Friday on CNN’s “The Lead,” Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) said former FBI Director James Comey’s indictment was President Donald Trump implementing an “authoritarian government.”
Host Jake Tapper said, “What would you say to somebody who says, look Comey will get his day in court, the grand jury that handed down this indictment from the Eastern District of Virginia, hardly a bastion of conservatism and, you know, ultimately, while what President Trump said it might be unsettling but at the end of the day it’s possible that there’s a case here?”
Merkley said, “Well, recognize that when the President of the United States puts his Justice Department into full gear to go after his political opponents, that is an authoritarian government in action. And yes, maybe there will at the end of a court case be a vindication for Mr. Comey but realize the torture that that puts him through. And if the case wasn’t strong enough that a U.S. attorney who was nominated by Trump, who was confirmed by the Republican Senate, said there’s no case here, that’s an indication that the president is intervening in what has been kind of the nonpartisan sentiment, a pursuit of justice, equal justice under law, as carved above the pillars on the Supreme Court is being replaced by unequal justice, where the power of the government is directed against the president’s political opponents. That is a very dangerous place to be. He’s already threatening Adam Schiff with the same kind of treatment, a member of the Senate and so forth. This retribution strategy is absolutely wrong in any country, but certainly wrong here, where we’re supposed to have a government guided by the Constitution.”
Follow Pam Key on X @pamkeyNEN
Read the full article here