no way to thank the guy that put you in the white house in the first place.
— not an art thief (@famousartthief.bsky.social) September 24, 2025 at 4:05 PM
===
Here is James Comey, refusing to admit that in hindsight he made an obvious terrible mistake leading up to the 2016 election that ultimately set American Democracy on its current course. Would he have done that if the candidate were a man?
Comey deserves everything he gets.— Amee Vanderpool (@girlsreallyrule.bsky.social) September 24, 2025 at 8:16 PM
(A bit of decompression snark, before the effort to stay civil drives some jackal past endurance.)
Maybe Jimmy Kimmel’s trouble really was a tipping point; Our Very Serious Media is no longer attempting to sane-wash the actions of the Oval Office Occupan and his minions. Per ABC News, “Former FBI Director James Comey indicted days after Trump demanded his DOJ move ‘now’ to prosecute enemies”:
Former FBI Director James Comey has been indicted on charges of making a false statement and obstruction related to his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2020, just days after President Donald Trump issued a public demand for his Justice Department to act “now” to bring prosecutions against Comey and other political foes.
The charges follow Trump’s ousting of the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Erik Siebert, who according to sources had expressed doubts internally about bringing cases against Comey, as well as New York Attorney General Letitia James, after Trump appointed him to lead the office.
Trump then immediately moved to install Lindsey Halligan, a White House aide and his former defense attorney, to lead the office, despite her having no prior prosecutorial experience.
Earlier this week, federal prosecutors in Virginia informed Halligan that they could not establish probable cause to charge Comey, ABC News first reported. Despite the lack of clear evidence and ethical concerns about bringing a case without clear probable cause, Halligan sought an indictment from the grand jury.
In a series of social media posts over the weekend, Trump said Halligan was being appointed to the office to “get things moving,” after attacking Siebert for his resistance to bring what Trump described as a “GREAT CASE.”…
The charges against Comey are the most dramatic escalation yet in what critics have described as a campaign of retribution by Trump to use the powers of the federal government to enact revenge against those he believes have wronged him.
Comey, who was fired by Trump during Trump’s first term over the investigation into Trump’s 2016 campaign and its ties to Russia, has been a vocal critic of what he says are Trump’s efforts to politicize the justice system.
That argument is now likely to be central to Comey’s defense in his criminal case, which could prove to be a highly consequential test for both the Justice Department and the federal judiciary…
Friday: a prosecutor is forced to resign bc he concludes there's not enough evidence to go after Trump's perceived enemies
Saturday: Trump makes public post asking Attorney General why she hasn't gone after his enemies
Wednesday: DOJ says enemy indictment coming right up sir
do I have that right?— Barred and Boujee aka Madiba Dennie (@audrelawdamercy.bsky.social) September 24, 2025 at 3:47 PM
===
I expect the grand jury will no-bill the attempt to indict James Comey.
But that motherfucker brought this all on himself by unilaterally violating DOJ policy to shit all over Hillary Clinton so Republicans wouldn't be mean to him later.
Fuck that guy.— txlawyer (@txlawyer.bsky.social) September 24, 2025 at 8:10 PM
The Washington Post adds:
… The case against Comey centers on testimony he gave before the Senate Judiciary Committee in September 2020 amid a hearing on the FBI’s investigation into Russian interference with Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.
The indictment filed Thursday makes Comey the first senior government official to face prosecution in connection with the Russia probe — an investigation that Trump and his supporters have long derided as a “witch hunt” and a “Democratic hoax” despite several government investigations that concluded Moscow had sought to interfere in the race on Trump’s behalf.
Comey was originally appointed as FBI director in 2013 by President Barack Obama. He was fired by Trump in 2017 amid acrimony largely stemming from the FBI’s handling of the Russia investigation.
In some areas of the country, jury duty is about the most patriotic thing you can do these days. If I got on this jury, I’d at least hope for an opportunity to thank Comey for helping to manufacture the hellscape we’re all living in before I saved his pathetic ass.
— The Mean Progressive (@themeanprogressive.bsky.social) September 24, 2025 at 5:39 PM
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EXCUSE ME but Pam Bondi and Kash Patel lied to Congress during their confirmation hearings but are now attempting to prosecute James Comey for allegedly lying before Congress.
— Freddie Fan ?? (@freddiefan2.bsky.social) September 24, 2025 at 9:11 PM
===
After his UN humiliation earlier this week, the Mad King demands somebody be indicted!
