STATEMENT: Comey’s Indictment Is Nothing Short of Political Retribution

Washington, D.C. — In response to the indictment of former FBI Director James Comey, Ben Olinsky, senior vice president of Structural Reform and Governance at the Center for American Progress, shared the following comments:

The prosecution against Director Comey is nothing short of political retribution. President Donald Trump recently fired the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, his own appointee, after they made clear that prosecutors lack evidence to seek an indictment against former Director Comey. He then installed his own personal attorney, who has never prosecuted a case before, to the prosecutor’s office to carry out the president’s revenge tour.

President Trump’s government is operating more like a “banana republic” than a thriving democracy, and that should deeply alarm all Americans.

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