Trump Thoroughly Corrupts DOJ, Forcing It To Eat One of Its Own

A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version.

With Fear and Favor

Donald Trump’s corruption of the Justice Department came to its fullest fruition last evening with the bogus indictment of former FBI Director James Comey.

Retooled by Trump to eat one of its own, the Justice Department now serves as a sword for the president to use against his perceived foes and as a shield of himself and his cronies. In just eight months, Trump has decimated a department that prized legal professionalism, was proud of its history of defending the marginalized, and was universally respected by the courts.

The two-count indictment handed down by a grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia is remarkably bare bones, but it stems from Comey’s September 30, 2020 Zoom testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee about the investigation into the connections between Russia and Trump’s 2016 campaign.

But the ostensible basis for the indictment and the arduous process ahead of a criminal trial should not obscure the fundamental corruption of President Trump in firing his own U.S. attorney who wouldn’t seek an indictment and then siccing Lindsey Halligan, his former personal lawyer, on Comey. It is all of a piece with Trump abusing the powers of his office for a wide-ranging campaign of retribution against investigators, prosecutors, and political adversaries.

The Trump Justice Department no longer upholds the law without fear or favor, a loss of a vital democratic tradition for which Trump will forever bear responsibility.

Succinct and to the Point 👏

The NYT, to its credit, framed the corrupt prosecution of Comey almost perfectly:

An inexperienced prosecutor loyal to President Trump, in the job for less than a week, filed criminal charges against one of her boss’s most-reviled opponents. She did so not only at Mr. Trump’s direct command, but also against the urging of both her own subordinates and her predecessor, who had just been fired for raising concerns that there was insufficient evidence to indict.

Not a Clean Win With the Grand Jury

The grand jury rejected the first count of the original three-count indictment it was presented, forcing prosecutors to present a revised two-count indictment for its consideration. The original Count I (in an indictment misnumbered with two Count IIs) was an additional false statement to Congress charge.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Lindsey R. Vaala, to whom the indictment was presented in court, expressed puzzlement over the dueling documents, the WaPo reports:

“This has never happened before. I’ve been handed two documents … with a discrepancy,” Vaala said. “I’m a little confused why I was handed two things … that were inconsistent.”

Halligan said at the lectern she hadn’t seen the first indictment that was rejected, but Vaala noted Halligan appeared to have signed that original document.

Halligan, who has no experience as a prosecutor, reportedly presented the case to the grand jury personally, an unusual move for a U.S. attorney. She did so after being presented with a memo by prosecutors in her office that pointed to the weak evidence against Comey, the WaPo reported.

Comey Draws a Biden Appointee As Judge

The judge assigned to the case is Biden appointee Michael Nachmanoff, who sits in Alexandria, Virginia. Nachmanoff was a federal public defender for more than a decade before becoming a magistrate judge in 2015. Biden appointed him as a district judge in 2021.

Comey: ‘We Will Not Live on Our Knees’

Somber but spirited, Comey posted a video on social media responding to the indictment about an hour after it was returned:

Comey’s Son-in-Law Resigns From DOJ

Troy A. Edwards Jr., who is married to Comey’s daughter Maurene (who is suing the Justice Department for her wrongful termination in July), was serving under Halligan as the deputy chief of the national security section in the Eastern District of Virginia U.S. attorney’s office. Edwards resigned from the Justice Department after the Comey indictment was handed down. He was spotted on the first row in the courtroom gallery last evening when the indictment was presented to a judge.

The Gang Is Back: Pat Fitzgerald Edition

Comey friend Patrick Fitzgerald, the longtime U.S. attorney in Chicago who was the special counsel in the Valerie Plame case, will be representing Comey in his criminal defense. Fitzgerald entered his appearance in the case late yesterday along with Jessica Carmichael, who is local counsel in Virginia.

“Jim Comey denies the charges filed today in their entirety,” Fitzgerald said in a statement. “We look forward to vindicating him in the courtroom.”

Comey is scheduled to be arraigned on Oct. 9.

Trump: ‘Comey’s a Bad Person. He’s a Sick Person.’

President Trump feigned a hands-off approach to the Comey indictment earlier in the day even as he belied the truth of the matter by lashing out at him yet again:

This morning, Trump chimed in post-indictment, in ways that are singularly unhelpful to actually winning a conviction since its more fodder for Comey’s vindictive prosecution argument:

Quote of the Day

“What we are seeing is the almost wholesale collapse of the Justice Department as an organization based on the rule of law.”–former DOJ official Alan Z. Rozenshtein, now a law professor at the University of Minnesota

The Challenge of Covering Corrupt Prosecutions

I talked with Greg Sargent (before the news of the Comey indictment broke) about yesterday’s Morning Memo, the challenge of covering political prosecutions, and the dangerous moment we’re in. You can listen here:

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