Trump All but Admits Direct Involvement in Comey Charges

Against the grain of official statements by FBI leadership, Donald Trump has all but admitted—in his own words—that he was behind James Comey’s indictment.

The former FBI director was charged on Thursday with lying to Congress regarding his testimony to Senator Ted Cruz in a 2020 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. The statute of limitations on the charges was set to expire Tuesday. Comey has maintained his innocence and has denied any wrongdoing.

The president didn’t hesitate to celebrate the charges. Rather than await the results of a fair and honest trial, Trump appeared to set the tone for the prosecution of the ex-federal official, openly slandering Comey as a “dirty cop” and a “destroyer of lives” who needed to pay a “big price.”

“Whether you like Corrupt James Comey or not, and I can’t imagine too many people liking him, HE LIED!” Trump posted on Truth Social Friday morning. “It is not a complex lie, it’s a very simple, but IMPORTANT one. There is no way he can explain his way out of it.”

“He is a Dirty Cop, and always has been, but he was just assigned a Crooked Joe Biden appointed Judge, so he’s off to a very good start,” Trump continued. “Nevertheless, words are words, and he wasn’t hedging or in dispute. He was very positive, there was no doubt in his mind about what he said, or meant by saying it. He left himself ZERO margin of error on a big and important answer to a question. He just got unexpectedly caught.”

Trump had ordered the agency to imminently reorient its focus on prosecuting his political rivals earlier this week. Directly addressing Attorney General Pam Bondi on Truth Social, Trump demanded that the DOJ prosecute Comey, as well as California Senator Adam Schiff and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

“We can’t delay any longer, it’s killing our reputation and credibility,” Trump wrote. “They impeached me twice, and indicted me (5 times!), OVER NOTHING. JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!”

Nonetheless, current FBI leadership attempted to claim that Comey’s indictment was the fruit of independent efforts made by the bureau. In a post on X, FBI Director Kash Patel argued that there was nothing political about the charges against his predecessor.

“Career FBI agents, intel analysts, and staff led the investigation into Comey and others. They called the balls and strikes and will continue to do so,” Patel wrote Friday morning. “The wildly false accusations attacking this FBI for the politicization of law enforcement comes from the same bankrupt media.”

It’s the first instance in 50 years—since Watergate—that a U.S. president has directly involved themselves in DOJ prosecutions, but it likely won’t be the last. Speaking with CNN Friday morning, Trump said there was no list he had made of his political enemies, but that he believed “there will be others” besides Comey who face the fire for their political opposition. “I hope,” Trump said.

Comey’s arraignment is set for October 9. He could face a maximum of five years in prison if convicted.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took over Gazan residents’ mobile phones to broadcast his speech from the United Nations Friday, so they could listen to him deny that he has committed a genocide against them, live.

The prime minister was set to deliver his remarks to empty seats after dozens of dignitaries walked out ahead of his remarks, but announced that the IDF had taken the “unprecedented action” to take control of the phones of Gazan residents to broadcast his remarks.

A statement from the Prime Minister’s office on X said that Netanyahu had “appealed” directly to the residents of Gaza, urging the return of the hostages, disarming Hamas, and demilitarizing the region. “PM Netanyahu stressed that whoever does so will live while those who do not will be hunted,” the statement said.

Despite his bloodthirsty rhetoric, Netanyahu rejected a U.N. inquiry that concluded Israel is committing genocide and denied that Israel is causing starvation the region.

In fact, Israeli’s deadly siege in Gaza has killed more than 65,000 people—including medics and journalists—as well as displaced nearly two million more, and caused widespread famine. Now, they are being forced to listen to him as well.

The Trump Justice Department’s indictment of former FBI Director James Comey is so flimsy that even Fox Business is second-guessing it.

“Well I don’t think there’s a case.… I’m as big a critic of [the Russiagate stuff] probably as there is, I wrote a book about it, I think it was a disgrace, and history will remember it that way,” conservative lawyer and National Review contributing editor Andrew McCarthy told Mario Bartiromo on Friday. “This indictment is not about that, and it seems to be premised on something that’s not true, which is that [former FBI Deputy Director Andrew] McCabe said that Comey authorized him to leak to The Wall Street Journal. If you look closely at what McCabe said, what McCabe said is he directed a leak to The Wall Street Journal and told Comey about it after the fact.”

Comey has been charged with one count of making a false statement during a Senate hearing and one count of obstructing Congress. If convicted, he could face up to five years in prison.

“What about the leaking in general? What about leaking a story that they may have known was a lie to the media?” Bartiromo asked, still trying to pin Comey for Russiagate. “Because, if you’re the director of the FBI, you need the evidence.… What was the origins of Russia’s collusion with Trump? They never really had any evidence of it, but they leaked it to the press?”

