In this episode of Sekulow, we delve into the surprising news of James Comey’s indictment by the Department of Justice. As Comey prepares to turn himself in, we explore the legal charges he faces and analyze the potential implications for both his career and broader issues of free speech and accountability. Our discussion raises important questions about the boundaries of public discourse in today’s political climate.
SPEAKER 07 :
We’ve got breaking news. James Comey to turn himself in following his DOJ indictment.
SPEAKER 09 :
Keeping you informed and engaged now more than ever. This is Sekulow. We want to hear from you. Share and post your comments or call 1-800-684-3110. And now your host, Logan Sekulow.
SPEAKER 07 :
Welcome to Sekulow. Phone lines are open for you at 1-800-684-3110. You know, we got done with the show yesterday. Will and I went to lunch. As we do, we’re having a nice sandwich. We look over at the TV and it says… James Comey indicted, and we go, ah, right when we go off the air, all the fun stuff. He could have done like 15 minutes earlier, yeah. All the fun stuff breaks, but today we get to talk about it. Not only was James Comey indicted over that, you know, very cool shell formation, as he put, what was the exact quote? Something to the shell, right? He goes, cool shell formation on my beach walk.
SPEAKER 01 :
Right.
SPEAKER 07 :
As it said, 86-47. Of course, someone who is threatening the President of the United States. And now we have an indictment of James Comey on this behalf, as well as we know that he’ll be turning himself in to be arraigned a little bit later today.
SPEAKER 08 :
That’s right. So he will be turning himself into a federal court and have an arraignment. They are saying that he will be doing that in Virginia, even though this indictment is out of the Eastern District of North Carolina, the Eastern Division. And it’s a two count indictment. It says that. He is indicted in violation of Title 18 U.S. Code Section 871A, which we can get into later, as well as Title 18 U.S. Code Section 875C. Two similar statutes. One, count one, does specifically relate to the seashells and it being the president. That is the code section that is making a threat against the president or successors to the presidency. The other one is about transmitting it in general, kind of another thing to go with this. Both of these counts could be fined or imprisoned, not more than five years or both. And we will get to it. But One thing I want to hear from the audience. Is this something you wanted to see? Do you think that this post is indictable? Obviously it was returned an indictment by a grand jury in North Carolina, but we’ll get into even the merits of this, what we think about it coming up in sections.
SPEAKER 07 :
I see a lot of people posting things similar to this. Some people I follow specifically after this happened, I feel like they did it almost in defiance. They started using this term. But do you take James Comey and do you use him as an example? It’s probably a high bar to get jail time for something like this or to be in prison. So keep your expectations at bay here. But I also don’t think it’s a bad idea when we have so many current threats, when we have a rhetoric that has gotten extreme in this country to say, you know what? Let’s calm it all down. Maybe what we need to do now, do I think arresting James Comey or whatever it may be, is going to be what gets us to calm everything down? Maybe not. However, it doesn’t mean it’s not justified. It doesn’t mean, though, that also he doesn’t like this. You got to remember, James Comey, also a bit of a showman himself, loves the cameras, loves to get in front of it. We know President Trump took his indictments and turned them into merchandise. I would not be surprised. I don’t know if you’ll see merch from James Comey. I don’t know where you would buy this merch. I don’t know what I don’t see a lot of Comey stores, you know, but, you know, do I think that he will relish in this a little bit? Oh, yeah. This is a new book written all over it. Well, I mean, this is a moment that he’s probably been waiting for ever since he posted that on social media. Now again, James Comey is back in the news. You think he goes away, but no, it comes back once again. Phone lines are open for you at 1-800-684-3110. And folks, we are wrapping up very rapidly our Faith Under Fire week, and of course, specifically, our Double the Difference drive. We’re going to talk a bit later with CC Heil about a big pro-life win. You’re going to want to stay tuned for this. A lot of times you don’t hear about big wins coming out of the Supreme Court of the United States where it’s almost a unanimous win. But today is one of those days. So we’re going to celebrate that. We’re going to talk about that a little bit more. But none of it happens without you. And the deadline is here. How far we can take these legal fights, how far we can take this media operation only relies on you. So again, the deadline’s here. Make your impact count at ACLJ.org. Have your gift doubled before time runs out. This is the last day. I mean, tomorrow will be it of me asking you to help support the ACLJ when donations are doubled. So be a part of it right now. Welcome back to Secular. We are going to be taking your calls, so give me a call at 1-800-684-3110. A lot of you are just joining us right now. Maybe you see the title. It’s James Comey to turn himself in. Maybe you didn’t even see because we were off the air. And look, some of you just watch our show, and then you go, no more news from me for the day. I like those people because I get it. They take the one hour a day, they get all the information they need, and then they need a breath, and they actually go spend time with their friends and their family, and they don’t let news and politics and all of these world events dictate their life. So good for you if you don’t know about this. But we are flashing back. to almost a year ago now when james comey was strolling around the beach posted on social media hey cool shell formation and that shell formation said 86 47 president the administration of course saying that that is a direct threat call for assassination and in this world where we are had multiple assassination attempts that we know about even and that got close president trump of course they’re taking these seriously and after a year we have an indictment now of james comey i want to know what you think should this have happened do you believe um that this is worthy of the american people’s time even that we should be investigating james comey and going a little bit further in here of course he will have his day in court and maybe that will be interesting for a lot of us to watch but it was a short three-page indictment faces a couple charges And phone lines are open for you at 1-800-684-3110. We do know, again, that’s 1-800-684-3110. And we do know he plans on turning himself in later today. He even put out his own video statement. Again, this is James Comey. This is someone that loves to be in front of the camera. We know this. So, do not think that he’s not… Look, it’s a pain. No one wants to go through this. But if there’s anyone that would like a little more air time, it’s probably him.
