Former FBI Director James Comey celebrated Thursday’s grand jury indictment of his former boss, Donald Trump, saying the unprecedented legal action of charging a former US president with a crime made it a “good day.”
“It’s been a good day,” tweeted Comey, who was fired by Trump in 2017 for having ended an investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server.
Trump and Comey also butted heads over the latter’s decision to look into allegations of collusion between Russia and Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, which rested on debunked intelligence from the infamous Steele dossier.
Many of the former president’s enemies made similarly giddy remarks about the indictment.
“The Grand Jury has acted upon the facts and the law,” said former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who often sparred with Trump during his time in office.
“No one is above the law, and everyone has the right to a trial to prove innocence,” she added, forgetting that the presumption of innocence is a fundamental feature of the American legal system.
“The indictment of a former president is unprecedented. But so too is the unlawful conduct in which Trump has been engaged,” said Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), who was the Democrats’ lead manager for Trump’s first impeachment trial.
“A nation of laws must hold the rich and powerful accountable, even when they hold high office. Especially when they do. To do otherwise is not democracy.”
“No one is above the law,” Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) also said. “Now do the rest of his crimes.”
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg will reportedly charge the 76-year-old Trump with 34 counts of having falsified business records in the commission of a federal campaign finance violation.
The purported fraud, based on an untested legal theory, would try to hold the former president legally liable for a $130,000 hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels right before the 2016 election.
Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer, made the payment to Daniels, for which he was allegedly reimbursed by the Trump Organization.
Bragg may also indict Trump on charges he made a similar payment of $150,000 to former Playboy model Karen McDougal through his ex-attorney.
Daniels celebrated the grand jury indictment on Thursday, saying she was pouring herself a glass of champagne as online orders for her personal merchandise flooded in.
In a break with his Democratic colleagues, President Biden declined to comment Friday on the Trump indictment, despite repeated questions from reporters outside the White House.
“No, I’m not going to talk about the Trump indictment,” he said. “I have no comment at all.”
Comey is expected to release his first novel later this year, a mystery involving an assistant US Attorney who investigates the Mafia’s links to the murder of a local politician.
“I’m excited to take readers inside fascinating worlds I’ve come to know from my time in government and the private sector,” Comey said in a statement last year about the book, titled “Central Park West.”
“These stories are fiction, but, inspired by real work I’ve done, they will offer a rarely-seen view of interesting people and institutions.”
