Second indictment of ex-FBI chief James Comey signals retaliation fears

The second indictment of ex-FBI director James Comey, a top target of Donald Trump in his drive for revenge against critics, suggests more charges could be coming against other Trump foes as the US president continues to use the department of justice to settle political scores, ex-prosecutors and law professors said. Legal critics also see the new indictment by acting attorney general, Todd Blanche, as “embarrassing” and “ridiculous” and revealing Blanche’s desire to quickly appease Trump and persuade him to make his appointment as America’s top justice official permanent. The new grand jury indictment of Comey came in late April just weeks after Trump fired Pam Bondi as attorney general in part because she failed to successfully prosecute Comey and other Trump enemies, and tapped Blanche, her deputy at the Department of Justice and a former top Trump criminal defense lawyer, to be acting AG. Comey had incurred Trump’s wrath in 2016 when as FBI director he investigated Russian efforts to help Trump win his first presidency and then was fired by Trump in May 2017. Comey was first charged last year in a separate case alleging he lied to Congress which a judge threw out on the grounds that White House lawyer and neophyte prosecutor Lindsey Halligan had been improperly appointed on Bondi’s watch. …