SPEAKER 08 :
That’s right. And honestly, when you read these charges and you hear from the attorney general, the acting attorney general, Todd Blanch, they felt like this was the right call. Remember, this is the second time that James Comey has been indicted by this Department of Justice. The first one was for false statements before Congress, a perjury charge related to Russian investigation matters. Now, that one was thrown out because the U.S. attorney that brought the charge, a judge said, was appointed outside of the proper channels. Now we are seeing this two-count indictment returned by a grand jury in the Eastern District of North Carolina, U.S. Federal Court, that charges two things related to this Instagram post. And the first one is Title 18 U.S. Code 8, Section 871, threats against the president or successors to the presidency. And that states, whoever knowingly and willfully deposits for conveyance in the mail or delivery from any post office or by letter carrier, paper, writing, etc., Any threat to take the life of, to kidnap, or to inflict bodily harm upon the President of the United States, the President-elect, Vice President, etc., or knowingly and willfully otherwise makes such a threat against the President, President-elect, Vice President, or other officer, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years or both. The next one is related to interstate communications title 18 U S code eight 75 section C, which says whoever transmits in interstate or foreign commerce, any communication containing a threat to kidnap any person or any threat to injure a person, uh, So that, once again, that is more broad statute about threats in general through interstate communications, here being Instagram, being the interstate communications. But when you put those two together, that’s the indictment. Now, here’s the big question. Because this now, you know, there will be a court process. There will be pretrial motions. There will be a lot of time before there actually gets to a jury trial. But… Is a jury of his peers going to convict James Comey of 18 U.S.C. 875A?
SPEAKER 07 :
Now, this is in North Carolina? In North Carolina. So, you know, you never know in North Carolina and, you know, the politics of it. Of course, I’ll do a good job kind of weighing through different. jurors, I think what you’ll be surprised is how many people don’t even know who James Comey is. You know, we talk about it every day. I think the mass majority of people have never heard the name. And I know that that’s probably shocking to a lot of you. But remember, most people don’t have the news on 24 hours a day. Most people think of James Comey as a relic of the past, even, at this point. We’re talking about someone who hasn’t been actively involved in many, many years. But, as I said… He loves a little razzle dazzle. He loves a show. So let’s hear from James Comey, who posted this just now on social media.
SPEAKER 02 :
I’m still innocent. I’m still not afraid. And I still believe in the independent federal judiciary. So let’s go. But it’s really important that all of us remember this is not who we are as a country. This is not how the Department of Justice is supposed to be.
SPEAKER 07 :
So that’s a short bite. Of course, he went on and on.
SPEAKER 08 :
Right. And here is to that point where he says he’s not afraid. I genuinely don’t think he is afraid.
SPEAKER 07 :
No, I don’t think he has anything really to be afraid of, if I’m being honest, too. And I don’t think this is it’s going to be serious. But again, unless they decide to make an example out of him. Right.
SPEAKER 08 :
well but they they have they’ve already decided to make the example out of them because the department of justice brought this forward got an indictment from a grand jury yeah now in their hands it’s kind of it’s out of their hands when plenty of people say a lot worse all the time on the internet and that probably mean it more than james comey did and that’s i think what is going to be the big defense from him is that that one he took it down when it was brought to his attention, didn’t understand it was associated with violence. That was his defense publicly. It is ridiculous, but here’s the other thing. Will a jury, beyond a reasonable doubt, think that james comey was conveying a threat now the statute doesn’t say it has to be a a legitimate threat or a credible threat it just says whoever could you be inspiring conveys that threat or or or any any such person makes any such threat now you could say that he did that yeah i think that’s what it’s going to come down to can you convince 12 people that beyond a reasonable doubt, he was conveying a threat to the president. If I were to forecast this, I don’t think that he would get convicted on this or would serve jail time for this.
