Vindictive former FBI Director James Comey’s power trip is finally over as he has learned the “rule of law” he so often speaks of applies to him too.
A federal grand jury has indicted Comey for obstructing a congressional investigation into the disclosure of sensitive information and with making false statements to the federal government, according to a DOJ statement. The false statements charge carries a penalty of up to five years in prison, which means Comey may be fitted for the prison jumpsuit he so dearly wanted to see President Donald Trump wear.
With the claim that he was just following the rule of law, Comey used his position to manipulate public perception about Trump, and he played a key role in legitimizing the bogus narrative that Trump colluded with Russia to win the 2016 election. The saga was tremendously damaging to the country, and the distrust it sowed lives on in today’s deep partisan divisions. Comey should be held accountable for his role.
Trump fired Comey in May of 2017, and clearly he held onto his anger about losing one of the most powerful jobs in the nation, because Comey has continued to nip at Trump’s heels through social media posts. In August of 2018, when Trump was asked to submit to an interview as part of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s bogus Russia investigation, Comey trotted out his rule of law admonishment to help legitimize the investigation.
Comey could have slunk back into private life and started a new chapter, but he did not stop meddling in the politics of hate, even years after he was fired. The day after Biden was sworn into office, he called for Trump to be imprisoned and to be barred from running for office again.
Comey seemed to enjoy using his authority as a former high level official to hound Trump, and he seemed elated in June 2023 when a grand jury Special Counsel Jack Smith unsealed an indictment against Trump accusing him of mishandling classified documents. A judge ruled the indictment “unlawful,” and ultimately Smith dropped the charges.
Comey celebrated when Trump was indicted on August 1, 2023 in connection with the rigged 2020 election. The charges were a politically charged attempt by former President Joe “Autopen” Biden to take Trump out before the election. But Comey was there to remind us that no one is above the law.
Indeed, the rule of law endures, and now Comey can squirm with the knowledge that his freedom is in jeopardy. His beach walks may be numbered, his retirement nest egg may be tapped for legal fees, and he may miss key moments in his family life goodbye. The future is out of his hands, the process is the punishment, and the man who never showed empathy will finally see how it feels to face the wrath of the federal government.
Declassified documents released in recent months show how, Comey decided not to fully investigate Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server in her home and her mishandling of highly classified information when she was secretary of state.
And years ago, The Federalist’s Editor-in-Chief Mollie Hemingway reported about Comey’s sketchy prosecution track, including how he humiliated and imprisoned famed stylist Martha Stewart for five months, nearly destroying her life’s work, for defending her reputation over accusations she was never charged for.
“The original investigation was into whether Stewart had engaged in insider trading. They didn’t even try to get her on that charge,” Hemingway wrote, and explained that when Stewart made public comments that she had not committed a crime, Comey claimed she was lying and trying to increase her company’s stock price by proclaiming her innocence, so he charged her with securities fraud.
And he gloated about it in writings, as recalled in an X post from Benjamin Domenech, in which Comey said “People must fear having their name forever associated with a criminal act if we are to have a nation with a rule of law.”
Forever is a very long time. When the court is done with Comey, perhaps he will learn humility and find the redemption he has long tried to deny others.