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justice department
Comey Indictment 'Isn’t Justice–It’s Revenge': Trump Weaponizes DOJ
"Installing a hand-picked prosecutor to bring a meritless case demonstrates the danger our democracy is in from this wannabe dictator."
Sep 26, 2025
The federal indictment of former FBI Director James Comey on Thursday night unleashed a deluge of contempt directed at President Donald Trump, who pursued the case from his perch in the Oval Office, shattering the line that has long separated the operations of the Justice Department from direct presidential influence.
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, said the charges against Comey—filed by one of Trump's former personal defense attorneys, Lindsey Halligan, installed as US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia just days ago, show that Trump "refuses to allow the facts or the law to stand in the way of his wrath and vengeance campaign."
Comey is charged with lying to Congress and obstruction of congressional proceedings related to testimony he gave to a US Senate committee in 2020. Still, the previous prosecutorial team in the Eastern District concluded there was not sufficient evidence to bring such a case. Earlier this week, Trump forced Halligan's predecessor, Erik Siebert, to resign after he refused to bring the charges. "He didn't quit," Trump said of Siebert, "I fired him."
Trump has named Comey as a political enemy and accused the former director of misconduct in relation to the 2016 FBI investigation into Trump and his staff over alleged ties to Russian interference with that year's presidential campaign, which Trump ultimately won against Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.
"This vindictive prosecution shows just how far Trump and his toadies will go to exact retribution on perceived enemies."
The relentless pursuit of Comey by Trump since then, and now a federal indictment, say critics, shows that Trump is the one willing to weaponize the Justice Department against perceived political enemies, regardless of the existence or quality of evidence.
[The indictment] represents the most significant legal step yet by theTrump administration to harry, punish and humiliate a former official the president identified as an enemy, at the expense of procedural safeguards intended to shield the Justice Department from political interference and personal vendettas.
The bare-bones, two-page indictment was signed only by Ms. Halligan, a former defense lawyer for Mr. Trump who personally presented the case to the jury, despite her lack of any previous prosecutorial experience. Typically such filings are also endorsed by career prosecutors who have gathered the evidence in the case.
The president, said Raskin in his statement, "forced Mr. Seibert to resign in order to replace him with one of his former defense attorneys, Lindsey Halligan, who has literally no prosecutorial experience but is clearly willing to blindly carry out the president’s orders. As if by magic, within mere days of being appointed, Ms. Halligan delivered for the president by filing the exact baseless charges against Mr. Comey that her predecessor had rejected."
Trump responded to the charges on Thursday night by declaring, "Justice in America!" in a social media post, while Comey professed his innocence in a statement, saying he looks forward to defending himself at trial and that he would not be cowed. “We will not live on our knees," said Comey, "and you shouldn’t either.”
The indictment of Comey, said Christina Harvey, executive director of the progressive advocacy group Stand Up America, "isn’t justice – it’s revenge."
“By weaponizing the DOJ to settle political scores," said Harvey, Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi "have shredded the last scraps of the Department’s independence. Americans do not want our president using taxpayer-funded prosecutors and law enforcement to exact revenge.”
Lisa Gilbert, co-president of Public Citizen, called Comey's indictment "a perversion of our justice system" and a worrying sign of what's to come.
"This vindictive prosecution shows just how far Trump and his toadies will go to exact retribution on perceived enemies. And how large perceived slights loom on the president’s priorities list," warned Gilbert. "Installing a hand-picked prosecutor to bring a meritless case demonstrates the danger our democracy is in from this wannabe dictator."
The co-chairs of the Not Above the Law coalition, which includes Public Citizen, the Constitutional Accountability Center, MoveOn, and Stand Up America, released a joint statement, saying the prosecution of Comey represents the "dangerous ongoing weaponization of our justice system" and continued:
This has all the hallmarks of a vindictive and meritless prosecution. Yet Trump's handpicked replacement is proceeding anyway, ignoring both DOJ guidelines and prosecutorial ethics. When the Department of Justice becomes a tool for settling personal grudges rather than protecting Americans from real threats, our liberties are in grave danger. Agencies that should investigate terrorism and organized crime must not become personal revenge squads for the president. Congress must act to restore independence to our justice system and stop this authoritarian abuse of power—Trump’s attorney general has made clear she won’t.
For Raskin's part, he said, "I have no doubt that a jury of his peers will acquit and vindicate Mr. Comey after being afforded the opportunity to hear all the relevant evidence. But, until that happens, Mr. Comey will be forced to spend time, money, and energy defending himself against this blatantly fraudulent and vindictive indictment."
"The rule of law was supposed to replace vendettas, blood feuds, and mad kings exacting vengeance on their perceived enemies," he added. "This sordid episode is one more savage assault on justice in America.”
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'Release the Tapes': Lawmakers Demand Answers Over Alleged $50,000 Bribe of Trump Border Czar Tom Homan
"Seriously though, has anyone ever been handed $50,000 cash in a paper bag for something legit?"
