Voices on the left and the right are questioning the strength of former FBI Director James Comey’s federal indictment, arguing prosecutors will be challenged in winning a conviction. 

Comey was indicted Thursday on two counts, with a grand jury taking the unusual step of rejecting one of the proposed charges before approving the two-page indictment.

The slim court filing has sparked criticism across the spectrum on whether the Justice Department can prevail in a case targeting one of President Trump’s top political foes.

“It’s quite weak,” Barbara McQuade, a former U.S. attorney whom former President Obama appointed, told The Hill. 

Andy McCarthy, a conservative legal commentator whom Trump has cited in past social media posts, penned a column in National Review on Monday that argued the false statement charge against Comey is “so ill-conceived that the longer one analyzes it, the worse it gets.”

“The indictment is inadequately pled and factually without foundation. It should be dismissed,” McCarthy wrote.

A brief court hearing revealed the grand jury that heard the Comey evidence was highly divided on the charges it approved, barely exceeding the 12 votes needed to bring charges. Only 14 of the 23 jurors approved charges for making false statements to Congress and another for obstruction of a congressional proceeding.

McQuade referenced a number of issues, including that the indictment was brought after Trump publicly called for criminal charges as his team forced out a longtime prosecutor who was skeptical about bringing the case. Trump then appointed Lindsey Halligan, a member of his personal criminal defense case, to take over the post and launch the legal battle.

“Besides all of the red flags about the charges — firing the U.S. attorney, demanding on Truth Social, ‘We’re running out of time,’ installing this White House adviser who’s an insurance lawyer who’s working on the Smithsonian anti-woke agenda; she did the grand jury by herself, she’s the only one to sign the indictment — all those things are red flags; this is very abnormal. The charges by themselves, I think, are weak,” McQuade said.

“They’re based on a really convoluted statement.”

The indictment against Comey is only two pages. And unlike a typical indictment, it does not bear the signature of other prosecutors, only that of Halligan, a former insurance attorney who has never tried a federal case and who until recently served as the White House aide scrutinizing Smithsonian exhibits.

Ty Cobb, who served as special counsel to the president for nearly a year during Trump’s first term, said on “Face The Nation” there was a “good chance, because of, you know, the wholly unconstitutional, authoritarian way that this was done, that the case may get tossed out well before trial.”

“The next courtroom that this will be assessed in, if it gets to trial, requires unanimity from 12 people, and there will be a vigorous defense,” Cobb said. “I don’t see any way in the world that, you know, Comey will be convicted.”

McQuade said the tight margins on the grand jury vote serve as a warning sign for prosecutors, noting the grand jury only needed to weigh probable cause, while at trial, the jury would need a unanimous vote on the higher standard of proof beyond a reasonable doubt.

“So they’ve got their work cut out for them,” she said. “It’s a worrying sign that members of the public are very shaky on being convinced of guilt here.”

Alan Dershowitz, who represented Trump in his first impeachment, also expressed doubts.

“This is not a slam dunk case,” he said during an appearance on Newsmax.

“The government will have to prove to a Virginia jury that Comey lied intentionally about a material fact. They will also have to prove to a judge that he would have been prosecuted if this weren’t Comey and if he weren’t targeted by the administration. Then they’re going to have to prove that he wasn’t prejudiced by government statements that were made before the trial,” he added, also questioning why the case was brought in Virginia rather than Washington.

The indictment appeared to point to an exchange Comey had with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) in his September 2020 appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee. During the exchange, Cruz referenced Comey’s 2017 testimony before the same panel in which the FBI director denied ever authorizing any media leaks. 

Cruz went on to ask Comey about whether he ever authorized his deputy, Andrew McCabe, to make leaks to the media, with Comey responding that he stood by his 2017 testimony.

The exchange was a reference to a leak to The Wall Street Journal about the Hillary Clinton investigation days before the 2016 election.

McCabe has indicated Comey knew about and authorized the leak. Comey maintained he was unaware and that McCabe in a conversation after the story published implied he, too, wasn’t involved.

A 2018 inspector general report sided with Comey’s account, saying McCabe authorized the leak and “lacked candor” when he told his boss — and, later, investigators — he didn’t.

Some reporting indicated the charges also could seek to reference whether Comey ever authorized his friend, Daniel Richman, to leak information on his behalf, but such a scenario also would present challenges because Cruz’s question is squarely aimed at the leak to The Wall Street Journal.

It’s also highly likely Comey’s legal team will seek to get the case dismissed on the grounds that it is a selective and vindictive prosecution.

To do so, it will have to show charges likely would not have been brought against others similarly situated.

Comey’s legal team can point to a long line of past statements from Trump targeting the FBI director and calling for his prosecution. Trump for years has attacked Comey, whom he fired as FBI director in 2017, over his handling of investigations related to the 2016 election, and that criticism has ratcheted up in recent weeks.

In 2018, Trump called Comey an “untruthful slime ball.” In 2019, he questioned whether Comey should spend “years in jail.” In July, he derided Comey as “crooked as hell.” In August, he described Comey and other Obama administration officials as “criminals.”

Days before the indictment, Trump explicitly pressured his attorney general to pursue cases against Comey, Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

Hours before the indictment, Trump said he was not aware of what was happening in the case, adding that Comey was a “sick person.” Since the indictment, Trump has celebrated the charges and chastised Comey as a “dirty cop.”

“It’s about justice. … It’s also about the fact that you can’t let this go on,” Trump told reporters the day after the indictment when asked whether it was about revenge. “They are sick, radical left people, and they can’t get away with it. And Comey was one of the people. He wasn’t the biggest. But he was a dirty cop.”

“It’s not a list,” Trump said when asked who might be next, “but I think there will be others.”