Comey Takes Victory Lap After Judge Dismisses Case: ‘Prosecution Based on Malevolence and Incompetence’
John Minchillo/AP photo
Former FBI Director James Comey took a victory lap Monday after the Department of Justice’s case against him was dismissed, blasting the prosecution as “fundamentally un-American” and “based on malevolence and incompetence.”
The case against Comey had been widely panned as lacking in legal merit, even by numerous conservatives, with many viewing the case as a politically motivated prosecution by President Donald Trump and finding multiple flaws with the documents filed by the president’s recent appointee for U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, his former attorney Lindsey Halligan.
Comey’s legal counsel, former federal prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald and experienced criminal defense attorney Jessica Nicole Carmichael, have challenged the case on multiple grounds, arguing that Halligan’s appointment was improper, that the case is malicious prosecution, and that he is being treated differently from other similarly situated people.
Last month, Comey entered not guilty pleas for the two counts against him: making a false statement to Congress and obstruction of a congressional proceeding. After waiving his right to have the indictment read to him in court, he asked for a jury trial. New revelations about the grand jury proceedings last week — including that the full grand jury never saw the full indictment — led to U.S. District Court Judge Cameron McGowan Currie for the District of South Carolina dismissing the case against Comey on Monday.
Currie, a Clinton appointee, based the dismissal on the grounds that Halligan, the sole prosecutor who presented the case to the grand jury, was unlawfully appointed. The dismissal was without prejudice, but as Currie further pointed out, the statute of limitations expired on Sept. 30 and “there is no legitimate peg” to extend it further.
Comey responded to the effective end of the prosecution against him in a video posted on his Instagram account Monday afternoon.
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Comey said that he was “grateful” that the court had dismissed the case, which he called “a prosecution based on malevolence and incompetence, and a reflection of what the Department of Justice has become under Donald Trump, which is heartbreaking.”
He added that he was “inspired” by the DOJ prosecutors “who refused to be a part of this travesty,” noting that “it cost some of them their jobs, which is painful, but it preserved their integrity, which is beyond price — and I know they will serve again.”
Comey said he was “very lucky that some of the best lawyers in America stepped forward to represent me,” and hoped that they would “serve as an example to more and more lawyers, especially at some of the big firms, to participate in protecting our liberty, protecting the rule of law.”
This case was important not just to him personally, Comey said, “but it matters most because a message has to be sent, that the President of the United States cannot use the Department of Justice to target his political enemies. I don’t care what your politics are, you have to see that as fundamentally un-American and a threat to the rule of law that keeps all of us free.”
He still expects Trump will probably come after him again, and “my attitude’s gonna be the same: I’m innocent, I am not afraid, and I believe in an independent federal judiciary, the gift from our founders that protects us from a would-be tyrant.”
Comey concluded with a message to America:
It’s time to stand up and show the fools who would frighten us, who would divide us, that we’re made of stronger stuff, that we believe in the rule of law, that we believe in the importance of doing things by the law.
So stand tall, shine, and keep the faith.
Watch the video above via Instagram.