SPEAKER 07 :
I think those are two different things. I think there’s a chance he gets convicted, but maybe the sentence is next to nothing. Now, this is just our speculation. Will and I are not lawyers. I also think we should be taking these things seriously. And you have someone with such a massive platform also like James Comey. Again, I may have just went on a rant about how a lot of people don’t know who he is, but the people who do follow James Comey are people who probably very quickly get radicalized. So I am not opposed to the idea that there is rhetoric. Again, we have the freedom of speech. You can say whatever you want. I don’t think there should be much censorship. I’m a pretty free speech absolutionist in certain terms of this. I think that we should be able to say pretty much whatever we want. But that doesn’t mean there’s not consequences to some of that speech. And one of those things directly and one of the few limits actually on our freedom of speech is when you not only directly threaten someone, when you directly threaten the president of the United States. That is not a theoretical law. It’s not a theoretical concept. This is something that is straight up in the US.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yeah, right.
SPEAKER 07 :
So look, it is what it is. It is what it is. And he can make an argument that he didn’t know exactly what it mattered, that it didn’t mean necessarily a direct physical threat to the president of the United States. But we live in a time where you are radicalizing. would be you know normal people i mean if you look at the background of the the uh potential shooter from the white house correspondence dinner if you took out politics you would think this is a very smart individual who’s lived a pretty good life involved in his church uh school teacher with caltech has a master’s degree seems like a pretty stand-up guy but you have had lot of rhetoric being thrown at these people will and i read an article this morning kind of talked about that the radicalization of people that would have been considered either moderate or non-political because you start drumming up these feelings and the emotions that are beyond politics you start giving people these complexes these complexes where they have to be the savior because no one else will be and They have a righteous anger in their own heads that they feel like they could take lives with that. I don’t put it past the American people to at least take a good look at this and say, look, where are we going to draw that line? And James Comey, who has been, you know, for some people a hero and for some just the biggest troll in the world.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, the weird thing is, when did he become that hero? Only after he was sending spies into the White House, right? Because he was also the person that was abusing his power and continued to go after Hillary Clinton during that timeline right before the election, reopening, closing, reopening the case against her. At the end of the day, what I would like to see him held accountable for is his abuse of power as FBI director. All the things that he put on this country when it comes to both the Hillary email investigation, the Russia collusion probe, him then leaking things to try and get a special counsel. He believed he was above the law. He believed he was the puppet master of the law, so to speak. And I think that is also where when you see an Instagram post… that he thought he was being clever it was a very serious thing but that also shows you his mindset that he just thinks that he is above everything and that’s even uh his higher calling book that he put out shows you his mindset totally is that he thinks he is above all of this just like me no no i just want to throw that that’s cruel i know it is i’m sorry don’t indict me
SPEAKER 07 :
1-800-684-3110. I don’t want to spy on you. 1-800-684-3110. Have your voice heard today. Look, we’ve got only a day left in our Faith Under Fire Double the Difference Drive. Be a part of it today. I’m going to ask you to go to aclj.org. I’m going to ask you to scan the QR code you see. Because today, and really by the end of the day tomorrow, is the last chance for quite some time to have your donation doubled today. back to seculo phone lines are jamming up right now at 1-800-684-3110 a lot of you are watching because of the news james comey not only indicted but will turn himself in later today but i wanted to pivot as we are just a little over 24 hours away from wrapping up our double the difference drive it has been a long journey we appreciate everyone joining us it’s really been about eight weeks been two months of we had a double your impact and then double the difference because double your impact went so well we were able to you know recreate it essentially get it back together and do two months back to back which we’ve been really appreciate everyone who has joined us during it but it’s the last day then you don’t have to hear from me tomorrow’s the last day actually on the 30th may 1st you don’t have to hear from me talking about this kind of thing for a little while but i am so uh impressed by our aclj legal team and there are so many things happening and today if you want to know i know a lot of you say it feels like nothing ever happens and sometimes it’s because we don’t spend a That is not because we don’t do it internally. Sometimes we’ve been told, I’ve told you this through data and analytics, that our audience doesn’t necessarily always want to hear when we’re celebrating our wins. They want to know what’s going on actively, what’s happening in the news. Well, this at least can kind of go together as one because it’s a current kind of breaking item that’s happening right now and also is a day to celebrate quite a bit, Will.
