Last Thursday, President Trump continued his use of the Justice Department to target people who upset him. This time, New York Attorney General Letitia James, a classmate of mine from law school, was indicted on charges related to mortgage fraud and making false statements.
A federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia also indicted former FBI Director James Comey on September 25th for lying to Congress and obstructing its proceedings.
James and I go way back to our days at Howard University School of Law in the 1980s, where we often talked about politics and our aspirations. I’ve always admired her commitment to justice and the positive changes she’s fought for.
Both Comey and James are respected public servants with notable careers and maintain their innocence regarding the charges against them. To the best of my knowledge, these charges don’t seem to involve actual criminal behavior; rather, they feel like retaliatory acts initiated by President Trump.
This pattern of targeting public officials aligns with a promise Trump made during his 2024 campaign to take action against those he views as political adversaries. “I’m your warrior,” Trump declared to his supporters, positioning himself as their agent of retribution.
The Justice Department, led by Attorney General Pam Bondi, is currently investigating Trump’s perceived enemies, which include figures like John Bolton, his former national security adviser, and other ex-officials who have criticized him since leaving office. Senator Adam Schiff, who played a key role in Trump’s first impeachment, is also under scrutiny, as is Fani Willis, the District Attorney in Fulton County, Georgia, who filed a complaint over attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.
Interestingly, career federal prosecutors who looked into Comey and James found no substantial evidence to justify indictments. Typically, that would lead to the case being closed, but Trump has continued to push for their prosecution.
On September 20, Trump expressed his frustration via social media, highlighting that Comey, James, and Schiff were not charged with any crime. He stated that all three were guilty of serious offenses and insisted that justice be served promptly.
What Trump envisions for the Justice Department echoes practices seen in authoritarian regimes, where those in power decide who to prosecute based on personal grievances rather than genuine wrongdoing.
James drew Trump’s ire by filing fraud charges against him in New York, accusing him of inflating his net worth to secure better loan rates. A judge concluded that Trump, his businesses, and his two eldest sons had committed fraud, resulting in nearly $500 million in penalties; however, an appeals court later deemed this amount excessive.
Comey was dismissed as FBI director in 2017, largely because he didn’t pledge personal loyalty to Trump and because the FBI had investigated potential connections between Trump’s campaign and Russia during the presidential election. Trump has labeled these allegations as a hoax and a witch hunt.
This year, Trump ousted U.S. Attorney Eric Siebert for his failure to indict Comey and James, replacing him with Lindsay Harrigan, one of his former personal lawyers who had no prior prosecutorial experience. Harrigan then proceeded to sue both Comey and James.
Reflecting on our law school days, I never envisioned that James would rise to become New York’s attorney general. And if someone had suggested that the president would one day seek her prosecution, I would have thought they were being absurd.
Yet here we are, in a country being led by someone seemingly more focused on vengeance than on justice. He is directing the Justice Department to go after civil servants who are just trying to carry out their responsibilities.
The integrity of America’s justice system hangs in the balance. I sincerely hope our courts will uphold the rule of law and resist becoming instruments for unjust political prosecutions. Looking towards dictatorships is not a pathway we should consider.
