After the departure of Attorney General Pam Bondi, which occurred April 2, the DOJ has now announced several indictments. One is an 11-count indictment alleging bank fraud by the conservative-hating Southern Poverty law Center. That case alleges the SPLC used fake companies to pay millions of dollars to white supremacists who led the same groups the SPLC was monitoring.
One week later, on April 28, the DOJ announced a grand jury indictment against former FBI director James Comey for threatening President Trump with his “86-47” message.
A lesser-known criminal indictment, unsealed April 27, involves multiple felony charges against Dr. David Morens. A former senior advisor to Dr. Anthony Fauci, Morens is accused of hiding and destroying records tied to the origins of COVID-19.
His indictment charges him with one count of conspiracy, two counts of destruction, alteration, or falsification of records in federal investigations, and two counts of concealment, removal, or mutilation of records.
Dr. Fauci, viewed as a slippery villain by his critics, was pardoned by President Biden. The indictment of Morens could be an attempt to flip the defendant to provide evidence against his former boss.
“It looks like there might be a strategy. It might not just be random act,” Steve Deace, pleased with the DOJ’s recent actions, told show host Jenna Ellis.
It’s a matter of legal debate if James Comey will become a convicted felon for his seashell stunt, or if he deserves to, but Deace said the much bigger issue is a Trump administration that’s unafraid to try. He ties that directly to Bondi’s exit.
“There’s nothing like when you put someone in a position and they have to earn the job,” said Deace, referring to acting attorney general Todd Blanche.
Blanche previously represented Trump as lead defense attorney in the fight to keep his client out of prison in the hush money case, the classified documents case, and the special counsel’s investigation into 2020 election interference.
After he was named No. 2 at the DOJ when President Trump took office, Blanche is now leading it after Trump fired Pam Bondi almost a month ago.
Deace, a Blaze TV host, reminded Ellis and her AFR audience he publicly warned against Bondi being named U.S. attorney general. That’s because he viewed her as an “establishment” Republican, who would protect Washington rather than prosecute it, but she knew how to schmooze Trump and get rewarded for her supposed loyalty.
“I wasn't shocked at all that she was a terrible A.G.,” Deace said. “I told my audience, and everybody who would listen, she'll be a terrible A.G. considering what everybody expected and what we ran on in this last election.”
Ellis, who formerly served as a personal attorney to Trump, said she was pleased Blanche is going after Comey and the SPLC with criminal indictments.
Blanche, she told her audience, “might just single-handedly give Republicans more wins than the entirety of Congress.”
Addressing the charges against Comey, Ellis said there is valid debate if the charges will “stick” since Comey intends to make his defense a free speech case.
One person making that First Amendment argument is Jonathan Turley, the conservative law professor and longtime critic of Comey, who predicts the DOJ’s case will lose on appeal if Comey is convicted.
Others point to Comey’s motive behind the “86-47” message Comey himself made the legal limits of free speech the premise of his legal thriller, “FDR Drive,” which published last year.
In his Instagram post with the "86-47" message, Comey photographed himself reading the novel on the beach.
The antagonist in the novel, a right-wing podcaster, is prosecuted by a deputy U.S. attorney after his hate-filled rhetoric is tied to a terrorist attack.
“Remember, the First Amendment doesn't mean that you can say whatever you want without consequence,” Ellis stressed. “Or that if you incite violence, that that is necessarily protected speech. So it's going to be very interesting.”
Even if Comey mounts a good legal defense, Deace said, the DOJ pursued his indictment outside Democrat-friendly Washington, D.C. in front of a more friendly North Carolina jury. That decision is a sign of shrewd minds at work, starting with Blanche, within the Department of Justice, he said.
"I'm very excited to see what looks like the mustard seeds of a plan," Deace remarked.
