{"id":133979,"date":"2025-09-26T10:01:54","date_gmt":"2025-09-26T18:01:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/09\/26\/trump-indicts-comey-for-torpedoing-hillary-clintons-2016-presidential-campaign\/"},"modified":"2025-09-26T10:01:54","modified_gmt":"2025-09-26T18:01:54","slug":"trump-indicts-comey-for-torpedoing-hillary-clintons-2016-presidential-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/09\/26\/trump-indicts-comey-for-torpedoing-hillary-clintons-2016-presidential-campaign\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump Indicts Comey For Torpedoing Hillary Clinton\u2019s 2016 Presidential Campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 2017, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein produced a letter<\/a> purporting to fire FBI Director James Comey for being too mean to Hillary Clinton.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Director laid out his version of the facts for the news media as if it were a closing argument, but without a trial,\u201d he tut-tutted over Comey\u2019s press conference explaining his decision not to prosecute the presidential candidate. \u201cIt is a textbook example of what federal prosecutors and agents are taught not to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eight years later, Trump\u2019s personal lawyer indicted<\/a> James Comey for being mean to Hillary Clinton<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Because history may not rhyme, but it does echo \u2026 in the stupidest way possible.<\/p>\n

Then as now, absolutely no one was fooled. In 2017, Trump raced to confirm on television that he\u2019d fired Comey to end the investigation into his campaign\u2019s ties to Russia. In 2025, Trump brayed for and then celebrated the charges against his enemies without bothering himself too much about the nature of the supposed crime.<\/p>\n

\u201cJUSTICE IN AMERICA!\u201d he screeched on social media, celebrating the indictment of \u201cone of the worst human beings this Country has ever been exposed to\u201d for \u201cvarious illegal and unlawful acts.\u201d<\/p>\n

The nature of those \u201cvarious illegal and unlawful acts\u201d was entirely beside the point. By this morning, the president seems to have figured out that \u201cHE LIED!\u201d about something<\/em>, although what he did not specify.<\/p>\n

\u201cJames \u2018Dirty Cop\u2019 Comey was a destroyer of lives,\u201d he ranted. \u201cHe knew exactly what he was saying, and that it was a very serious and far reaching lie for which a very big price must be paid!\u201d<\/p>\n

As of this writing, no bill of particulars has been docketed, and the public still does not know \u201cexactly what he was saying.\u201d The general consensus is that the \u201cmaterially false, fictitious, and fraudulent statement\u201d undergirding the 18 U.S.C. \u00a7 1001 charge is Comey\u2019s denial that he\u2019d authorized his deputy Andy McCabe to speak to journalists about the ongoing investigation of Hillary Clinton. <\/p>\n

\n
\n
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Here’s the clip that’s the foundation of the false-statements charge in the successful grand-jury indictment of James Comey.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Joshua J. Friedman (@joshuajfriedman.com)<\/a> 2025-09-26T00:39:15.791Z<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

McCabe spoke off the record to the Wall Street Journal about the ongoing FBI inquiry into Hillary Clinton\u2019s emails for an October 13, 2016 article<\/a> by Devlin Barrett. He testified that he\u2019d gotten the greenlight from his boss, although it\u2019s possible to read what McCabe said as implying that Comey had blessed the disclosure after the fact. Comey said he didn\u2019t recall that, and a 2018 inspector general\u2019s report<\/a> suggested that Comey\u2019s account was probably closer to the truth. When the DOJ tried to indict McCabe for the lie in 2019, it got no-billed. <\/p>\n

In short, there will never<\/em> be a way to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Comey was lying to Congress in 2020 when he said, \u201cI can only speak to my testimony. I stand by the testimony.\u201d That is almost certainly why Erik Siebert, the highly competent career prosecutor Trump installed as US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, refused to seek an indictment. But with the clock ticking on the five-year statute of limitations, Trump pushed out Siebert last Friday. By Monday, Trump\u2019s personal attorney Lindsey Halligan, an insurance lawyer from Florida, had been sworn in as his replacement.<\/p>\n

Lacking any prosecutorial experience or ethical scruple, Halligan raced to indict the president\u2019s enemy, bootstrapping on an obstruction of Congress charge for good measure. The grand jury rejected<\/a> a third charge involving another purported false statement, although Halligan reportedly signed both the rejected and accepted indictments and handed them to the duty judge.<\/p>\n

The case was assigned to Judge Michael Nachmanoff, a Biden appointee who spent 13 years as a federal public defender in EDVA. The case is set for arraignment on October 9, where Halligan will face off against Patrick Fitzgerald, one of the most storied prosecutors in modern history. Hilarity will no doubt ensue.<\/p>\n

The defendant remains defiant.<\/p>\n

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\n

\u2014 James Comey (@jamescomey.bsky.social)<\/a> 2025-09-26T00:05:36.140Z<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was making liberals root for James Comey again<\/em>. And all it took was breaking the DOJ.<\/p>\n

