This week’s indictment of former FBI Director James Comey is a scene from Game of Thrones brought to life. The cruel and narcissistic Joffrey sits on the throne. He demands that Ned Stark, Lord of the North, bend the knee. Stark refuses, stands defiant, and pays the price with his head.
In his response to President Trump’s seemingly personally motivated indictment, Comey said “we will not live on our knees, and you shouldn’t either.” As a former Justice Department political appointee, I stand firm with Comey. I will not sit by silently and watch this weaponization of federal law enforcement for political retribution.
And if anyone can stand up to the White House, it’s Comey. This is not his first rodeo.
My first experience with former FBI Director Comey was in 2005, during his tenure as deputy attorney general at the Department of Justice under President George W. Bush. I was a 23-year-old press assistant, newly assigned to travel with him to U.S. attorneys’ offices across the country.
Comey was a judiciary giant in those days, respected by federal investigators and prosecutors alike for his unwillingness to bend the knee to the White House. He had earned his stripes as a federal prosecutor at the coveted post of the Southern District of New York. He then was appointed to the second highest law enforcement position in the land in 2003, during the global war on terror.
We were in Arizona, getting ready to visit the offices of U.S. Attorney Paul Charlton (who would later be fired in 2007 in the U.S. Attorneys firing scandal for standing up to the White House). I recall walking past Comey’s senior team at dinner, huddled around a table, talking about something well above my pay grade. I would later learn they were planning his resignation.
Former White House counsel Alberto Gonzales had been appointed as Attorney General. He and Comey had a complicated history. In 2004, the White House had sought to reauthorize a secret domestic surveillance program. Attorney General John Ashcroft was at that time incapacitated following surgery, and Comey was serving as acting attorney general. Comey believed the domestic surveillance program violated the constitutional rights of ordinary Americans and had refused to give the green light. Gonzales raced to the hospital bed of Ashcroft to override Comey, but Comey had been tipped off and met him there.
This so-called “hospital bed showdown” is legend at the Justice Department. This came when Comey and then-FBI Director Robert Mueller stood firm against the White House and refused to budge on issues of constitutional liberties. They threatened to resign unless the White House backed down. They won the battle, but ultimately lost the war. The next year, Gonzales replaced Ashcroft as Attorney General and Comey was pushed out for refusing to bend the knee.
During his farewell speech in August 2005, Comey spoke about the “reservoir of trust and credibility” that accompanies the title of “Justice Department employee.” He explained how those who had gone before us had built a reservoir of trust and credibility with the public. And because of this reservoir, whenever we spoke, people not only listened but also trusted what we said.
However, he cautioned, the problem with reservoirs is that although it takes a long time to fill them, it only takes one leak to drain them.
When I look at Justice Department today, there are holes everywhere, and the reservoir is drying up fast. We are at risk of losing the very foundation of our democracy — the independent and nonpartisan judicial process that holds this whole thing together.
To Comey and all current and former employees of the Justice Department, do not bend the knee. We serve more than a president, country or economy — we serve the principle and value of justice. We do not serve for retribution, vengeance or political expediency, but for justice — for right versus wrong.
It is wrong to weaponize the Justice Department to punish a political opponent. Not just morally wrong, but dangerous to the very foundation of our democracy.
Kim Bardella was a political appointee at the Department of Justice under President George W. Bush and former communications director for the House Judiciary Committee.
