President Donald Trump’s Justice Department suffered two unqualified losses on Monday when a federal judge tossed out cases against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie did so on the grounds that Trump had unlawfully appointed Lindsey Halligan to be interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.
It is just the latest embarrassment for the Justice Department under the Trump administration. Remember, Trump tapped Halligan to serve as interim U.S. attorney after her predecessor reportedly did not have enough evidence to criminally prosecute James.
James and Comey have long been on Trump’s enemies list. While the indictment was ostensibly for allegedly lying when he testified before Congress in 2020, Trump despises Comey for his leadership during the probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. That played a role in Trump sacking Comey as FBI director in 2017.
The Justice Department under Trump has made targeting the Comeys a family affair. In July, the DOJ fired Maurene Comey, the former director’s daughter, who worked as a prosecutor in Manhattan’s Southern District of New York.
Trump’s beef with James is also rooted in investigations. As attorney general of New York, James launched a civil fraud investigation case against the Trump Organization, which ended in Judge Arthur Engoron ordering Trump to pay a $354 million fine along with interest.
No doubt, the Trump team will appeal this, though it will struggle to make a case in higher courts. But it will likely face the same problems it does in the lower courts.
It’s also just the latest humiliation for Trump world.
Last week, Trump changed his mind on a vote to release files related to Jeffrey Epstein and gave Republicans his blessing to vote for it. This came after he had spent months calling it a “Democrat hoax.” In the end, all but one Republican voted to release the files. The Senate used unanimous consent to consider it passed as soon as it hit the upper chamber’s doorstep.
Then on Friday evening, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene dropped a bomb on Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson when she announced she would resign from Congress in January. That came after Trump had unendorsed Greene.
While Trump gloated about the resignation, it actually makes his and House Speaker Mike Johnson’s job much harder because, for the time being, they will have one less vote.
All of this should make Trump want to quit while he’s behind. But – in the words of the late Charlie Murphy on Chappelle’s Show – Trump is a habitual line-stepper.
Hence on Monday, the Pentagon announced that it would perform a “thorough review” of “serious allegations of misconduct” against Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.). The Pentagon said Kelly could be recalled for active duty “for court-martial proceedings or administrative measures.”
Kelly is a popular senator in Arizona, a state Trump won. He also served in the U.S. Navy as a captain and as an astronaut — he flew four space missions and his identical twin brother Scott is also a retired NASA astronaut — before he ran for Senate in 2020 after his wife, then-Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was shot in the head in a political assassination attempt in 2011. Kamala Harris had him on her shortlist to be her running mate.
But he sent Trump into a rage last week when he – along with fellow Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), Democratic Reps. Jason Crow, Chrissy Houlahan, Maggie Goodlander and Chris DeLuzio – released a video telling active duty U.S. servicemembers that they could refuse to obey illegal orders.
Trump responded by calling the behavior seditious and said that it could be punishable by death. Republicans either outright defended Trump’s words or they pretended not to see it.
This case will likely fall apart in the same manner Trump’s attempts to prosecute Comey and James.
And it will likely cause just as much backlash and make Kelly a hero among Democrats the same way that Gavin Newsom did after Trump sent the National Guard and Marines into Los Angeles without the governor’s permission.
Kelly for his part does not seem bowed by Trump’s attack on him. But it is just another example of how Trump is using the federal government to exact revenge against anyone he perceives as his political enemies and equating his enemies with the country’s enemies.
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