Trump Team Pretends To Be Horrified As Pretext To Target Comey

A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This...

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A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version.

The Trump administration quickly got in line Thursday to denounce, threaten, and investigate former FBI Director James Comey, whose firing by President Trump in his first term triggered the appointment of Robert Mueller as special counsel. The rest, as they say, is history.

Here’s what happened.

Comey became a target of opportunity after he posted on social media an image of shells arrayed on sand to read “86 47.” I associate “86” with restaurant kitchens from my days waiting tables: items missing from the menu or the pantry. Also used as a verb, meaning “to strike,” as in “86 the chateaubriand.”

Trump is the 47th president. So it’s shorthand for getting rid of the guy. But “getting rid of” in the mob sense? That’s the high dudgeon Trump administration officials from the White House on down immediately mustered yesterday to try turn Comey’s post into a right-wing firestorm.

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Taylor Budowich posted that it “can clearly be interpreted as ‘a hit’ on the sitting President of the United States.” Current FBI Director Kash Patel weighed in. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, who oversees the Secret Service, which typically is responsible for investigating real threats against the president, announced that DHS and the Secret Service are investigating Comey’s “threat.”

But no Trump official would outdo Tulsi Gabbard, who called for Comey to be jailed:

Jesse Watters: Do you believe Comey should be in jail?Tulsi Gabbard: I do. […] I'm very concerned for the president's life. We've already seen assassination attempts. I'm very concerned for his life, and James Comey, in my view, should be held accountable and put behind bars for this.

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— Matt Novak (@paleofuture.bsky.social) May 15, 2025 at 10:55 PM

Comey eventually took down his post, not that it mattered much.

Covering this kind of right-wing indignation eruption in a “straight” way misses wide of the mark. The NYT headline – “Ex-F.B.I. Chief Being Investigated Over Social Media Post About Trump” – is literally true, but it misses all of the levels of intimidation, cultish displays of loyalty, and pure absurdism. And straight reporting has to pretend to believe that Trump world is truly horrified, which no one in their right mind really thinks is true.

If You Don’t Look For Public Corruption, You Won’t Find It: The FBI has dismantled an elite public corruption unit run out of its Washington Field Office. NBC News was first to report the move. Sword Faller: Danielle Sassoon, the acting U.S. Attorney in Manhattan who resigned when the Trump DOJ corruptly abandoned the prosecution of NYC Mayor Eric Adams, made a muted first public appearance this week. Ed Martin lolz: When Trump DOJ official Ed Martin oddly used a farewell email to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in DC to reveal that he was under an ethics investigation, he complained loudly that the DC ethics investigator had sent notice of the probe to his home and office in order to embarrass him. Now the WaPo reports that sources say the kind of notification Martin received typically happens after a lawyer had failed to respond to an ethics complaint as required. VOA purge: The Trump Administration fired hundreds of Voice of America employees – and put the VOA building up for sale – despite a court order blocking the dismantling of the government broadcaster. Misinformation: “The Trump administration has sharply expanded its campaign against experts who track misinformation and other harmful content online, abruptly canceling scores of scientific research grants at universities across the country,” the NYT reports. Quote Of The Day: “Firing the leadership of the National Intelligence Council because its analysis does not support policy is a serious error in judgment. The message to the workforce is one of intimidation. In the future, the president will not get the quality of intelligence every president deserves.”–former NIC chairman Christopher Kojm, on DNI Tulsi Gabbard firing top intel officials over an assessment that contradicted President Trump’s rationale for invoking the Alien Enemies Act

A quick update on the criminal prosecution of Wisconsin state Judge Hannah Dugan for allegedly helping an undocumented immigrant briefly evade capture by federal agents:

Dugan entered a plea of not guilty during a brief appearance Thursday in federal court in Milwaukee. The judge set a trial date of July 21. Dugan has already filed a motion to dismiss the indictment against her, arguing among other things that judicial immunity bars her prosecution.

The conservative majority on the Roberts Court showed few qualms about seizing on President Trump’s blatantly unconstitutional executive order on birthright citizenship to advance its own pre-existing agenda on limiting nationwide injunctions.

The only question remaining after oral arguments was what kind of new rules the majority would fashion for injunctions. The one leveling influence among the conservative majority seemed to be Justice Amy Coney Barrett, but they have a decisive five votes without her.

TPM’s coverage:

Live Blog: SCOTUS Hears Oral Arguments In Birthright Citizenship Nationwide Injunction Case Kate Riga: Birthright Citizenship Is Safe For Now. Nationwide Injunctions Are Not. Josh Kovensky: Trump Administration Admits It Could Game Court System Without Nationwide Injunctions

Sharp analysis:

Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern: “[T]he growing gender divide emerged once again: The four women seemed concerned that the president is trying to undo the final restraints on his exercise of unconstitutional power, and doing so in ways that include breaking norms and defying courts. The five men, in contrast, sounded irked at allegedly monarchical district court judges who dare issue broad orders blocking the White House’s policies, even when they’re blatantly unconstitutional.” Chris Geidner: “[T]he court seemed more aligned on the unconstitutionality of Trump’s order — and in agreement with all of the lower courts to consider the question — than on any solution about how to deal with nationwide injunctions.”

For the second time, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals has held that minority voters do not have the authority to sue to enforce Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Rick Hasen explains “why this latest ruling is not just a devastating blow to the law, but also an entirely ahistorical judicial power grab.”

ProPublica:

Since Trump’s inauguration, the State Department has intervened on behalf of Starlink in Gambia and at least four other developing nations, previously unreported records and interviews show.

As the Trump administration has gutted foreign aid, U.S. diplomats have pressed governments to fast-track licenses for Starlink and arranged conversations between company employees and foreign leaders. In cables, U.S. officials have said that for their foreign counterparts, helping Starlink is a chance to prove their commitment to good relations with the U.S.

Kristi Noem’s Department of Homeland Security is considering being part of a television show in which immigrants would compete for potential U.S. citizenship, the WSJ confirms.

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