The current indictment of James Comey has galvanized the standard suspects of the Washington institution, who’ve reacted predictably to the prison costs in opposition to one in all their very own. The New York Instances editorialized with the headline, “The Comey Indictment Plunges the Nation Right into a Grave New Interval,” declaring:
The occasions of the previous week in Virginia mark a darkish new stage in President Trump’s effort to show federal regulation enforcement into a private software of oppression and vengeance. He’s undermining a core promise of the American justice system: the honest and equal enforcement of the regulation.
Instances columnist David French—who nonetheless insists that the Iraq struggle was justified and honorable and stays a real believer that the “Russiagate” investigations have been official—wrote:
There are occasions once I miss working towards regulation, as a result of — proper now — there are few extra necessary posts for defending the rule of regulation and the integrity of the American system of justice than on James Comey’s protection group.
Let’s be clear — completely clear — about what occurred final week. On Thursday, a federal grand jury, performing on the urging of President Trump’s Division of Justice, indicted Comey, the previous director of the F.B.I. This indictment was the fruits of a transparently vindictive marketing campaign by Trump to get revenge on his political enemies, regardless of the information or the regulation.
In different phrases, French is claiming that what Trump and the DOJ are doing is unprecedented in US historical past. Now, make no mistake concerning the troublesome nature of this indictment and the way the White Home orchestrated the occasions. Former federal prosecutor Andy McCarthy, who isn’t any fan of Comey and was a powerful critic of the “Russiagate” investigation, has referred to as the indictment “incoherent” and predicts that the costs may properly be dismissed lengthy earlier than the case may go to trial.
But, the Comey indictment is ironic in that whereas the legacy media condemns the indictment in opposition to him, it heaped reward on him when he pursued extremely questionable prison costs in opposition to others and used the justice system as a weapon in opposition to harmless folks. For instance, his case in opposition to funding banker Frank Quattrone was constructed on lies and false accusations, one thing that Candice E. Jackson and I wrote about on the Mises Wire greater than 20 years in the past.
In that case, Comey (who was the US legal professional in Manhattan) claimed that Quattrone orchestrated a “coverup” of economic crimes by telling his subordinates to “clear up their information” in anticipation of a federal investigation. (Quattrone’s subordinates didn’t destroy any information, nor did the federal investigators discover proof of any monetary crimes.) As Quattrone bitterly posted on Fb just lately in a put up to his mates:
…Comey wrongfully indicted me for obstruction of justice and lied to the media on dwell TV that I had instructed my group to destroy paperwork that I knew wanted to be saved attributable to a subpoena. None of that was true nevertheless it took me two trials and a profitable enchantment spanning nearly 5 years in an effort to clear my identify. This abuse of prosecutorial energy wreaked havoc on my household, profession and status.
The costs in opposition to Quattrone lastly have been dismissed in 2007. Comey’s most well-known prosecutorial goal, Martha Stewart, was not so fortunate. A Manhattan federal jury convicted her in a verdict Candice Jackson and I argued that was based mostly on her being “rich past an inexpensive doubt.” That one of many jurors lied (learn that, broke the regulation) to get onto the jury so he may vote for a conviction apparently was simply positive in Comey World, because the feds and the editorial board of the New York Instances acquired the judgment they needed.
It was no shock that Comey may get convictions on questionable instances from Manhattan juries, one thing Donald Trump would discover out years later. As Daniel Fischel identified in Payback: The Conspiracy to Destroy Michael Milken and His Monetary Revolution, the US legal professional’s workplace in Manhattan typically would make appeals concerning the wealth or place of the defendant, turning what may appear to be a bonus (cash, energy) into an enormous drawback, as jurors have been inspired to focus upon who was on trial versus the precise proof introduced by the prosecution.
Moreover, Comey had the benefit of attempting defendants earlier than jurors that will be closely influenced by the protection of the case given by the New York Instances. As we now have seen over the previous century, ideology has trumped the reality when the NYT is on the story.
The Regime’s Double Normal on Regulation – And Why It Issues
As I wrote earlier, the Comey indictment is troubling, given Trump’s earlier statements and the plain undeniable fact that he all-but-ordered the US Division of Justice to safe an indictment it doesn’t matter what. Actually, as Andrew McCarthy has written, this level alone in all probability is Comey’s finest protection, and I imagine that ultimately, no jury will convict Comey—if the case even goes to trial. It could be simple to twist the malleable federal prison statutes — which is why the DOJ was in a position to vogue an indictment in opposition to Comey — however even a federal jury is prone to see this case as a bridge too far.
The irony right here, nevertheless, is that folks like French and his employer have recalled Lavrentiy Beria’s notorious boast, “Present me the person and I’ll present you the crime” as if it solely applies to what Trump has accomplished. But, if any publication has confirmed that the spirit of Beria lives in American “justice,” it’s the New York Instances.
