OUR PICKS: DEMOCRACY WATCHTrump Escalates His Retribution Campaign | Who Might Trump Go After Next? | Comey Indictment Is Not Just Payback. It’s a Glimpse of Trump’s Next Attempt to Seize Power, and more
· Former F.B.I. Director James Comey Indicted After Pressure from Trump
· With Comey Prosecution, Trump Fulfills Promise of Revenge
· Donald Trump Escalates His Retribution Campaign
· Trump Gets the Retribution He Sought, and Shatters Norms in the Process
· Who Might the Trump Administration Go After Next?
· The Comey Indictment Is Not Just Payback. It’s a Glimpse of Trump’s Next Attempt to Seize Power.
· The Comey Indictment Is an Embarrassment
· Trump Doesn’t Care If You Think He’s Corrupt
· The Indictment Against Comey Should Be Dismissed
· Donald Trump Is Raising the Stakes for Holding Power
· Trump’s New Demands on Justice Department Raise Alarm Among Prosecutors
· Justice Dept. Official Pushes Prosecutors to Investigate George Soros’s Foundation
· Donald Trump Is Trying to Silence His Critics. He Will Fail, But the Country Could Still Lose.
Former F.B.I. Director James Comey Indicted After Pressure from Trump (Devlin BarrettGlenn Thrush and Alan Feuer, New York Times)
The move came after the president intensified his pressure campaign on the Justice Department in recent days, publicly demanding that top officials prosecute Mr. Comey.
With Comey Prosecution, Trump Fulfills Promise of Revenge (Patrick Marley, Washington Post)
President Donald Trump’s predecessors sought to preserve the Justice Department’s independence in political prosecutions. Trump openly intervened in the Comey prosecution.
Donald Trump Escalates His Retribution Campaign (Economist)
The indictment of former FBI director James Comey lays bare the president’s intentions.
Over the years the president has called Mr. Comey a liar and a crook. In recent days he demanded the ouster of an acting US attorney who had declined to bring charges (the official then resigned) and all but ordered the DoJ to act. When it did, Mr. Trump celebrated on social media, calling Mr. Comey “one of the worst human beings in the country”. This may be a norm-busting misuse of the law but it is not surprising. Mr. Trump has always been forthright that he would pursue vendettas. After his election victory last year, it was just a question of when, how and against whom.
Trump Gets the Retribution He Sought, and Shatters Norms in the Process (Alan Feuer, Jonah E. Bromwich, and Maggie Haberman, New York Times)
A prosecutor’s drive to indict James Comey trampled over the Justice Department’s long tradition of keeping a distance from politics and the White House, and raised the prospect of more arbitrary charges.
Who Might the Trump Administration Go After Next? (Andrew Ross Sorkin, Bernhard Warner, Sarah Kessler, Michael J. de la Merced, Niko Gallogly, and Ian Mount, New York Times)
The president suggested more foes, including the billionaire Democratic donors George Soros and Reid Hoffman, could face legal scrutiny. Could others follow?
The Comey Indictment Is Not Just Payback. It’s a Glimpse of Trump’s Next Attempt to Seize Power. (David Frum, The Atlantic)
President Donald Trump recently ordered his attorney general to prosecute former FBI Director James Comey, and the Department of Justice delivered an indictment of Comey for lying to Congress. Comey, for his part, insists on his innocence.
But the charges against Comey are not just about the president’s abuse of his power for personal retribution. They represent a test of the president’s plans for the future. (Cont.)