SPEAKER 08 :
right so the supreme court issued an opinion today in the case first choice women’s resource centers incorporated versus davenport the attorney general of new jersey we filed an amicus brief in this case it was something that we were following very closely because it tracks with cases we’ve won before at state level as well as things that we are currently fighting because effectively this was this pregnancy resource center was trying to sue the state and the Attorney General of New Jersey because of violation of their rights. The Attorney General had created a reproductive rights strike force and they were issuing subpoenas to these pregnancy resource centers trying to get documents. weaponizing the government against specifically pregnancy resource centers. We see that in Massachusetts with their ad campaign and also similar tactics from the Attorney General’s office in Massachusetts. But CeCe, tell us a little bit about what this case was about, how it affects our work and what the outcome was.
SPEAKER 01 :
Sure. So like you said, this is a case in New Jersey where the attorney general decided he was going to go after pro-life pregnancy resource centers, which, again, we see in every state and we have lots of cases going on just like this. Went after them for the Reproductive Rights Strike Force and through that issued subpoenas. Now, the subpoenas are what is really the source of the problem here because they started asking for lots of information way beyond what a subpoena can ask for and including the names of their donors so they sued the first choice women’s resource center sued because they said this this absolutely violates our first amendment right of association if we have to disclose our donors names and the district court when they went to federal district court the district court judge said look You don’t have any injury here because until a court actually compels you to answer that subpoena, there’s no injury. And so they appealed to the Supreme Court, the United States Supreme Court, like you said, in a unanimous decision, said, look, there’s a violation to your freedom of association the moment that question is asked by the attorney general. You don’t have to wait for a state court to compel it. The injury to your First Amendment right happens immediately. So they reversed that and sent that case back down. And what’s interesting here, Gorsuch made a comment about, you know, we’ve been dealing with this issue since the 1950s over and over, attorney generals, and trying to use subpoenas to go around the First Amendment. Now, I don’t go back to the 1950s, but in 2010, we had a case in New York where we represented PRCs and we absolutely won in court a law. First, they started with a law trying to target PRCs. We won that. So then they decided, well, we’re going to use the AG then to go after them. So they went after our client after we won and got the law struck down. They went after our client, AG Snyderman in New York, went after the PRCs and again had subpoenas that were way too far, asked too many questions. And we took that case and won at the New York Supreme Court. And the Supreme Court opinion says that there’s a danger that subpoenas may be used to intimidate or harass speakers who espouse views with which the government may disagree. And then he stated, the subpoena infringes on the First Amendment right of the petitioner and the petitioner’s staff members to freedom of association, and it is not sufficiently tailored to serve the compelling investigative purpose for which it was issued. So we won that case, which is exactly what the Supreme Court addressed here in New Jersey. This is going on in many, many states, and we are fighting it and have been for decades.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, and I think this plays into so much of the work of the ACLJ. One, this is a 9-0 decision. This is unanimous. Justice Gorsuch wrote the opinion. But one, that all of the justices agreed that the attorneys general of the states agreed cannot go around and weaponize their power to try and go after groups they don’t like.
SPEAKER 07 :
This affects beyond pro-life, clearly, because if it did, you probably would not have a 9-0 opinion.
SPEAKER 08 :
Right. But you also have to think about how many times we’ve seen not just attorneys general, but the government. I think back to the Tea Party case. What was the IRS going after? Donor lists. What are these attorneys general going after when it comes to pregnancy resource centers, nonprofits? Donor lists. What do they want to see? They want to intimidate people. They want to push these ideologies out of business because they disagree with them. And how can they do that? Silence the speech by silencing the donors, which will make them dry up. And that is what the Supreme Court is saying. You went too far here and we filed in it. It’s a great decision, but it doesn’t just affect people.
SPEAKER 07 :
the the pregnancy resource centers which we have many cases of right now like massachusetts where you’re seeing states go after them but also you can think of all of the touch points that this could affect that’s not just a pro-life decision that’s right and look if you have a question or comment about that as well i wouldn’t mind you calling in 1-800-684-3110 1-800-684-3110 in the second half hour we’ll take calls about this we’ll take calls about james comey as well i know a lot of you have questions or comments about that but cc before we wrap up this topic because we are wrapping up our double the difference drive right now this is it last 24 hours coming up this is not new for the aclj this is not work that is a one-off it continues on each and every day our team i mean i hear from our legal team every day This is one of the wins, but it is not alone. It is not the only thing we’re doing. We have teams dispatched everywhere working on these cases nonstop.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yeah, absolutely. And we can’t do it without our donors’ help. And we do. We have attorneys that are constantly working on these domestic issues and like, you know, international issues. So we literally are working around the clock to absolutely protect all the rights that God has given us. And like, even in this case, you know, since 2010, we’ve been working on this specific issue with attorney generals. Right.