\n

Liz Dye<\/a>\u00a0lives in Baltimore where she produces the Law and Chaos\u00a0substack<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0podcast<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The post Trump Indicts Comey For Torpedoing Hillary Clinton\u2019s 2016 Presidential Campaign<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In 2017, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein produced a letter<\/a> purporting to fire FBI Director James Comey for being too mean to Hillary Clinton.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Director laid out his version of the facts for the news media as if it were a closing argument, but without a trial,\u201d he tut-tutted over Comey\u2019s press conference explaining his decision not to prosecute the presidential candidate. \u201cIt is a textbook example of what federal prosecutors and agents are taught not to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eight years later, Trump\u2019s personal lawyer indicted<\/a> James Comey for being mean to Hillary Clinton<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Because history may not rhyme, but it does echo \u2026 in the stupidest way possible.<\/p>\n

Then as now, absolutely no one was fooled. In 2017, Trump raced to confirm on television that he\u2019d fired Comey to end the investigation into his campaign\u2019s ties to Russia. In 2025, Trump brayed for and then celebrated the charges against his enemies without bothering himself too much about the nature of the supposed crime.<\/p>\n

\u201cJUSTICE IN AMERICA!\u201d he screeched on social media, celebrating the indictment of \u201cone of the worst human beings this Country has ever been exposed to\u201d for \u201cvarious illegal and unlawful acts.\u201d<\/p>\n

The nature of those \u201cvarious illegal and unlawful acts\u201d was entirely beside the point. By this morning, the president seems to have figured out that \u201cHE LIED!\u201d about something<\/em>, although what he did not specify.<\/p>\n

\u201cJames \u2018Dirty Cop\u2019 Comey was a destroyer of lives,\u201d he ranted. \u201cHe knew exactly what he was saying, and that it was a very serious and far reaching lie for which a very big price must be paid!\u201d<\/p>\n

As of this writing, no bill of particulars has been docketed, and the public still does not know \u201cexactly what he was saying.\u201d The general consensus is that the \u201cmaterially false, fictitious, and fraudulent statement\u201d undergirding the 18 U.S.C. \u00a7 1001 charge is Comey\u2019s denial that he\u2019d authorized his deputy Andy McCabe to speak to journalists about the ongoing investigation of Hillary Clinton. <\/p>\n

McCabe spoke off the record to the Wall Street Journal about the ongoing FBI inquiry into Hillary Clinton\u2019s emails for an October 13, 2016 article<\/a> by Devlin Barrett. He testified that he\u2019d gotten the greenlight from his boss, although it\u2019s possible to read what McCabe said as implying that Comey had blessed the disclosure after the fact. Comey said he didn\u2019t recall that, and a 2018 inspector general\u2019s report<\/a> suggested that Comey\u2019s account was probably closer to the truth. When the DOJ tried to indict McCabe for the lie in 2019, it got no-billed. <\/p>\n

In short, there will never<\/em> be a way to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Comey was lying to Congress in 2020 when he said, \u201cI can only speak to my testimony. I stand by the testimony.\u201d That is almost certainly why Erik Siebert, the highly competent career prosecutor Trump installed as US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, refused to seek an indictment. But with the clock ticking on the five-year statute of limitations, Trump pushed out Siebert last Friday. By Monday, Trump\u2019s personal attorney Lindsey Halligan, an insurance lawyer from Florida, had been sworn in as his replacement.<\/p>\n

Lacking any prosecutorial experience or ethical scruple, Halligan raced to indict the president\u2019s enemy, bootstrapping on an obstruction of Congress charge for good measure. The grand jury rejected<\/a> a third charge involving another purported false statement, although Halligan reportedly signed both the rejected and accepted indictments and handed them to the duty judge.<\/p>\n

The case was assigned to Judge Michael Nachmanoff, a Biden appointee who spent 13 years as a federal public defender in EDVA. The case is set for arraignment on October 9, where Halligan will face off against Patrick Fitzgerald, one of the most storied prosecutors in modern history. Hilarity will no doubt ensue.<\/p>\n

The defendant remains defiant.<\/p>\n

The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was making liberals root for James Comey again<\/em>. And all it took was breaking the DOJ.<\/p>\n

\n

Liz Dye<\/a>\u00a0lives in Baltimore where she produces the Law and Chaos\u00a0substack<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0podcast<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 2017, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein produced a letter purporting to fire FBI Director James Comey for being too mean to Hillary Clinton. \u201cThe Director laid out his version of the facts for the news media as if it were a closing argument, but without a trial,\u201d he tut-tutted over Comey\u2019s press conference explaining […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":133980,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-133979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/GettyImages-610924738-l5oxUF.jpg?fit=594%2C396&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133979"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133979\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/133980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}