In a rare moment of on-air candor, Fox News contributor Andrew McCarthy didn’t mince words as he tore into the Justice Department’s attempt to go after former FBI Director James Comey on behalf of Donald Trump—calling it what it is: a political hit job wrapped in flimsy legal pretense.
During a panel discussion on Fox News Sunday, McCarthy, a former federal prosecutor and usually a reliable voice in conservative legal circles, dismissed the recent indictment of Comey as “lawfare” — and not even the smart kind.
“Yeah, what amazes me, Martha, is that people seem to think this must be about Russiagate, you know?” McCarthy told host Martha MacCallum. “This must be about how they lied to the FISA court and got the authority to do the surveillance and the whole Trump-Russia collusion nonsense. This is not that. This is sort of a petty thing about the Clinton campaign.”
In other words, the case isn’t about the years-long saga of Russia investigations or deep-state conspiracies. It’s not about clearing Trump’s name. It’s not even about Comey’s role in the chaotic 2016 election. It’s something much smaller — and, McCarthy argues, far more hollow.
“But if you look at the underlying facts of the indictment, to the extent you can make them out because the indictment almost fails as an indictment in that it doesn’t give you notice of what he’s actually done,” he said. “But factually, there’s nothing there.”
That’s not a throwaway line. For McCarthy — someone with decades of legal experience — to say the indictment “almost fails as an indictment” is a brutal takedown. In plain terms: it reads more like a press release than a real case.
And here’s the kicker: McCarthy says this isn’t really about winning in court. It’s about dragging Comey through the mud — the same way Trump believes he was treated.
According to McCarthy, the indictment “smacks of wanting to put Comey through the process, which is what lawfare is.”
“The penalty is the process,” he explained. “And I think Trump feels that that’s what was done to him. And I don’t think he particularly is that interested in whether Comey ultimately gets convicted or not.”
Let that sink in: the goal isn’t justice. It’s payback.
“He wants to put him through the process,” McCarthy added. “The problem he has is those lawyers at the Justice Department, when they sign off on those pleadings, they have an ethical responsibility to at least bring a case that has a reasonable chance of prevailing, and this is not that case.”
In other words, you can’t just weaponize the justice system for revenge and expect seasoned DOJ lawyers to go along with it — not without a real case. And, as McCarthy made abundantly clear: this ain’t that.
Coming from a legal conservative who’s no stranger to defending tough government moves, McCarthy’s blunt assessment cuts through the political fog. Whatever grievances Trump may have with Comey — and there are many — this indictment isn’t going to settle the score.
On Fox News, of all places, McCarthy essentially threw cold water on the whole thing: the case is weak, the motive is political, and the outcome is likely to be nothing but noise.
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