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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 prices; prosecutors allege {that a} 2025 social media submit Comey made, displaying 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 business slang for rejecting or eradicating one thing or somebody, relying on the context — however prosecutors, and some Republicans, have as a substitute 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 submit 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 12 months, when the Trump administration briefly — and incompetently — indicted Comey on a special set of flimsy prices, which had been subsequently dismissed.
(It’s not even, we must always be aware, the one such try in the present day: 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 pressured off the air by the administration final fall.)
What’s the large 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 workforce.
Trump’s frustrations with Bondi had been well-known; in September, he posted a message addressed to her, complaining that “Nothing is being executed” 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 potential, by no means thoughts how ridiculous the fees.