UPDATE: Trump wants U.N. Escalator AND James Comey arrested
— Keith Olbermann (@olbermann.bsky.social) September 24, 2025 at 6:27 PM
Hunter Gathers
If you saw Comey’s response, the correct thing to do is Let The Man Cook.
He’s a piece of shit, but he’s not gonna roll over.
Snarki, child of Loki
The GJ should “true-bill” Bondi and Patel for lying under oath, AND “true-bill” Trump for “goat-fucking”.
Fair Economist
So he has actually been indicted? I am surprised the grand jury agreed.
iKropoclast
Speak, obviously. But stick to known facts. No conjecture. No going out of your lane to shame and create the impression you believe the law was broken even as you’re reluctantly conceding you have no basis for prosecution.
me
@Fair Economist: Indicted on 2 of 3 charges they wanted from the grand jury.
sab
Most of the cabinet lied before Congress. FK Jr certainly did. Also too some of Trump’s judicial appointments.
No point in indicting SCt justices or federal judges because even if convicted they’d just revese it on appeal, 6 to 3.
Old Dan and Little Ann
Next up, drumph wants the jurors indicted.
CaseyL
Really finding it difficult to muster much sympathy for Comey in this, though I certainly hope he puts up a good fight.
I keep thinking back of the prosecutors who we respected so much back during the W Administration – Comey, Fitzgerald – when it seemed they were working diligently to hold that particular collection of sadists and thieves to account. Turns out they were only putting on a little show of diligence, and scurried back to supporting the Right Wing as soon as they could.
A reminder that our current disintegration isn’t a product of Trump alone. It’s been in the works for a long time. Maybe they would have wanted a better standard bearer than Orange Julius Caesar (Dick Cheney, maybe?) but that didn’t dissuade them.
mrmoshpotato
The fat, orange, fascist shitstain can still fuck himself into the Sun, but so can Comey.
Suzanne
I feel about this the same way I do about Charlie Kirk. Obvs political violence, vindictive prosecution are bad. Having trouble feeling personally bad, though.
Carlo Graziani
I can’t wait for Hilary Clinton to give an interview on this.
sab
IANAL any more, so I want to know how they can indict a guy in VA for testimony given in DC? Do all Federal courts have jurisdiction over everyone whatever they do wherever in America?
mrmoshpotato
Oh, he totally deserves every member of the grand jury to rip him a new ass hole.
SpaceUnit
Hard to feel a whole lot of sympathy for Comey. Big time FAFO vibes. But I don’t believe this DOJ has the wherewithal to get a conviction. My guess is that the case will get tossed and the whole thing will just be a big shit show.
sab
@Suzanne: But this is still scary. Will they start looking into grand jurors mortgage paperwork if they don’t indict the next ham sandwich?
What’s the statute of limitations on Hillary’s non-crimes?
Another Scott
Comey’s statement (0:53)
It’s good.
Yeah, he caused a lot of what we’ve gone through the last several years. But he had lots and lots of help by people who did – and are doing – worse. And the big picture matters here – namely, the DoJ is not the president’s retribution tool. Nobody – not Comey, not anybody – should be indicted this way.
Grr…
We have to fight the monsters and defeat them. They won’t give up, and neither can we.
Forward!!
Best wishes,
Scott.
sab
@SpaceUnit: Expensive for Comey though.
mrmoshpotato
@Carlo Graziani:
Is it possible to speak if you can’t stop laughing?
MazeDancer
@Hunter Gathers: Comey sees mincemeat on the horizon.
And a chance to stand up, historically, for the rule of law.
Even Bill Barr, in his book, said there’s no case against Comey.
That said, Oct 31, 2016 is a day that will live in infamy, the day Comey published his Kill Hillary editorial.
So, I’m happy to see him have to spend big.
But Trump has to be sliced, diced, and hung out to dry. Let Comey do it.
And that insurance lawyer will be steamrolled if Comey chooses “speedy trial”.
SpaceUnit
@sab:
And I’m perfectly okay with that.
mrmoshpotato
@Another Scott:
The mobster manbaby disagrees.
Suzanne
@sab: It is really scary. It’s genuinely a terrible thing.
Percysowner
@MazeDancer:
He knew damned well Trump was a snake before he let him in. That said, from a legal and moral sense this is a travesty. From a karma POV, it’s a chef’s kiss.
Glidwrith
@iKropoclast: We were well inside the three month timeframe recommended by the DOJ to avoid unduly influencing an election. Comey also failed to mention the investigation and much more substantial information with Shitgibbon’s involvement with Russia. The DOJ also told him to shut the fuck up, but he did it anyway.