Sep 21, 2025
Accusations of supreme corruption, demands for an investigation, and calls for impeachment proceedings for several high-level Trump administration officials erupted on Saturday after it was reported that a Justice Department probe into Tom Homan, who serves as President Donald Trump's border czar, was dropped despite documented evidence he accepted a bribe of $50,000 delivered in a bag by undercover FBI agents as part of a sting operation.
Citing multiple people "familiar with the probe," a review of internal documents, MSNBC was the first to report that during "an undercover operation last year, the FBI recorded Tom Homan [...] accepting $50,000 in cash after indicating he could help the agents—who were posing as business executives—win government contracts in a second Trump administration."
The New York Times, which also spoke to people familiar with the case, reported that the "cash payment, which was made inside a bag from the food chain Cava, grew out of a long-running counterintelligence investigation that had not been targeting Mr. Homan," and that the encounter, as MSNBC also reported, was recorded. The Times indicates that the recording was audio, while MSNBC's version of the evidence suggests that video footage exists.
"Americans deserve disclosure of evidence showing top DHS official Homan accepting a bag full of $50,000 in cash We need to know why the investigation was dropped—all the facts and evidence." —Sen. Richard Blumenthal
The case implicates both FBI Director Kash Patel and Attorney Pam Bondi, who heads the Justice Department. Both were appointed by Trump and are deeply loyal to him politically.
MSNBC reports:
It’s unclear what reasons FBI and Justice Department officials gave for shutting down the investigation. But a Trump Justice Department appointee called the case a “deep state” probe in early 2025 and no further investigative steps were taken, the sources say.
On Sept. 20, 2024, with hidden cameras recording the scene at a meeting spot in Texas, Homan accepted $50,000 in bills, according to an internal summary of the case and sources.
The federal investigation was launched in western Texas in the summer of 2024 after a subject in a separate investigation claimed Homan was soliciting payments in exchange for awarding contracts should Trump win the presidential election, according to an internal Justice Department summary of the probe reviewed by MSNBC and people familiar with the case. The U.S. Attorney’s office in the Western District of Texas, working with the FBI, asked the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section to join its ongoing probe “into the Border Czar and former Acting Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement Tom Homan and others based on evidence of payment from FBI undercover agents in exchange for facilitating future contracts related to border enforcement.”
The revelations prompted Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) to declare that Trump's second term is the "most corrupt administration we have ever seen."
Matt Duss, executive vice-president at the Center for International Policy, asked: "Seriously though, has anyone ever been handed $50,000 cash in a paper bag for something legit?"
While that's not a legal standard, news of the dropped case against Homan, given his central role in Trump's ramped-up attacks on migrants and communities nationwide, sparked an array of outrage, many questions, and a demand for more answers from the Justice Department.
"Who's the illegal now, Tom Homan?" asked Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).
"Tom Homan should be fired immediately and charged," said Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.). "Kash Patel should be suspended pending impeachment proceedings, and anyone who aided in this cover-up should be held accountable. Homan’s relationship with GEO Group, who own Delaney Hall in Newark, should be thoroughly investigated, and the facility closed pending that investigation. The amount of corruption in this administration is endless."
Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) had a similar reaction. "Corruption that’s stunning even for this administration," Markey said. "Homan and anyone who knew and covered this up must resign."
As the Times reporting notes, the "episode raises questions about whether the administration has sought to shield one of its own officials from legal consequences, and whether Mr. Homan’s actions were considered by the White House when he was appointed to his government role."
In response to questions from MSNBC and the Times, Trump officials downplayed the seriousness of the case. They said that after it was investigated, the bribery allegations did not stand up.
White House Deputy Press Secretary Abigail Jackson told MSNBC the probe that led to the recording of Homan was a "blatantly political investigation." However, it's clear from the reporting that the original investigation was not targeting Homan at all.
In a joint statement issued Saturday, Patel and Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general, said the investigation “was subjected to a full review by F.B.I. agents and Justice Department prosecutors. They found no credible evidence of any criminal wrongdoing.”
That hardly satisfied Democrats in Congress, who said it's clear the public has a right to know every detail about what occurred and why the case was dropped.
"Release the tapes—Americans deserve disclosure of evidence showing top DHS official Homan accepting a bag full of $50,000 in cash," said Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.). "We need to know why the investigation was dropped—all the facts and evidence."
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The Epstein Conspiracy Flames That Trump Fanned Are Now Blowing Back on Him
In 2019, then first-term President Donald Trump jumped aboard the Epstein conspiracy bandwagon. Six years later, he’s now trying desperately to stop it.
Jul 29, 2025
On August 10, 2019, Jeffrey Epstein—accused of sex trafficking in minor girls—committed suicide in his jail cell while awaiting trial, and a new conspiracy theory was born: Powerful forces silenced him. Releasing the Justice Department’s files on Epstein would reveal a “client list” of high-profile individuals, including prominent Democrats, who had a motive to kill him.
Then-President Donald Trump jumped aboard the conspiracy bandwagon. Six years later, he’s now trying desperately to stop it.
Setting the Stage
Hours after Epstein’s death, Trump retweeted a post alleging that former U.S. President Bill Clinton was connected to Epstein’s death. Trump’s supporters dutifully followed his lead:
- When he was a Senate candidate in 2021, JD Vance posted on Twitter: “Remember when we learned that our wealthiest and most powerful people were connected to a guy who ran a literal child sex trafficking ring? And then that guy died mysteriously in a jail? And now we just don’t talk about it.”
