Garret Graff wrote an op-ed for the NY Times today. (gift link)
We have seen much debate over the merits and timing of a legal case against Mr. Comey,but any such discussion misses the most important point: We don’t want to live in a country where the president of the United States dictates, publicly or privately, who should be targeted by federal prosecutors and then pressures any prosecutor unwilling to bring said politically motivated charges. The Justice Department and the attorney general are supposed to keep an arm’s length distance from the president, not be his personal score settlers.
[…]
Mr. Trump’s future plans are worryingly clear. Hours before the Comey charges became public, he signed an presidential memorandum that outlined how he hopes the full weight of the federal government will be turned against domestic terror groups. The sweeping order so twists the definition of “domestic terror” that it is likely the intent could be to sweep up progressive activist groups, think tanks, their funders (the MAGA bête noire George Soros appears a likely target) and groups like the League of Women Voters.
Graff explains further in his Substack today:
The oped grew out of a frustrating segment I did Wednesday night on CNN with Laura Coates, where the other two guests immediately got into the weeds about the strength of a Comey indictment and whether or not he deserved an indictment and whether there was a workable case against the former FBI director.
I argued that was all missing the point: The Comey indictment should stand as a bright line — President Trump decreed that Comey should be indicted and found a sycophantic lawyer who was willing to be appointed to a position she was manifestly unqualified for where her sole job is to undermine the Justice Department’s independence and do the president’s bidding. Over the objections of senior and career federal prosecutors, who said there was not a case here to be made under DOJ standards, he then was indicted.
That’s something we’ve never seen in modern times — and a line that every president since Richard Nixon has tried hard to stay way clear of. Exactly a month before the Comey indictment yesterday, I argued America has tipped over that invisible line into authoritarianism and fascism. It’s hard to think of a more clear example of an authoritarian regime than a political enemy being charged with crimes simply because the president wants him to be. As Peru’s fascist leader General Óscar Benavides famously said: “For my friends, everything; for my enemies, the law.”
Today we live in a country where the same standard applies.
It seems depressing to put it that way but I actually find it bracing. Better to be clear on where we are.
There are still vestiges of our constitutional republic that are working as we’ve seen this week. These people are working very quickly and they’re sloppy. The Comey indictment is ridiculous and if our courts are working properly it’s inconceivable that he will be convicted. Perhaps the country needs to see this play out in order to understand it.
ABC and Sinclair both backed off of canceling Kimmell largely, it appears, as a result of the economic blowback. People have power. If we are able to exercise that at the ballot box next year, we may be able to stop some of this before it is totally institutionalized.
The damage will be incalculable and it will take a great deal of imagination and energy over many years to create something new and better out of the rubble but it is possible as long as people realize that they still have the capacity to fight back.