I am NOT happy that a politically driven indictment has happened, but honestly, fuck him.
Jackie
I saw earlier that Wormbrain is going to investigate mifepriston’s safeness. I can’t find an article I can link, but I’m sure there’s several articles. The beginning of the end for medically induced abortions?
Another Scott
Popehat thread on the facts behind the indictment. Note the comments, too.
It indeed looks like the case is too weak to even get him on a technicality.
Grr….
Best wishes,
Scott.
piratedan
waiting for the hypothetical testimony:
DOJ: speaking to your testimony before Congress, do you understand why we brought charges?
Comey; I don’t understand it at all, I put my thumb on the scales of justice because I could not accept that a woman acted outside of FBI guidelines when she established for herself that governmental communications were compromised
DOJ: and that means exactly what, what did she do that was illegal?
COmey; she was a woman who thought she was above government guidelines and procedures
DOJ: The same ones you violated by opening up an investigation during a Presidential campaign?
COMEY: no, that was different
DOJ: How so?
Comey: she obviously has a vagina
DOJ: but you penalized Trump by not finding anything illegal
Comey: yes, but he’s a pussy, that’s completely different…..
cain
This is deeply disturbing, but also this man has no friends on any side of the aisle.
He will be remembered by history as a man who ushered in fascism and was demolished by it.
Carlo Graziani
I have to say, all other considerations aside, this is a very interesting test case, whose outcomes offer usable predictors for politics to come. By rights, the Eastern Virginia trial judge ought to eject this case at Earth-escape velocity. Will they? Supposing a Trumpist nutter on the Circuit court wins the lottery and gets the case, what happens then?
This is all interesting because it can reveal how deep the rot is, and whether there is any resiliency in the defense of Liberty offered by the courts, and because of the prospect of finding out what happens if Trump hates a court outcome in a criminal case. Can the Executive overwhelm the other two branches? Would the civil service (including the uniformed services) allow such a thing to come about? What if we had a full-blown Constitutional crisis, and everybody came?
It’s like a great stress test of the system. And the guy who triggered it has some dues to pay anyway.
iKropoclast
Translation, he’s taking some to see if it makes you trip.
Lyrebird
@Another Scott: Thanks for linking his statement.
The writers for this timeline are really laying the irony on thick, hard to believe. But this move is a bit like when they attacked Harvard. I am not glad they did it, but I am glad they’re picking on someone who can definitely fight back.
Crossing my fingers that the vindictive ones get lots of reasons to regret this move!
CaseyL
Holy shitake: I just saw that the attorney representing Comey will be none other than…(drum roll)… Patrick Fitzgerald.
This could get interesting.
Bupalos
@mrmoshpotato: The polarized online left is really going to have to learn how to do solidarity in the next several years, because this shit of falling all over oneself to say we hope Comey “gets what he deserves” and shit like that is absolutely authoritarianism’s best friend.
Miki
Ugh. Seriously. Just ugh.
Betty bought some butter. But the butter Betty bought was bitter. So Betty bought some better butter, but the better butter Betty bought was bitter.
Omnes Omnibus
Bullshit charges are bullshit charges no matter who the defendant is. It doesn’t matter that it is Comey.
zhena gogolia
@Bupalos: For once I agree with you!
Matt McIrvin
@Jackie: The West Coast and Northeastern health alliances are already openly bucking the CDC and FDA. It’s going to take more than just withdrawing approval because these states know the federal government’s word on medicines is worthless now.
If it goes on, I expect more of that. Not much help to red-staters but a lot of things were illegal there already.
NotMax
Hoping the focus and debate here is not about Comey but on the corrupt manipulation of a US Attorney’s office, firing one whom Dolt 47 appointed (and had concluded there are insufficient grounds for an indictment) and appointing to an interim position the flunkiest of flunkies, with explicit instructions to rush through an indictment.
Lyrebird
@CaseyL:
Didn’t the two of them go together to visit Ashcroft in the hospital to ward off some other abuse of power?
No it was (drum roll…) Jack Goldsmith!
Wild.
This from Lawfare before the indictment made me laugh, need a laugh…
Lyrebird
Quoted For Truth!
And I am genuinely glad Comey will have the best of the best defending him. I would rather go for coffee with AG James, but with the country as it is now, I think a bigger portion of the US electorate will be able to recognize how wrong this prosecution is with Comey accused.
