Donald Trump denies ordering attacks on Comey and James, but his explanation completely exposes his game

President Donald Trump says he did not tell the Justice Department to go after former FBI Director James Comey, former National Security Advisor John Bolton, and New York State Attorney General Letitia James. He made this claim during an interview with CBS News’ 60 Minutes, where reporter Norah O’Donnell asked him about the criminal charges these three people are now facing.

According to Fox News, O’Donnell wanted to know if these cases were about getting back at political enemies. Trump avoided the question by talking about his own legal problems instead. “You know who got indicted? The man you’re looking at. I got indicted. And I was innocent,” he told her.

But when O’Donnell pushed harder and asked if he directly ordered the Justice Department to target these people, Trump gave an answer that revealed more than he probably meant to. “No. You don’t have to instruct ’em because they were so dirty, they were so crooked, they were so corrupt, that the honest people we have go after ’em automatically,” he said, talking about Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel.

So he didn’t order it, but he didn’t need to

What Trump described sounds like a Justice Department that knows what he wants without him having to say it directly. He called Comey, James, and others criminals while saying Bondi and Patel are good people who go after bad guys on their own. This basically means his team knows who he thinks should be prosecuted and acts on that understanding.

The interview also brought up a post Trump made on Truth Social back in September. In that message, he wrote about how his supporters were complaining that nothing was happening to Comey, Democratic Senator Adam Schiff, and James. “They’re all guilty as hell, but nothing is going to be done,” he quoted people saying.

Trump ended that September post by demanding action right away. “We can’t delay any longer, it’s killing our reputation and credibility. They impeached me twice, and indicted me (5 times!), OVER NOTHING. JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!” he wrote.

The dates matter here. Trump posted that message in September, before Comey and James got indicted. This shows he was publicly calling for these people to be charged, and then it actually happened. He might say now that he never gave orders, but his own words show that prosecutors seem to act on what he clearly wants them to do.

Trump seems to be using the Justice Department against his enemies after he got back into office. What’s happening now, along with Trump’s explanation that things happen “automatically” when he calls someone corrupt, seems to prove those worries were right. At the same time, Trump is asking for millions of dollars because of investigations into him, while saying he never told anyone to investigate his critics.