“Yeah but that’s not what this case is about,” McCarthy responded. “What this case is about is, Comey is accused of lying because what Ted Cruz said … was that Comey authorized McCabe to orchestrate the leak. And what the inspector general found … McCabe said that he directed the leak, and he told Comey about it afterwards.… The charge is that Comey authorized the leak, and he didn’t authorize the leak.”

McCarthy isn’t the only one who thinks it’s a weak case. Attorney General Pam Bondi and her Justice Department have reportedly expressed apprehension over the Comey indictment for the exact reasons McCarthy offered above.

Naples, Florida, has discovered one easy trick to bypass the bureaucratic delays Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has created at the Federal Emergency Management Agency: Get a wealthy friend and supporter of Noem to reach out to her.

Until August, the city had been exasperatedly waiting on relief to rebuild the Naples Pier, which was damaged by Hurricane Ian in 2022. According to a new ProPublica report, FEMA only finally responded—providing $11 million for reconstruction—once a deep-pocketed friend and supporter of Noem, named Sinan Gursoy, stepped in.

Prior to Gursoy’s intervention, ProPublica reports, the city was trapped in “bureaucratic purgatory.” It’s a story that’s familiar by now, as local and state officials face interminable delays in disaster relief—made worse thanks to a rule instituted by Noem, in which all DHS expenditures exceeding $100,000 require her approval.

In one communication this summer, a city official informed Florida Senator Rick Scott that they’d been told that “Secretary Noem would have to ‘personally’ approve the Pier project before FEMA funding would be obligated,” ProPublica reports.

Naples Mayor Teresa Heitmann was “feeling increasingly helpless” this summer, after she and city officials had pulled out nearly all the stops, including writing to FEMA, hiring Washington consultants, and seeking the help of Scott.

In early August, the mayor decided to fire off some texts to Gursoy, according to ProPublica. A wealthy Naples cardiologist and associate of Noem’s, Gursoy contributed at least $25,000 to Noem’s 2022 gubernatorial reelection bid in South Dakota, placing him among the campaign’s top disclosed donors.

“FEMA is holding us up,” Heitmann told Gursoy. “Kristi Noem could put some fire under the FEMA employees slacking.”

“Okay. I will get on it,” Gursoy replied.

On August 11, he told Heitmann he’d “just” texted Noem, after holding off while she was out of office. Not a day had passed before he told Heitmann she’d hear from Noem’s “FEMA fixer” soon.

“We are now at warp speed with FEMA,” a Naples official reportedly wrote in an email once things got moving. A FEMA representative told the city: “Per leadership instruction, pushing project immediately.”

On August 29, Noem took a government plane to Naples, where she reportedly walked the pier before dining with Gursoy at Bleu Provence, an expensive French restaurant, and staying at the four-star Naples Bay Resort & Marina.

A DHS spokesperson insisted to ProPublica that the Naples Pier aid “has nothing to do with politics.” Gursoy told the publication to “get lost.”

Notably, Noem’s top henchman at DHS, Corey Lewandowski (who is also rumored to be her paramour, which they both deny), reportedly has a house close to the Naples Pier. Lewandowski told ProPublica he was not involved in the decision, nor was he in Naples at the time of Noem’s trip.

While in Naples, Noem shared a self-congratulatory Instagram post of herself assessing the damage to the pier. “The iconic Naples Pier was destroyed in 2022, and the city is still waiting on answers from FEMA,” she wrote, adding, “Americans deserve better than years of red tape and failed disaster responses.” Apparently, some more than others.

Nearly half of the entire United Nations General Assembly walked out when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took the podium Thursday, in protest of his ongoing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. 

Dozens and dozens of delegates exited the hall as soon as Netanyahu appeared. Other attendees cheered them on while the assembly leader banged his gavel and called for “order in the hall.”

Netanyahu was forced to deliver his speech to a room that was damn near empty.

Moments like these indicate that Israel’s indiscriminate and grotesque actions in Gaza—over 65,000 dead men, women, and children—are finally shifting the world’s perceptions. The fact that countries like Canada, France, and the U.K. are (finally) acknowledging a Palestinian state is also indicative of that shift.  

Some leaders were even more outspoken at the General Assembly. 

“We need a powerful army of the countries that do not accept genocide,” Colombian President Gustavo Petro said on Tuesday. “We must liberate Palestine.… I invite the armies of Asia, the great Slavic people who defeated Hitler with great heroism, and the Latin American armies of Bolívar.… We’ve had enough words; it’s time for Bolívar’s sword of liberty or death.”

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, or Lula, made similar comments. 

“No situation is more emblematic of the disproportionate and illegal use of force than the one occurring in Palestine.… The Palestinian people are at risk of disappearing,” he said. “They will only survive with an independent state integrated to the international community.” 

At this point it seems like the United States is the only government that has yet to realize just how atrocious Israel’s actions have been, as our leaders continue to offer financial and rhetorical support.