Jackie
I have to take a time out. How DARE the Seahawks and Mariners play at the same time!!! On Cal Raleigh HR watch and hoping the Cards are cursed forever for hosting Kirk’s funeral service. At the moment, Seahawks are leading AZ 14-3, 3rd qtr.
GOOOO SEATTLE!!!
mrmoshpotato
@iKropoclast:
Trip up an escalator?
CaseyL
@Omnes Omnibus:
I agree. And it’s interesting that Comey’s been targeted, since he’s very much a made man among the LEO community. Bit of a test of which way they’ll jump.
eclare
Gorgeous photo today.
different-church-lady
@Another Scott:
Wasn’t.
mrmoshpotato
@Bupalos: I just said Comey could fuck himself into the Sun. I hope every grand jury member rips Comey a new one for 2016, then rejects the charges as fascist bullshit brought by Putin’s bitch.
West of the Rockies
Does anyone know why the escalator malfunctioned? The timing was kind of curious. I do wish the blob had face-planted.
iKropoclast
I agree. Although, I don’t see much of that. And I’ll defend my right to be slightly less upset than I would be if it were a good person.
mrmoshpotato
@Jackie:
Big Dumper!
I’d forgotten about that. Go ‘Hawks!
RaflW
@sab: I think the basis is that Comey was testifying via video from VA (because of Covid, maybe?).
mrmoshpotato
@West of the Rockies: Leni Riefenstahl’s great grandkid who is documenting another fascist hit the stop button.
iKropoclast
I didn’t think I’d have to explain this in a room full of adults…
RaflW
@West of the Rockies: The reporting is that a White House videographer (I presume they had ridden up ahead and were shooting footage from near the top) hit the red Emergency Stop button by accident, like bumped it with their body or a leg of a tripod or something? It does seem like a rare oopsie, but the timing is remarkable.
sab
@RaflW: Okay. That makes sense.
Lyrebird
@West of the Rockies:
Here’s a BBC article – Trump’s video person may have set off the safety shutoff
Timill
Well, at least if there’s a miscarriage of justice and Comey gets convicted, we won’t have to worry that an innocent man is suffering.
mrmoshpotato
@iKropoclast: Given that it’s RFK Jr, could we be sure about physically tripping – and not tripping on illegal drugs?
mrmoshpotato
@RaflW: And who are Dump and his Eurotrash birther handler turning to look at when the escalator stops?
iKropoclast
@mrmoshpotato: Yes, I was suggesting he would try to trip on mifepristone as though it were like acid. Nothing about the pharmacology of the drug, I just have zero respect for RFK’s investigative process.
eclare
@RaflW:
This is how you do it
instagram.com/p/DO9GFjUEZiI/?igsh=ODJya3dvMXN0aHQ=
me
bsky.app/profile/reichlinmelnick.bsky.social/post/3lzpdcldy6s2f
Not any old truck, Big Trucks!
Gvg
@Matt McIrvin: what I am wondering is what state and federal judges do when the supremes issue a ruling that they can’t accept at all. Not something like blacks have equal rights because this law and that in the constitution or birth control is legal because privacy rights are implied by this part of the constitution, but something like ignore the clear wording of the constitutional amendment that says only 2 presidential terms and let him run again or be VP, or just declare birthright citizenship doesn’t exist without a new amendment. They clearly want both those things and I just can’t see people who can even sort of read accepting that no matter how much they want that. A couple of states tried to keep him off the ballot last time because of J6 but the court overturned it on IMO false reasoning. They should have said he needed to be removed from all states ballots. Anyway, if they make rulings that are just too unbelievable, at some point people and institutions are just going to stop obeying. We don’t have a way of coping with this because Congress should be stopping them but they are coconspiritors. The court is wrecking things as much as Trump, but without the vulgarity on TV in your face.
pajaro
I implore people to keep their eye on the ball, which is:
This case was brought by one of Trump’s toads who has no experience in criminal law, who has been in office for less than a week, acting on his orders, despite the prior decision of the DOJ, after an extensive investigation, that there was absolutely no case against him, and the case was filed without the signature of any actual prosecutor other than the Trump toady.
3. What we want to have our political allies say is that this is what tyranny is about, and that, while the President was given immunity by the Sinister Six for what he’s just done,, every single lawyer in DOJ who assists in this case and cases like this will be accountable for what they are doing if and when a decent government gets into power.
That this outrage has happened to someone who himself harmed the US in the worst way, changes nothing about how bad it is.