Throughout the Nineteen Eighties, it was the NYT that championed Rudy Giuliani’s predatory Wall Road prosecutions, carried out whereas he held the US Lawyer place that Comey would later maintain in New York Metropolis. Paul Craig Roberts and Daniel Fischel have documented how Giuliani and his underlings engaged in lawless habits, committing felony after felony by leaking secret federal grand jury testimony to the NYT and the Wall Road Journal. Not surprisingly, the NYT editorial board by no means objected to any of Giuliani’s regulation breaking although it was accomplished expressly to disclaim the accused honest trials. Actually, his very abuse of the regulation impressed the NYT to publish a near-puff piece because the man who will get issues accomplished.
Likewise, Comey was well-known for leaking materials to the media in violation of the regulation—a regulation he knew would by no means be utilized to him or his fawning admirers on the NYT and different New York publications. Had a protection legal professional accomplished what he did, the legal professional would have confronted disbarment; Comey solely confronted excessive reward from an adoring media.
There isn’t any greater defender of what we would name the Regime than the New York Instances, and its assist for authorized double requirements haven’t been restricted to its aiding and abetting the crimes of Giuliani and Comey throughout their phrases as US attorneys in Manhattan. That is the newspaper that championed the Stalinist propaganda of its correspondent, Walter Duranty, repeating his lies concerning the Ukraine famine of the early Thirties and the Moscow Present Trials later that decade.
The low, ideologically-based requirements of journalism on the NYT continued with the newspaper’s protection of the 1975 monetary disaster that gripped New York Metropolis. Regardless that town’s monetary managers dedicated felonies by promoting capital bonds below fraudulent pretenses by utilizing the proceeds to repay earlier bond points as an alternative of utilizing the funds for capital enhancements, the NYT demanded that the federal authorities bail out town in any respect prices by buying future NYC bond points. In different phrases, monetary crimes have been become sensible monetary stewardship as a result of the acts have been accomplished by Democratic politicians. The regulation by no means applies to anybody favored by the NYT editorial board.
Quick forwarding to the primary Trump presidency and Comey’s “Crossfire Hurricane” investigation based mostly upon a pretend doc created by the Hillary Clinton marketing campaign. Even if the accusation was false on its face, the NYT and the Washington institution handled it as a critical investigation that had credibility. Given Comey’s function in selling this witch hunt, one shouldn’t be shocked that he and Trump have been on a collision course.
The identical individuals who assault Trump for going after Comey had no downside when Leticia James and Alvin Bragg based mostly their campaigns for legal professional normal of New York State and district legal professional of Manhattan, respectively, on a Beria-like theme: vote for us and we’ll goal Donald Trump. David French by no means objected nor did the NYT editorial board. The very sort of habits they might condemn for Trump was completely acceptable for a New York Democrat.
In response to David French, such ways are unhealthy provided that Trump does them:
“Present me the person, and I’ll present you the crime.” These notorious phrases are the hallmarks of a corrupt state. Trump is now overtly mimicking the dictators he admires a lot. He has proven Pam Bondi the person, and Bondi’s Division of Justice has manufactured the crime.
When Bragg first filed questionable costs in opposition to Trump, even French questioned their veracity, though he by no means went so far as to invoke the plain Beria “customary” Bragg was selling. In fact, when a Manhattan jury adopted the instance of earlier juries in that borough a 12 months later, the NYT rejoiced with its editorial, “Donald Trump, Felon.” If a Northern Virginia jury have been to convict Comey (which I doubt will occur, given the political leanings of most voters in that space), one doubts that the NYT would run an identical headline that includes the identify of James Comey.
Conclusion
Ever since Donald Trump was elected in 2016, he has battled not solely with the Washington institution but in addition with unelected officers within the authorities, one thing Connor O’Keeffe famous in his current article. The conflict between Trump and the sanctimonious Comey grew to become inevitable as Comey first tried to discover a solution to indict Trump and Trump paying him again.
Opposite to what David French, the NYT, and the standard suspects are claiming, we’re seeing the fruits of lawfare that has been occurring on this nation for a few years. Rudy Giuliani and James Comey constructed their careers on abusive prosecutions and utilizing the facility of their workplaces to skirt the regulation, and Alvin Bragg and Leticia James have prolonged that apply to the state degree.
None of this wanted to occur, however right here we’re. Two years in the past, this web page warned that by attempting to imprison Donald Trump, Democrats have been creating the circumstances for a Third World banana republic. We at the moment are there, and it received’t cease with the Comey indictment. Sure, one can lay blame with Trump, however Comey additionally has performed a task in breaking down the guardrails to justice, and now all of us should pay.