The Department of Justice obtained an indictment against former FBI Director James Comey under pressure from President Donald Trump, who CNN's Elie Honig said handed his political enemy a get-out-of-jail-free card.
The president has long despised the FBI director he fired at the start of the Russia probe in his first term, and Honig, a former federal prosecutor, explained why Trump's public demand on Truth Social to Attorney General Pam Bondi to "do something" about Comey would provide powerful evidence that his prosecution was political in nature.
"This is all going to be fodder for Jim Comey and his defense team," Honig said. "Pat Fitzgerald, by the way, Jim Comey's lawyer, is one of the best lawyers in the country. I mean, he's renowned. He was a former federal prosecutor, too. What we have here is we basically have chapter one. Trump calls for the prosecution, makes changes of personnel, chapter two. He gets the prosecution, and chapter three, which happened just now. Trump celebrates the prosecution."
"I mean, they are writing, Donald Trump is writing Jim Comey's motion to dismiss for him," Honig added. "Watch for this, this is going to be the first major battle in this case, and I think Jim Comey has got a real good chance of getting this thing thrown out by a judge before it ever gets to a jury on precisely those grounds."
The two-page indictment contains few details about the case against Comey, but Honig suspects he will not spend any time in jail and will ask for a trial as soon as possible.
"It's bizarre to say, because he was such a powerful prosecutor, but he will be treated as any other defendant," Honig said. "He will make a court appearance. His first formal appearance will be next week. He will be arraigned by a judge, will be advised of the charges, he will plead not guilty. They'll make sure he has a lawyer. He does have the aforementioned Pat Fitzgerald. He'll be released without bail or with minimal bail. He's not going to be locked up on this, and then they're going to set a motion schedule, and that's going to set, and things move very quickly."
"That motion to dismiss wouldn't shock me if it's filed within a couple of weeks, and if we have a ruling on it within a couple weeks of that," he added. "So this is going to move quick, this is not going to drag out for a year, 18 months, two years in order to get to trial. If it's going to get to trial, we're going to see it pretty quick."
Honig took a parting shot at Lindsey Hannigan, the former Trump personal lawyer installed as U.S. Attorney by the president this week after pushing out her predecessor because he expressed doubts about the evidence against Comey, saying that all federal prosecutors are reminded of the Department of Justice's role in democracy.
"It was called the reservoir speech," Honig said. "We were always given, which is this entity, the Justice Department has built up a reservoir of trust over many years. Don't be the fool who drains it with one crack, and by the way, the person I first heard give that was Jim Comey."
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