The editorial board of The Washington Post hammered Donald Trump late Tuesday as his Department of Justice launched yet another attempt to convict ex-FBI Director James B. Comey — an effort many called frivolous.
And the paper's leadership warned "the country and maybe even the Republican Party will pay a price" for what the editors called a "ridiculous" move.
On Tuesday, former FBI Director James B. Comey faced indictment for allegedly threatening Trump through a social media post from May last year. It was the second time Trump's administration had targeted Comey — the first, which charged him with lying to Congress, flamed out spectacularly as a court dismissed it after discovering the White House circumvented proper appointment procedures to install a sympathetic prosecutor in Virginia's Eastern District.
"The administration’s efforts to use criminal law to attack political opponents keep failing, but this attempt is even more ridiculous than usual," the Post's editors wrote.
Trump harbors deep animosity toward Comey stemming from his role in initiating Russia investigations that consumed substantial portions of Trump's first term.
The new charges in North Carolina Eastern District accuse Comey of making criminal threats through an Instagram photograph depicting seashells arranged on a beach forming the numbers 86 and 47. Trump serves as the 47th president; 86 colloquially means eliminating something or, in hospitality contexts, marking someone as unwelcome.
According to the indictment, Comey "knowingly and willfully" threatened "to take the life of" the president through this post.
"The post was in poor taste, but Comey more likely meant Trump should be removed from office or otherwise defeated politically," the Post editors wrote.
"The First Amendment requires stringent standards for proving criminal threats. Comey deleted the post promptly amid an outcry, which is evidence he did not intend to make a threat.
"This is not a serious indictment intended to secure a conviction. It’s intended to satisfy a president who wants to see his opponents face the same kind of procedural legal misery that he did.
"This kind of maneuver might help acting attorney general Todd Blanche keep his job for now, but the country and maybe even the Republican Party will pay a price."