Even far-right legal commentator Ed Whelan doesn't think the process by which President Donald Trump got former FBI Director James Comey indicted was above board.

Writing for the National Review on Monday, Whelan — who became infamous for claiming Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh's sexual assault accuser confused him with someone else — argued that the prosecutor Trump put in charge of the Eastern District of Virginia, former defense lawyer Lindsey Halligan, was not "validly" appointed to that role.

President Donald Trump is aware that public opinion on him is getting worse and worse by the day — and he's desperate to consolidate authoritarian control over government — and do things like lock up his political adversaries — before polls get to the point that his underlings stop listening to him, argued former George W. Bush speechwriter David Frum for The Atlantic.

"President Donald Trump is worried that Attorney General Pam Bondi is moving too slowly to prosecute his political adversaries on fake charges," wrote Frum. "Trump has good reason to be concerned. He is carrying out his project to consolidate authoritarian power against the trend of declining public support for his administration and himself. He is like a man trying to race upward on a downward-moving escalator. If he loses the race, he will be pulled ever deeper below — and the escalator keeps moving faster against him."

President Donald Trump's strategy to prosecute his political opponents could backfire spectacularly, according to a former federal prosecutor.

Glenn Kirschner, the former Deputy U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, discussed Trump's efforts to prosecute former FBI Director James Comey on a new episode of "The Legal Breakdown" with progressive YouTuber Brian Tyler Cohen. His comments come at a time when the Trump administration returned an indictment against Comey on two counts of obstruction of justice and lying to Congress for statements he made to a Senate committee in 2020.

After numerous counties turned down the case over the past few weeks, Coconino County has finally agreed to investigate allegations that Republican candidate for Attorney General Rodney Glassman violated campaign finance law.

Glassman, a perennial candidate for elected office in Arizona, is accused of accepting at least 30 contributions above the contribution limits spelled out by state law.

President Donald Trump is weakening the criminal cases against his political enemies by talking publicly about his desire to seek retribution against them, an expert said Monday.

The president openly pressured Attorney General Pam Bondi to step up Department of Justice moves against former FBI Director James Comey, and his hand-picked replacement as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia secured an indictment that Trump's comments could undermine once the case moves into the courtroom, reported CNN.

President Donald Trump's acting U.S. attorney for New Jersey, Alina Habba, flew into a rage on social media at Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA), after he reaffirmed his commitment to respect the "blue slip" tradition of requiring a nominee's home state senators' consent to advance — a standard that all but guarantees her chances of being permanently appointed are dead in the water, as New Jersey is represented by two Democrats.

"A U.S. Atty/district judge nominee without a blue slip does not hv the votes to get confirmed on the Senate floor & they don’t hv the votes to get out of cmte," wrote Grassley on X. "As chairman I set Pres Trump noms up for SUCCESS NOT FAILURE."

Former FBI Director James Comey has lots of different ways he can defeat the criminal indictment against him for false statements and obstruction of justice, former U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade told MSNBC's Melissa Murray on Wednesday — but one of the most scorched-earth methods might be getting Trump's federal prosecutor in charge of the case disqualified.

The prosecutor, Trump's former defense lawyer Lindsey Halligan, was appointed to oversee the Eastern District of Virginia after her predecessor, also a hand-picked Trump appointee, determined there was insufficient evidence to prosecute Comey for statements he made during Senate testimony. Halligan has moved forward per Trump's wishes, but has faced repeated setbacks as she has no significant prosecutorial experience, had to be coached through working with the grand jury, and didn't file the correct charging documents.

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro could be in line for a private dressing down by a federal magistrate for wasting the court’s time with multiple frivolous federal charges that either get dropped at the last minute or flop in front of federal grand juries.

Reacting to federal Magistrate Judge Zia M. Faruqui blowing up on DOJ prosecutors for pulling another last-minute dropping of federal charges ordered by Pirro on Thursday, a panel of legal experts on MSNBC suggested the Trump appointee should expect a courtroom appointment with the judge in the near future to explain her actions.