SPEAKER 07 :
Since 2010. So that feels, you know, some people may hear 2010. They’re like, oh, that feels like that was yesterday. Well, start thinking about it actually in terms of time. We’re talking about 16 years that our team has been working on this specific issue. And now we have a result. Again, the organization’s been around nearly 40 years. That’s actually a pretty big chunk of time when you think about what our team has been working on. So you can be a part of that as well. I’m going to encourage you today because, again, we only got 24 hours left. Be a part of our Faith Under Fire week, but really the double the difference drive. Your donations are doubled because other ACLJ members, ACLJ champions, they are ready to unlock a donation. So whatever you give gets matched. The deadline is here. Whether it’s these pro-life cases you heard from CeCe today, we’re having an impact defending these pro-life advocates, pro-life resource centers. or maybe it is our worldwide efforts to help those being persecuted for their faith. Whatever it may be, the ACLJ is there and you want us to be there for you as well. And that only happens, remember it’s no cost to our clients, it’s no cost for you to get this show or any of our incredible resources we provide because people like you also decide to help. So go to aclj.org, have your donation doubled today before time runs out, 24 hours. keeping you informed and engaged now more than ever this is seculo and now your host logan secular second half hour of secular coming up for your wednesday april 29th here we are will we’re live and we’re going to be taking your calls and comments throughout the next half hour we are talking about a few different topics one there’s only 24 hours left maybe a little more than 24 hours, depending on when you’re hearing this. But, you know, the end of the day tomorrow is the end of our double the difference drive. So you’re going to hear me talk about it right now because the ACLJ, all donations that are made are matched by incredible champions, by incredible donors who have been supporting the work of the ACLJ, ready to unlock their pledges. So whatever you donate, the impact is doubled. So do that today at ACLJ.org. At the same time, we’re talking about the breaking news items that James Comey not only had been indicted right after he went off air yesterday, you know, it’s like, ah, we almost had it on air. And then it happened while we were having lunch. But we know he’ll be turning himself in today. He made a statement via his sub stack and put out a video because we know James Comey loves being on camera. This all has to do with that shell formation. Again, that sounds so ridiculous. A seashell formation that he posted on his social media that said 86-47. Of course, some people took that as a direct threat to President Trump, a call for assassination, a call for his life. That’s at least how the administration took it as the former FBI director posted that. Now, what does that look like? We’re going to find out because a jury of his peers is going to make some decisions. We have a lot of calls and comments related to this today. And of course, we also know that James Comey has been so over the top. The way he speaks whether that is a self-righteousness That comes upon him where he has to feel like he is doing the right thing for the American people and when you always look at what he’s doing it usually is in some sort of sales pitch for himself it feels like and We know His integrity has been very much questioned over the years whether from the left or from Because of his, you know, remember what happened we did with Hillary Clinton? Reading out all of the charges essentially against her and then saying we’re not going to do anything just days before the presidential election? A lot of people blame James Comey for the fact that Donald Trump became the president. And then, of course, you have President Trump. You have the leaking of documents to the press. You have so many things that has happened that are admitted to. This isn’t like theories. that to now have him in court is another i guess you’d say creative day for james comey to come up with a new book a new concept and a lot of conversation is kind of being swirled around of whether you think this is something not only indictable whether you think this is something he can be convicted of is this enough is the standard met will the jury what will they say we’re going to find out over the course of the next what’s probably going to be year maybe more who knows
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, and once again, this is the issue here because there is obviously we are very strong advocates of free speech. That is the bedrock of the ACLJ. There’s also Title 18 of the U.S. Code 871, which makes it a crime to make a threat about the president of the United States. Here’s what it’s going to hinge on, really. is that did he knowingly and willfully make a threat against the president? And here I think is where it gets tricky when it comes to a jury, when it comes to beyond a reasonable doubt. He knows it meant something negative against the president. but does the strict association of 86, which can be used in many different ways, can be used as get rid of, take him out of office. We have calls and comments coming in about that. Well, and we can get to that in the next segment, is that can you convince a jury, Department of Justice, beyond a reasonable doubt, that James Comey, who later took it down and apologized… knew with beyond a reasonable doubt that it meant kill. Did he apologize? He did. He said, I did not know that it had that connotation of violence. So I don’t know if he said, I apologize, but he made an excuse for the post. I’ll put it that way. And I know that’s going to make people in the chat mad, but I’m looking at it realistically is, are they going to be able to get a conviction on this?
