CNN legal expert Ryan Goodman warned on Wednesday that President Donald Trump's Department of Justice has an "appearance of impropriety" regarding its plans to indict former FBI Director James Comey, and that could come back to haunt the department should it continue to pursue charges.
MSNBC reported on Wednesday that the Trump administration plans to indict Comey for lying to Congress in the coming days, citing "sources familiar with the matter." The report follows the administration's moves to install Trump loyalist Lindsey Halligan as the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, which would have jurisdiction of Comey's case.
Halligan was installed last Friday after former U.S. Attorney Erik Siebert, a Trump appointee, was pressured to resign.
"Thislooks like selectiveprosecution, and that is asignificant factor that theDepartment of Justice shouldtake into account to actuallynot charge the case," Goodman said during an interview on CNN's "Erin Burnett Out Front."
"That's what theDepartment of Justice did with Eric Adams," Goodman continued. "Emil Bove, who wasthe second in command at thetime, said internally to the Department of Justice that the reason to dropthe charges against Eric Adamsis because, 'Thetiming of the charges and themore recent public actions bythe former U.S. attorneyresponsible for initiating thecase have threatened theintegrity of the proceedings,including increasing prejudicialpretrial publicity.'"
Trump has recently called for Comey to be indicted in social media posts.
"President Trump's statementsare that; that is the appearanceof impropriety," he continued. "It's the reasonthat they even said that therewas a reason to withdraw chargesagainst somebody who had alreadybeen indicted."