OPINION:
For a law and order guy, James Comey has little tolerance for a federal judge who dared to criticize Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign.
In an online interview with the Washington Post, Comey slammed Judge T. S. Ellis who last week reprimanded Mueller’s prosecutors in court for exercising “unfettered power” in their pursuit of bank fraud charges against Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chairman.
“I don’t know how a federal judge could possibly know enough about an investigation … to offer a view like that, Comey told Carol Loennig in the wide-ranging interview. ”
Ellis rebuked Mueller’s team of lawyers in a hearing Friday by criticizing their attempt to prosecute Manafort on charges that appear to be completely unrelated to the original mandate of the special counsel’s office. He accused them of going after Trump’s former campaign chair for the purpose of “getting information that Mr. Manafort can give you that would reflect on Mr. Trump and lead to his prosecution or impeachment or whatever.”
Comey has been quite sensitive of any criticism of his former agency, the FBI, or the Department of Justice at large. Comey has suggested that such criticisms of these institutions undermine the agency and are dangerous to the rule of law.
However, Comey doesn’t seem to have the same kind of concerns in his direct insult to a sitting federal judge.
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