Nettoyeur
@cain: See Franz von Papen, who brought us Hitler
SpaceUnit
@pajaro:
I don’t think anyone here has lost track of the ball. This is bad stuff. But there’s pretty much dick-all we can do about it at the moment.
So just indulge our indifference for the man in the crucible who was also a guy who went out of his way to put it in motion.
stinger
@sab:
Kegsbreath said if he got the job he’d go on the wagon. And then a couple of weeks ago he was buying rounds at a bar some place.
Jackie
@mrmoshpotato: Seahawks WIN!!! Mariners are leading 6-1 top of the 7th, and thanks to Detroit winning, we’re guaranteed a bye first round in the playoffs.
mrmoshpotato
@stinger:
A beer-delivery wagon?
mrmoshpotato
@Jackie: Woo! Cubs lost, but they’ve clinched the NL Central wild card.
Jackie
@mrmoshpotato: YAY for your Cubs
eta I always laughed at dad having two TVs in the living room. NOW I understand LOL
One game on ROOT sports (TV) and one game on iPhone.
TS
@pajaro:
Then could someone explain to me – why did the grand jury indict
From WP
Former FBI director James Comey indicted amid Trump push to prosecute foes
Comey faces two counts in connection with allegations that he lied to Congress. A grand jury declined to indict him on a third count sought by prosecutors. He declared his innocence in a video posted to social media.
SpaceUnit
@TS:
The subject of a grand jury inquiry gets no representation or defense.
Thus the whole ham sandwich thing.
Melancholy Jaques
Emphasis mine.
This is why I want them all to crawl in a goddam hole and not come out. So it’s only some critics who describe it that way. It’s not like that’s what it obviously is. It’s not like that’s exactly what that asshole promised to do. It’s just these troublesome critics.
prostratedragon
From ~7 years ago, a brief look at Ceausescu’s Bucharest.
Melancholy Jaques
@mrmoshpotato:
So do the American voters. That asshole promised to do this and they voted for him.
Melancholy Jaques
@pajaro:
This reminds me of when I was saying, back in 2000, it would be totally contrary to the rule of law for the supreme court to order that votes not be counted.
They do not care about the rule of law. Acting like the phrase “rule of law” or the ideas behind it still have any meaning is not going to get us anywhere.
prostratedragon
Border Patrol spotted with guns on Chicago River in Trump’s latest deportation push
Local tourist shows the normal vibe of the River Walk where they’re patrolling.
The Chicago Harbor Lock where these guys have garrisoned.
hitchhiker
@Jackie: Feelin’ ya over here on Whidbey Island!
What did Cal say? Might as well win the whole fuckin’ thing.
(Non-sports-ball people, and sports-ball people who aren’t PNW types, indulge us just for a little while. We’re breathing unfamiliar air out here.)
Ramona
@Gvg: To my POV, the Court is more responsible than Trump for the mess we are in. Their fucking around precedes 2016.
MagdaInBlack
@prostratedragon: Thats a nice little video of Chicago river life. And wtf are they doing patrolling the river ffs. It’s not the Rio Grande. JFC.
eta: footage for another Cosplay Kristie video?
Paul in KY
@sab: Isn’t he a lawyer? Just represent yourself. Cheapest way to do it.
Paul in KY
@SpaceUnit: Well said.
pajaro
Of course, Comey is just the first on Trump’s hit list. He has ordered the prosecution of George Soros (longtime donor to liberal causes) and Leticia James (New York Attorney General who prosecuted him) as well.
For the past 50 years, we’ve had rules that separated the Office of the President from the Justice Department, in order to assure that the DOJ would not be a tool that a President could use to use criminal prosecutions against political enemies. Trump has obliterated that separation. This is as dangerous to democracy, in its own way, as the troop deployments.
Miss Bianca
No, but it does change how badly I have to feel about it, in this particular instance.
Uncle Cosmo
“Let him in” – ???. As of that date damn near everyone in the USA was confident of/resigned to Hillary winning the election, RWNJs included. The Thugs were fighting a rearguard action, aiming at best to wound her badly enough to cripple the incoming administration – and they (Comey no doubt included) were the most surprised peeps in the megaverse when Trump squeaked in.
NB “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” (Santayana) but those who misremember (or outright rewrite) history to support their current attitudes may well be doomed as badly, or worse. IMO our side no longer has that luxury if we want to save democracy.
Paul in KY
@Uncle Cosmo: Not me. I was very disheartened at that time. I was getting bad bad vibes. That went to 11 of course after he did his ratfucking.