is rotten to the core.

And of course, Trump has promised that Comey will not be the last target of his vengeance—not because of any crime (he doesn’t closely track who did what)—but because people worked on impeachments or prosecutions of him. And while reemphasizing those prosecutions doesn’t excuse wrongdoing here, it should be noted that those impeachments and prosecutions were entirely valid and, in many views, righteous responses to historic legal violations.

https://harrylitman.substack.com/p/10-fundamental-flaws-with-the-comey