By Steve Neavling
Forty-two retired judges issued a stark warning Tuesday that the Trump administration’s criminal case against former FBI Director James Comey threatens the rights of all Americans, NBC News reports.
“The rights and liberties of every American are in grave danger today, as President Donald Trump continues to corruptly abuse the power of his office by directing the United States Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to target his critics and his perceived political enemies,” the judges wrote in an open letter first obtained by NBC News.
They called the indictment “an unprecedented attack on our freedom of speech” and urged Americans to “speak out … and demand that Donald Trump’s attacks … must stop now.”
Ten of the signatories were appointed or elected as Republicans.
A federal grand jury indicted Comey last week on two counts — making a false statement and obstruction of a congressional proceeding — days after Trump publicly pressed Attorney General Pam Bondi to bring charges over Comey’s 2020 testimony. Trump had installed Lindsey Halligan, a former defense lawyer with no prosecutorial experience, as acting U.S. attorney in Virginia just hours before the case was filed.
The judges wrote that Trump’s “every threat and every pretextual investigation and prosecution further corrupts America’s democracy and Rule of Law,” warning that under his presidency “no American is safe from criminal prosecution, regardless of whether they have violated the law.”
Comey, who oversaw the FBI’s Russia probe, said in a video after the indictment that he was innocent and had “great confidence in the federal judicial system.”
The White House dismissed the criticism, with spokeswoman Abigail Jackson saying the case “speaks for itself” and accusing Joe Biden of having used “lawfare against his political opponents.”
