Pam Bondi is worried she might not be able to nail former FBI Director James Comey like President Trump wants, according to sources familiar with the case.
Bondi has reservations about the strength of the perjury case against Comey, despite facing pressure from Trump to bring charges against the former FBI director for allegedly lying to Congress, an insider told CNN.
Attorneys in the Eastern District of Virginia—the same district where Trump forced out his hand-picked attorney because he couldn’t bring a compelling case against New York AG Letitia James—wrote a memo to Trump’s former lawyer and new attorney Lindsey Halligan expressing that in two months of investigation, they could not find probable cause to indict Comey over his testimony to Congress in September 2020 about Russian interference. The memo was first reported on by ABC News.
Despite her concerns, Bondi said she believes it is still possible to bring an indictment against Comey before Sept. 30, the statute of limitations on the case, CNN reported.
Bondi, 59, is working to appease Trump, who publicly demanded she prosecute some of his political adversaries, including Comey, James, and Senator Adam Schiff, in a now-deleted Truth Social post that read a lot like a text message intended to be sent to Bondi.
“We can’t delay any longer, it’s killing our reputation and credibility,” Trump demanded of Bondi.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the attorney general for comment.
Bondi needs to give approval to Halligan, an insurance lawyer with no prosecutorial experience installed in the Eastern Virginia District, in order for the case to move forward.
Speaking from the Oval Office on Thursday, Trump downplayed his role in the case—contradicting his own social media posts.
“They’re going to make a determination. I’m not making that determination. I think I’d be allowed to get involved if I want, but I don’t really choose to do so,” he said.
Trump has focused his ire on Comey and Schiff for their involvement in the Russiagate probe that haunted his first administration and led to his impeachment. He has sought to indict Schiff on mortgage fraud charges similar to those he levied at Letitia James.
He is trying to prosecute James because she successfully sued the Trump administration in New York.
