'There'll Be Others': Comey Just the Beginning of DOJ Targets, Trump Warns

US President Donald Trump said Friday that the indictment of former FBI Director James Comey is likely just the beginning of what critics are calling a "revenge tour" aimed at punishing perceived political enemies—especially officials who held the convicted felon accountable or tried to do so.

The president was asked by a reporter outside the White House in Washington, DC, "Now that James Comey has been indicted, who is the next person on your list in this retribution?"

Trump replied: "It's not a list, but I think there'll be others. I mean, they're corrupt. These were corrupt radical left Democrats."

"Comey was essentially a Dem... he was worse than a Democrat," Trump said of the former FBI director, who was a registered Republican for most of his adult life before leaving the party and becoming unaffiliated in 2016. "I would say the Democrats are better than Comey."

"But there'll be others," the president reiterated. "That's my opinion. They weaponized the Justice Department like nobody in history. What they've done is terrible. And so... frankly, I hope there are others [because] you can't let this happen to a country."

Comey was indicted Thursday by newly installed US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Lindsey Halligan—a former personal lawyer for Trump who has never prosecuted a case—for allegedly lying to Congress and obstructing congressional proceedings related to testimony he delivered before a US Senate committee in 2020. He was charged despite career Department of Justice (DOJ) prosecutors finding insufficient evidence to pursue a case.

Attorney and author Lisa Needham wrote Friday that given that Halligan has "already proven more than willing to do whatever Trump says... you can expect to see more of this sort of fact-free, ethically-compromised indictment as Trump works through his enemies list."

Trump pushed out Erik Siebert, Halligan's predecessor, amid his refusal to indict Comey or file mortgage fraud charges against Democratic New York Attorney General Leticia James, who in 2022 filed a civil lawsuit against the then-former president, his two eldest sons, and the Trump Organization for business fraud. They were found liable for fraud and ordered to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in penalties, although an appeals court later overturned the fine while upholding the fraud findings.

Last month, the DOJ subpoenaed James as part of a probe into whether she violated Trump's civil rights by suing him, his sons, and his business.

Comey's indictment followed mounting pressure from the president and his supporters for embattled US Attorney General Pam Bondi to charge Comey, James, and Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), who as a House lawmaker managed Trump's first impeachment trial in 2020.

"There’s no separation between the Department of Justice and Trump’s desire for retribution," Needham wrote. "However, because, as political science professor Mark Copelovitch puts it, 'Performative public lying is a hallmark of far right authoritarian parties,' both Trump and Bondi are pretending that this is a run-of-the-mill prosecution as opposed to yet another stop on Trump’s vengeance tour."

Other critics allege that, like some other recent administration moves, Comey's indictment is part of an attempt to distract from the harms of Trump's economic policies, his handling of the Epstein documents, and the corruption scandal involving "border czar" Tom Homan allegedly receiving a $50,000 cash bribe.

"The Department of Justice is in full cover-up mode," Congressman Jamie Raskin (D-Md.)—who managed Trump's second House impeachment trial—said during a Friday morning interview on CNN. "They're doing the bidding of President Trump with respect to Mr. Comey, they're doing the bidding of President Trump with respect to covering up cases."

"The administration started off by having Trump basically force out the US attorney for New York, another Republican, Danielle Sassoon, because she wouldn't quash a grand jury indictment against [New York City Mayor Eric] Adams because he had become a political friend of Donald Trump's," Raskin continued.

"So what we see is the complete politicization of the Department of Justice," he added. "But we're in the midst of trying to get this information with apparently real crimes and we've got a strong bipartisan majority saying stop the cover-up of the Epstein files, just go ahead and release them."