ABC's Chief White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl reported on "Good Morning America" Wednesday that even President Donald Trump's allies think the new indictment of former FBI Director James Comey is a waste of time, and have been expressing this opinion behind the president's back, per a video published by Mediaite.
Background of the Indictment
On Tuesday, the Justice Department indicted Comey after a grand jury in North Carolina accused him of two counts of making threats against the president's life over an Instagram post that the former FBI director shared almost a year ago, and later deleted. The post in question included a photo of seashells on a beach arranged to read, "86 47." The number 86 is sometimes used as slang for tossing something out or getting rid of it, and is often used in restaurants to indicate a menu item is no longer available.
Legal Experts Weigh In
"GMA" co-anchor George Stephanopoulos noted to Karl Wednesday that the "first indictment of James Comey was dismissed," and that "lawyers close to the president" said this indictment would likely see the same fate. Karl then revealed what sources close to the president have told him.
"I've been talking to current and former prosecutors, federal prosecutors who are calling this the flimsiest federal indictment that they have ever seen," Karl said. "Even Trump's allies are privately calling it 'embarrassing,' or as one very prominent former Trump DOJ official told me last night, 'depressing.'"
"I have spoken to no serious lawyers who think these charges will result in a conviction. The near-universal view is that it will be thrown out before it gets to trial," Karl added.
Political Motivations
Karl also disputed acting Attorney General Todd Blanche's claim to "CBS Mornings" Wednesday that Trump "absolutely, positively" did not push for Comey to be indicted. "There is no doubt that this indictment was driven by the president himself," Karl said. "Look, Donald Trump has made it clear for years that he wants to indict Jim Comey. As recently as three days ago, he suggested that Comey needed to be prosecuted — although he offered an entirely different reason. And Trump has put enormous pressure on the people who work for him to go after not just Comey, but a long list of his perceived political enemies."
He continued, "One of the main reasons that he fired Attorney General Pam Bondi is that he felt that she was not being aggressive enough in prosecuting those enemies, and Attorney General Todd Blanche knows that if he wants to be formally nominated as AG — right now he's just the acting Attorney General — he needs to prove to President Trump that he will be more aggressive in prosecuting those enemies than Bondi was." He added, "And I can tell you this … shortly after that indictment was announced, Todd Blanche was at the White House meeting with senior White House officials."
