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Welcome to The Logoff: The Trump administration is taking one other run at its enemies checklist.
What occurred? On Tuesday, former FBI Director James Comey was indicted for a second time on new federal prices; prosecutors allege {that a} 2025 social media publish Comey made, exhibiting seashells organized to learn “86 47,” was “a menace to take the lifetime of, and to inflict bodily hurt upon,” Donald Trump.
Trump is the forty seventh president, and “86” is broadly understood to be service business slang for rejecting or eradicating one thing or somebody, relying on the context — however prosecutors, and some Republicans, have as an alternative chosen to interpret it as a name for Trump’s assassination.
On the time, Comey mentioned he was unaware of any violent connotations to the time period and shortly deleted his publish in response to backlash.
Why Comey? Trump has lengthy wished to punish Comey for his position in investigating ties between Russia and Trump’s 2016 presidential marketing campaign.
Particularly, Tuesday’s indictment is a clear retread of an analogous try final yr, when the Trump administration briefly — and incompetently — indicted Comey on a unique set of flimsy prices, which have been subsequently dismissed.
(It’s not even, we should always be aware, the one such try at present: The administration additionally stepped up its assault on late-night host Jimmy Kimmel’s employer, ABC, on Tuesday, after each the president and first girl Melania Trump went after Kimmel for a joke. Kimmel was briefly compelled off the air by the administration final fall.)
What’s the large image? Earlier this month, Trump fired Legal professional Normal Pam Bondi, changing her with Deputy Legal professional Normal Todd Blanche, a former member of Trump’s private authorized workforce.
Trump’s frustrations with Bondi have been well-known; in September, he posted a message addressed to her, complaining that “Nothing is being accomplished” in opposition to his enemies. Blanche, who’s up for the everlasting AG job, is clearly making an attempt to treatment that as quick as doable, by no means thoughts how ridiculous the costs.
