Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) condemned the recent indictment of James Comey, slamming Attorney General Pam Bondi for bringing charges against the former FBI director without presenting clear evidence against him.
“You do not indict them and say, well, now, we got to go look for some facts,” Kaine said late Thursday during an appearance on MSNBC’s “The Briefing.”
“Her statement shows this thing is a complete political hatchet job, and I think it’s going to blow up in the Trump administration’s face, because having practiced law in the Eastern District of Virginia for 17 years, I don’t see any of the judges in this district dignifying this political persecution in any way,” he added.
Earlier in the day Bondi released a statement alleging Justice Department (DOJ) would “follow the facts” in their case against Comey.
“No one is above the law,” she said. “Today’s indictment reflects this Department of Justice’s commitment to holding those who abuse positions of power accountable for misleading the American people. We will follow the facts in this case.”
Comey is currently facing two charges for allegedly making a false statement and for obstruction of a congressional proceeding in connection with testimony he gave before the Senate in 2020, which was related to the FBI’s investigation of Trump and potential Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
The former FBI chief, who was fired in 2017, could face up to five years in prison, according to the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.
Last week, the former U.S. Attorney in the district resigned amid pressure from the Trump administration to bring charges against New York Attorney General Letitia James for alleged mortgage fraud. Lindsey Halligan, a former White House lawyer, was selected to step in to serve as a replacement.
Kaine said Halligan is “not lawfully in place,” which he noted could affect Comey’s charges.
“It looks like there’s, you know, motions to dismiss the case for malicious prosecution. There may be some motion to dismiss it on the grounds that the U.S. attorney who is pursuing this is not lawfully in place,” the Virginia Democrat told host and former White House press secretary Jen Psaki.
“There’s a statute that says when there’s a vacancy, the DOJ can put in an interim prosecutor in for 120 days,” he continued. “That 120 days had passed, and after 120 days, only the district court judges in a district can approve somebody to be the U.S. attorney.”
Kaine added, “So, I think the Comey attorneys have an awful lot of grounds to get this thing thrown out.”
Amid clamor, the ex-FBI director has maintained his innocence.
“My heart is broken for the Department of Justice, but I have great confidence in the federal judicial system. And I’m innocent,” Comey said in a video shared online. “So, let’s have a trial.”
“My family and I have known for years that there are costs to standing up to Donald Trump, but we couldn’t imagine ourselves living any other way,” he added. “We will not live on our knees, and you shouldn’t either.”
Other Democratic lawmakers have also blasted the indictment, suggesting a conviction is unlikely.
Trump, however, is celebrating the DOJ’s decision while claiming Friday that Comey “is a Dirty Cop, and always has been.”