SPEAKER 07 :
Come, we don’t play that. 1-800-684-3110. 1-800-684-3110. I want to hear from you. We got like three lines open right now. Great time to call in. I’m going to take some calls in the next segment. Again, that’s at 1-800. Say it slower. 684-3110. If you’re watching on YouTube or Rumble, make sure you’re subscribing or following our pages on X or on Facebook. However you’re watching this show, engage in that platform. Get in the comments. We’re about to be in a break. I always like to ask this. Let me know where you’re watching from. If you don’t want to tell me that, Throw an emoji. Surprise me with an emoji. Let’s see what you come up with. Get creative, folks. We’ll be right back. Welcome to Seculo. Welcome back. We are taking calls 1-800-684-3110 because a lot of you have different feelings on this. And look, James Comey may not be your favorite person. He may be a boogeyman of sorts to a lot of you. But some of you think throw the guy in jail. Some of you think maybe it’s going a little too far. Maybe we are making an example out of the wrong person. Let’s take a call. Let’s go to Russell. Who’s calling in Washington online to Russell. Go ahead.
SPEAKER 14 :
Hey, how you doing today?
SPEAKER 07 :
Our good Russell. Thanks for calling.
SPEAKER 14 :
Hey, I just wanted to say it’s really hard to distinguish Logan from his dad. His voice is so familiar anyway. I also wanted to thank you for what you and your staff do for righteousness. And I just wanted to say about James Comey, you know, I’m not a Democrat and I am a Christian and I feel I’m not wearing a blindfold. And at the same time, I can be fair about things and about James Comey. I have mixed emotions about it now about making an example out of them. That happens all the time. And I think he was just plain being freaking stupid when he, you know, wrote that in the sand. Now, 86, 47 to me can mean a lot of things. You know, you go to a bar, you think about you’re in a bar, you get 86, you’re tossed out. And that doesn’t necessarily mean
SPEAKER 08 :
um okay assassinate the president right you know so i mean that’s i think you’re spot on of where a defense would come in for the former fbi director is saying that yes it’s also a common parlance for throwing someone out of a bar out of a restaurant that’s acting up and therefore Could he have also meant, yes, I knew it was something against the president. I want him thrown out of office. I think right there shows where the government’s burden of proof is going to be very difficult because you just articulated a very strong, reasonable doubt defense for James Comey. I am no James Comey supporter or fan. I think he has done egregious things to our country that probably rise to the level of criminal abuse of power. sending spies into the White House, leaking classified information, trying to get a special counsel appointed, which he successfully did. All of those things, I want to see him held accountable for. Here’s the other problem. If he goes before a jury and gets acquitted, All of the people that we have to talk to every single day that we say, listen, there is still hope in our judicial system, it gives them another feather in their cap to say, look, we told you so, no one’s ever held accountable. So that’s what concerns me about this case in general. One, the free speech angle. Two, yes, I do also look at the code that says you cannot willfully make a threat against the president. There’s a lot of people out there right now willfully and knowingly making threats on the internet against the president. Do I think that they can prove that James Comey willfully and knowingly was making a threat to assassinate the president? I think that’s a very, very difficult bar for them to reach. And I think Russell just proved that.
SPEAKER 07 :
I’m glad you’re defending James Comey on this show, Will, today.
SPEAKER 08 :
I love that you’re the one that is trying to say that I’m defending him. I’m just trying to be realistic here. I know. Because normally you’re the one that’s like, Logan, you love James Comey. I don’t think I’ve ever said that.
SPEAKER 07 :
They’ve said other things, but I don’t know if I’ve ever said I love James Comey. I read it somewhere. I’m pretty sure I saw it. I mean, look, James Comey is a 70-year-old grandpa, okay? There is part of that where you go, does this guy know what he’s doing? I don’t know. The fact that he can even use Substack is a pretty shocking thing. The fact that he has an active Instagram account, no offense to all of us people watching. I know we have an older audience often, but we’re talking about somebody who is… Do I think he’s an active… threat physical threat to the president united states no probably not do i think he can inspire a lot of people do i think he’s a troll absolutely he’s the king of trolls if you will he plays the holier than thou character better than anyone ever he acts as if he is the hero to everyone’s story Maybe it’s just me being kind of annoyed by James Comey over the years. Maybe it’s the fact that I’ve had to talk about this man for so many years that I am exhausted with it. But…
SPEAKER 08 :
That also goes to your point as well about even when Don Lemon was indicted, right? It’s sometimes you just want them to go away because at the end of the day, James Comey doesn’t really have any power of the American people anymore. He is gone. He was fired from his job. He was the FBI director. He abused his power. He thought he was above everything. His book was titled A Higher Loyalty. And we all know that that loyalty was just to himself. And we see that played out consistently in these holier than thou videos. Now Logan has to watch again and it makes him irritable so much. So he’ll say that I’m defending James Comey. And, but at the end of the day is you’re giving him more airtime as we
SPEAKER 07 :
are right now we’re talking about this because it’s in the news a lot of comments are quit giving this guy airtime look what’s happening around the world you had stabbings going on jewish communities out in london again you’re having a lot of things happening around the world are we spending too much airtime on james comey maybe so but it’s also what you guys want to talk about the phone lines are jammed i understand it look because sometimes you want to take a little win it’s nice to hear it occasionally And look, he also doesn’t come off like the most genuine guy that you really want to get behind. And I get that as well. The charisma, the Riz will is lacking with James Comey, but he thinks he’s full of it. Let’s go to Mario, who is calling from Illinois on line three. Mario, you’re on the air.
