The founder of the FBI, John Edgar Hoover, was a bad guy.  He did all kinds of illegal things, like unauthorized wiretaps and blackmail.  As we document in “Confronting the Presidents,” he and his Georgetown neighbor Lyndon Johnson practiced corruption at the highest level and pretty much got away with it.

Former FBI Director James Comey isn’t THAT bad.  But he damaged the Bureau by distorting the truth in pursuit of a political outcome. That, in essence, is what the Trump administration will try to prove to the American people.

Let’s examine some hard evidence.

The Grand Jury indictment against James Comey centers on the Director’s sworn testimony before a Senate Committee that he did not participate in unauthorized leaks to the media.  The denial is being challenged.

That may seem like a small beef, but it reflects the larger corruption involved in the bogus “Russian-Collusion” situation that Comey oversaw.

President Trump and his Justice Department believe Comey used the FBI’s Russia probe to tilt the 2016 vote towards Hillary Clinton.  If true, that’s big-time subversion of an election. You may remember the anti-Trump media ran wild with anonymous-sourced stories about Putin helping the Trump campaign.

Those stories were wrong.  No apologies from the press.

Investigating the whole sordid mess, Special Counsel John Durham issued a report in 2023 that damns James Comey.

“The FBI’s failure to critically analyze information that ran counter to the narrative of a Trump/Russia collusive relationship exhibited throughout Crossfire Hurricane (the Bureau’s name for the investigation) is extremely troublesome.”

Durham goes on to say the FBI failed to uphold the law, which is true.

But Comey’s apparent deceit did not lead to a criminal referral. So, he retired on a full pension.

President Trump sees that as a gross injustice, and now, the alleged perjury charge is retribution.  However, the federal prosecutor initially assigned to the case, Erik Siebert, did not want to pursue it. So, Trump fired him and a new pro-Trump prosecutor, Lindsey Halligan, has been installed.  She believes there is strong criminal evidence against the former Director.

The judge assigned to the case, Michael Nachmanoff, was appointed by President Biden, so that may help Comey. Nachmanoff could throw the case out, citing President Trump’s public anti-Comey statements or another technicality.

Of course, that would be immediately appealed.

In addition, there is a karma play in all this as James Comey engineered a “lying to a federal agent” case against former Trump advisor General Michael Flynn. The cliche “what goes around, comes around” might apply here.

The media coverage of the Comey indictment is largely dishonest, but what else is new? The Associated Press and others are portraying Trump as a revenge-crazed tyrant, selectively trying to destroy Mr. Comey for venal purposes.  Nothing else to see here.

Yes, there is payback in this case by Mr. Trump.  But it may be righteous because using the FBI to influence a presidential election is ultra-dangerous.

Going forward, it all comes down to how the folks process the situation.  I think James Comey is getting exactly what he deserves.  He may beat the rap, and that’s fine if a jury acquits.  We respect due process.  But I know the man corrupted a federal agency, thereby harming America.

Considering that, it is indeed “justice” to see him sweat.