Former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner slammed the Trump administration's newly announced criminal investigation targeting ex-CIA Director John Brennan and ex-FBI Director James Comey, calling it a "punk move" that is likely to fail for both legal and practical reasons.
Kirschner noted that the Justice Department's confirmation to reporters that Brennan and Comey are the specific targets of the probe is itself a red flag.
"We don't do that," said Kirschner, who served at the DOJ for decades. "We don't announce, 'Hey, here's who the targets are,' before conducting the investigation. That's marquee evidence of vindictive prosecution."
The new investigation comes years after Trump's first-term attorney general, Bill Barr, appointed special counsel John Durham to review the origins of the Trump-Russia probe. Durham spent years investigating but ultimately brought no charges against either Brennan or Comey.
Kirschner cited five reasons why the new effort will likely fail.
- It's already been exhaustively investigated without finding wrongdoing.
- A previous bipartisan Senate probe led by now-Secretary of State Marco Rubio found no evidence of politicization.
- Many potential charges would be blocked by the 5-year statute of limitations on most non-capital federal crimes.
- The move appears to be a vindictive prosecution, which courts generally reject.
- None of Trump's other political enemies — including Hillary Clinton, Adam Schiff, or Liz Cheney — have been successfully prosecuted despite years of threats.
Kirschner argued that the announcement is about intimidation rather than justice. "The safest place to be if you don't want to be criminally prosecuted is on Donald Trump's enemies list," he quipped.
"This is not about legitimate law enforcement," Kirschner concluded. "None of them have been indicted because they committed no crimes. And none of them ever will be — because justice matters."
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