SPEAKER 12 :
How are you doing, gentlemen? Good. No, it’s true. You guys are giving him what he wants because he himself is not convinced that he’s innocent. He’s trying to convince us that he’s innocent. He likes all this. He loves all this attention because he wants to see what we think of it. Him, he knows he’s guilty of everything you’re talking about. He knows that for a fact. And you know that for a fact. You guys know. But he himself is trying to convince us that he’s innocent. And so I’m a minister, and I deal with people that are drug addicts, and I deal with people that are guilty of things, and they talk to me about it, confess to me. But his arrogancy is what’s going to get him in trouble.
SPEAKER 08 :
And I think that’s exactly right. He has been arrogant the entire time. And that is what’s getting him in trouble. But I would disagree with you. I do think that he doesn’t believe he is guilty of 18 U.S.C.
SPEAKER 1 :
871.
SPEAKER 08 :
I think James Comey genuinely believes that.
SPEAKER 07 :
Mario, I appreciate your call. Mario, I think I’m more with Mario on this. I know you are. I’m always with Mario, by the way. You’re just enjoying it right now. You’re enjoying your moment. I’m always team Mario, okay? Yeah. Thank you for calling, Mario. Appreciate it. Mamma mia. That’s to summarize his comment there. You got me. I got him. I got him, finally. Okay. Yahoo! Let’s go on. Let’s move on. We can take one more call in this segment. We’re going to take a lot more coming up in the next one’s Rogers Call on Line 1. Watch it on the Salem News Channel, which, by the way, we’re available each and every day live there on the Salem News Channel. You can get it on most of your smart TVs and devices. Go ahead.
SPEAKER 13 :
Yes. James Comey, I thought, was smart and intelligent. I mean, look at the position he had in the government. and to just go ignorant and put that down and then put it out on the internet and so forth, and now he thinks he’s not guilty. If one of the regular people had done that, he would come after them and try to lock them up. So I just don’t have, I know I don’t have faith in him, and I don’t know if they’ll do anything with me. He’ll play stupid. He’ll probably try to plead the fifth or something. But he knew before he did it what it meant. 86 is, you know, put it in the trash. You know, 86, the president, put the president in the trash. He knew that. And he can lie all he wants, but he knew before he did it.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah. Right on, Roger. I appreciate your call. I think that there is a lot to be said. Look, we’re going to have that information later. Out there. They’re going to have to have these conversations. Now, again, will it be broadcast? I don’t know. Did they get to broadcast these? It’ll be better recorded.
SPEAKER 08 :
We won’t have video.
SPEAKER 07 :
Oh, we’re going to get some bad sketches. Yeah. Saw some of those sketches of the would-be assassin. They did a number on him. Gosh. I mean, come on. I mean, I don’t want to call out any artists because look, I love art. I’m an art collector.
SPEAKER 01 :
I’m an art dealer.
SPEAKER 07 :
It was real fast. I mean, gosh, it was like, you know, sloth from the Goonies. I saw the guy didn’t look like that. Come on now. All right. Phone lines are jammed. We’re going to keep them going in the next segment. I want to take this next minute, though, to tell you we are wrapping up the last 24 hours of our Double the Difference drive. In the next segment, we maybe will have time to play a special video presentation. If not, we’ll do it tomorrow. But I do want to still hear from you. A lot of you are calling in, so I want to make sure we give you proper time if possible. Because the work of the ACLJ continues worldwide. We’re having a little fun today, and I think that’s all right. Some days you have to be a little lighter than others, but know that the work of the ACLJ is very serious. You may walk around our media studio and be like, oh, these guys are having a blast. And we are because we are able to really spend our time getting incredible content out to you all. But we also have a team. We’ll be right back. really putting the effort forward to protect our own team and to protect all of you out there as well. And while faith may be under fire today, you can have your gift doubled at ACLJ.org. And if you can, opt in and become an ACLJ champion. It’s automatic. You can obviously cancel any time. Become a monthly member, essentially, of the ACLJ. Do that today. We’ll be right back with your calls and comments coming right up. A lot of people in the chat today talking about my southern accent today, Will. They said my Italian accent when I did a Super Mario. Mario. Depends on where you’re from. I know. You’re not from New York. Well, I say Super Mario. Right. You can hear it both ways. I’ve heard that. But they’re going after me on the chat here. They’re saying, number one, I’m irritating. Number two, I have a bad southern accent, which I was unaware of. You know, they’re exposing a lot of my… uh you know issues today a lot of truth about logan i know well this is what happens when you go after james comey yeah sure there are a bunch of james comey lovers on the chat i know i’m shocked they’re with you today they are not i i can read and they are indeed not but maybe we should go to the phone i can’t read All right, phone lines, we have two lines open, 1-800-684-3110. Two champions are on hold right now. The champion that’s been on hold the longest gets to go first. Melissa, South Carolina, you’re up first. Go ahead.