- In 2023, before Dan Bongino became Trump’s deputy director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), he told his podcast audience, “Listen, that Jeffrey Epstein story is a big deal. Please do not let that story go. Keep your eye on this... [W]hat the hell are they hiding with Jeffrey Epstein?”—without specifying who “they” were. Shortly before joining the Trump administration, he added, “Who’s on those tapes? Who’s in those black books? Why have they been hiding it?”
- In December 2023, a right-wing podcaster asked Kash Patel—a fierce Trump loyalist who is now FBI director—why the government was blocking the Epstein client list. Patel answered, “Simple, because of who’s on that list—Put on your big boy pants and let us know who the pedophiles are.”
- During the 2024 presidential campaign, Trump said that he would declassify the Epstein files: “It’d be interesting to find out what happened there, because that was a weird situation and the cameras didn’t happen to be working, etc., etc. But yeah, I’d go a long way toward that one.”
- On a podcast during the 2024 campaign, Vice-Presidential candidate Vance asserted, "We need to release the Epstein list."
- In February 2025, Fox News reporter John Roberts asked Attorney General Pam Bondi whether the Justice Department would release Epstein’s list of clients: “Will that really happen?” Bondi responded: “It’s sitting on my desk right now to review. That’s been a directive by President Trump. I’m reviewing that.”
- During a podcast in June 2025, Patel said repeatedly that the administration would be forthcoming in its review of documents related to Epstein: “I’ve said it, Bongino has said it. We’ve reviewed all the information, and the American public is going to get as much as we can release… We’re going to give you every single thing we have and can.”
Trump set the stage. With his loyalists now running the FBI and the Justice Department, the public would finally see the Epstein files.
Oops–Nothing to See Here
The conspiracy flames that Trump fanned are now blowing back on him:
- On July 7, the FBI released an unsigned, two-page memo stating that its “systematic review revealed no incriminating ‘client list’,” “investigators concluded that Jeffrey Epstein committed suicide in his cell,” and “no further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted.”
- Bondi now says that when she said that the client list was sitting on her desk, she wasn’t actually referring to a client list.
- Vance has assumed his familiar role—reversing a fervently held position to defend anything Trump does.
The Blowback
Some of Trump’s most dedicated allies were outraged at Trump’s stonewalling. He lashed out with diversions, distractions, and attacks. He accused former President Barack Obama of treason. He derided followers who “bought into this ‘bullshit’” as “PAST supporters.” And he blamed Democrats for starting the conspiracy theory in the first place:
“It was a hoax. It’s all been a big hoax. It’s perpetrated by the Democrats and some stupid Republicans and foolish Republicans fall into the net. And so they try and do the Democrats work. The Democrats are good for nothing other than these hoaxes.”
But then:
- July 17: The Wall Street Journal published Trump’s alleged birthday note to Epstein that included his sketch of a naked woman. Trump sued the paper and its owner, Rupert Murdoch, for defamation. He asserted that he doesn’t draw pictures, but copies of his earlier sketches soon swamped the internet. Some were auctioned for charity.
- Later that evening, Trump tried to quell the continuing uproar by ordering Bondi to seek the release of grand jury testimony related to Epstein. But that was a head fake toward transparency because: 1) grand jury materials are a tiny slice of the Justice Department’s files on Epstein; and 2) the courts might not agree to release anything. In fact, on July 23 a federal judge in Florida denied the DOJ’s request. Another request is pending in New York.
- July 22: To avoid a House vote on a resolution urging the release of the Epstein files, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) sent lawmakers home early for the August recess.
- July 23: In a surprise show of defiance against Speaker Johnson, a Republican-controlled House Oversight subcommittee voted 8-to-2 to subpoena the Justice Department’s Epstein files.
The Unraveling
- Also on July 23: The New York Times reported that in May, Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche informed Trump that his name appeared in the Epstein files. The bureau had gone through more than 100,000 pages of materials four times—including once to flag any references to Trump and other prominent figures.
- July 24: Blanche—who was Trump’s personal lawyer in the Stormy Daniels “hush money” trial that culminated in his conviction on 34 felony counts—began a mission that was extraordinary for the Justice Department’s number two official. He went to Tallahassee and interviewed Ghislane Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking as Epstein’s procurer.
- July 25: After questioning Maxwell for two days, Blanche declared that the federal criminal investigation into targets beyond Maxwell and Epstein remained closed.
If the investigation into targets was closed, why was Blanche interviewing Maxwell?
The Next Act
On his way to Europe on July 25, a reporter asked Trump whether he would consider pardoning Maxwell. Trump responded, “I’m allowed to do it, but it’s something I haven’t thought about.”
After landing in Scotland, he denied that Bondi had briefed him on the Epstein matter in May: “No, I was never, never briefed, no.” He added, “I’m focused on making deals. I’m not focused on conspiracy theories.”
Ghislane Maxwell is focused on making a deal too. Trump is her ticket out of prison. The question is what she can offer that will prompt him to punch it.
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