Barbara McQuade, Columnist

Comey’s Indictment Subverts Justice and Trump’s Credibility

The Justice Department's indictment of the former FBI director appears to follow the Putin playbook: discredit the system to protect yourself.

September 26, 2025 at 2:49 PM UTC

By Barbara McQuade

Barbara McQuade is a professor at the University of Michigan Law school, a former US attorney and author of "Attack from Within: How Disinformation Is Sabotaging America."

It’s about perception, not reality.
Photographer: Carsten Koall/Getty Images Europe

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Now that former FBI Director James Comey has been criminally indicted — just days before the expiration of the statute of limitations — it is fair to ask why.

Charges filed at the command of the president would seem to undermine the legitimacy of the Department of Justice. And maybe that’s the point. Regardless, it marks a sad, dark day for the rule of law.