On Monday, a federal judge dismissed charges against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James after deeming President Trump's appointment of former White House aide Lindsey Halligan as US Attorney for Eastern Virginia as invalid as she was not confirmed by the Senate.
Aside from the impropriety of the appointment, Halligan conducted her prosecution (particularly against Comey) with incompetence and malevolence by, among other things, misrepresenting the law to the grand jury, violating attorney-client privilege of the defendant and that the full indictment was not shown to the grand jury at large. As I wrote back in September:
Given Lindsey Halligan's inexperience in trying a case one can only hope that the government's case is so egregious and incompetent that either a judge will accept a defense motion to dismiss the charges, or a jury will acquit.
This is a consequence of substituting justice with retribution.
Unsurprisingly, the Trump Administration isn't taking pause of the situation to reflect on their misguided ways. Instead, the Trump Administration has a new target - Arizona Democratic Senator Mark Kelly.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is threatening to recall Kelly to active military service for the purpose of court martialing him. His crime? Joining several of his Democratic colleagues on Capitol Hill in calling upon U.S. military personnel not to obey unlawful commands as it pertains to questionable military strikes against alleged drug dealers in the Caribbean particularly near Venezuela. Last week, President Trump said Kelly and his congressional colleagues said they should be prosecuted for their statements which he claimed were punishable by death.
The case against Kelly is as flimsy as the cases against Comey and James. The Trump Administration is pursuing Kelly because he had the temerity to criticize their policies while seeking to hold them to account. Although retired military personnel can be court-martialed, it does not appear anyone has ever been recalled to active duty to face charges of sedition. According to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, one can be convicted of mutiny if there is "intent to usurp or override lawful military authority". Kelly is merely contending that U.S. military personnel can disobey "unlawful" military commands.
If the Trump Administration insists on pursuing this frivolity and mischief against Senator Kelly, I do not believe they will find any more success with a military court than they have with a civilian court against Comey and James to impose their agenda of retribution against any public official or former public official who sees fit to publicly disagree with them.
With that, I cannot wait to see what further ineptitude will follow.
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