by WorldTribune Staff, April 3, 2023
During the 2016 election, then-FBI Director James Comey declined to prosecute Hillary Clinton despite finding that she violated federal rules and handled classified material “carelessly.”
He declared at the time: “Ethical leaders lead by seeing above the short term, above the urgent or the partisan, and with a higher loyalty to lasting values, most importantly the truth.”
In 2023, Comey “is heralding the effort of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who campaigned on a pledge of bagging Trump for some unspecified crime,” Jonathan Turley, attorney and professor at George Washington University Law School, wrote in a March 31 op-ed for the New York Post.
Following the announcement that former President Donald Trump would be indicted by a New York grand jury, Comey took to Twitter to declare: “It’s been a good day.”
Turley noted how Bragg “is operating directly out of Comey’s handbook on ‘ethical leadership.’ After all, it was Comey who joked about how he violated department rules to nail Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn. He delighted audiences with how he told underlings ‘let’s just send a couple guys over’ to trap Flynn.”
Trump fired Comey after then-Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein cited the FBI chief for “serious mistakes” and violating “his obligation to ‘preserve, protect and defend’ the traditions of the Department and the FBI.”
“It was Comey who violated federal laws and removed FBI material (including reported classified material) after being fired and then leaked information to the media,” Turley noted. “Despite those violations, Comey was heralded by the media and made wealthy on book and speaking tours.”
Bragg is well aware, Turley added, “that 62% of people view his case as ‘mainly motivated by politics,’ but (like Comey) he is playing to an eager and generous audience.”
Conservative commentator Jack Posobiec noted in a Telegram post: “We are now witnessing the funeral procession of our republic.
“No one is above the law. Except the Bidens, the Pelosis, the Clintons…,” posted Trump spokeswoman Liz Harrington on Telegram. “The only thing President Trump was ever guilty of is threatening their corrupt political power!”
Turley added: “Unless this indictment reveals a previously undisclosed crime, the use of the long-debated bootstrapped offense would defy the rule of law. Nobody is above the law, but nobody is below its protections … including Donald Trump. Dozens of criminal counts — it’s been reported there are as many as 34 — will make no difference if they merely replicate the same flaws.”
Some reports have indicated that Bragg may bring charges based not only on the Daniels payment but money allegedly given to former Playboy model Karen McDougal to keep her quiet on another alleged affair.
Turley concluded: “The buildup to Trump’s booking has all of the appeals of a thrill kill for Democrats. It will be another ‘good day’ for Comey and others who put politics above principle in the use of the criminal justice system.”
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