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Welcome to The Logoff: The Trump administration is taking one other run at its enemies listing.
What occurred? On Tuesday, former FBI Director James Comey was indicted for a second time on new federal costs; prosecutors allege {that a} 2025 social media submit Comey made, exhibiting seashells organized to learn “86 47,” was “a risk 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 trade 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 stated he was unaware of any violent connotations to the time period and rapidly deleted his submit in response to backlash.
Why Comey? Trump has lengthy needed to punish Comey for his function in investigating ties between Russia and Trump’s 2016 presidential marketing campaign.
Particularly, Tuesday’s indictment is a clear retread of an identical try final 12 months, when the Trump administration briefly — and incompetently — indicted Comey on a distinct set of flimsy costs, which had been subsequently dismissed.
(It’s not even, we must always be aware, the one such try as we speak: The administration additionally stepped up its assault on late-night host Jimmy Kimmel’s employer, ABC, on Tuesday, after each the president and first woman Melania Trump went after Kimmel for a joke. Kimmel was briefly pressured off the air by the administration final fall.)
What’s the massive image? Earlier this month, Trump fired Lawyer Basic Pam Bondi, changing her with Deputy Lawyer Basic Todd Blanche, a former member of Trump’s private authorized staff.
Trump’s frustrations with Bondi had been well-known; in September, he posted a message addressed to her, complaining that “Nothing is being carried out” towards his enemies. Blanche, who’s up for the everlasting AG job, is clearly attempting to treatment that as quick as attainable, by no means thoughts how ridiculous the costs.