SPEAKER 05 :
Hey, good morning, or good afternoon. My suggestion is James Comey needs a mental health exam so that the prosecution can prove he was mentally stable, or the defense is going to need to prove that he was mentally unstable and did not know what he’s doing, and that will cover it all.
SPEAKER 08 :
i wonder if that will also um be able to pick up on his narcissism because that that’s honestly i think what is at the root of all of this is that uh when you look at his actions he believes that he is above it all and so uh i think that a lot of these individuals if we’ve seen don’t believe that the law applies to them but it does They were indicted by a grand jury. We’ll see where it goes next.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yep, we’ll see. Melissa, I appreciate you also being a champion. That’s someone that gives on a monthly basis, by the way. Someone that gives automatically. They have opted in to essentially become what you consider like a member of the ACLJ. Now they don’t receive like a bunch of special perks. You know, that’s what’s great about it. They just said, I just want to make a donation every month. I mean, occasionally they’ll get a special email. Occasionally they’ll get a new overlay on their app. But for the most part, these are people that just say, I’m dedicated to donating. And I appreciate that so much. The one little perk I personally offer is if you call him and you tell our phone screener, I bump you to the front of the line. And Melissa is also a part of the Rumble community.
SPEAKER 08 :
There you go. If you watch on Rumble, she’s one of the members of the chat that’s frequently there.
SPEAKER 07 :
You call it Rumblers?
SPEAKER 08 :
I think they’re ranters. I just did. Rumble ranters?
SPEAKER 07 :
All right. Tim’s calling in Nevada, also an ACLJ champion. Tim, you’re up.
SPEAKER 04 :
My biggest complaint about James Comey, and for anybody thinking he should be given any lenience at all, is that he held an extremely high position in the government. And the higher up you are, supposedly, the more accountable… You’re supposed to be. And it seems to be the opposite in the government. He knew exactly what he was saying. Definitely an narcissist. He’s a scumbag and he needs to be held accountable. And I think that includes jail time. Is that maybe extreme for what it is? Well, he threatened the president. I say just throw him in jail for a while because this is going to there’s too much rhetoric that that needs to stop. And these people just get away with it.
SPEAKER 07 :
Tim, I do think the last part about the rhetoric, I think you’re 100% correct. I think we have gone so far into cuckoo land that it’s almost unrecognizable what we’ve been not only allowed to chat about what’s become socially accepted. but what has become even legally accepted. And look, I am all for the freedom of speech, set me up, say whatever you want, but there is a line. And look, I don’t know if this is that line. I don’t know if James Comey posting a seashell formation is the line. That’s probably maybe pushing it a bit far. But I understand wanting things to chill out. And I would say the same, by the way, to the President of the United States. I would say the same to Donald Trump. And saying, you know what? If you want to be that person, if you want to actually do it, lead the charge yourself. Do I think that’s going to happen? No. Because that’s not the way his attitude is. And look, I can respect certain things about that. I loved a few of the social media posts yesterday when King Charles was visiting. They posted a picture of of King Charles and President Trump laughing and they put two kings. I think that’s pretty hilarious. I think there’s things that you can troll about and have a little fun with, as we have had today, but they don’t rise to the level of threatening physical violence upon anyone at that matter, not just the President of the United States.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, and Tim, to your point, the amount of people that are actually calling for horrible things against the elected president United States on social media is astounding. But when you look at this poll that came out last year, 38 percent of all respondents in this Rutgers University poll. said murdering President Trump would be at least somewhat justified. 38% of all respondents. That’s shocking. But not as shocking as when you go down to among respondents who identified as left of center. The number was 56%. said that murdering President Trump would be at least somewhat justified. 56% of left-leaning individuals polled here. That is how you end up getting repeated assassination attempts.
SPEAKER 07 :
It’s the same with the October 7th attacks, when you have people who won’t say that that was a terrorist attack. On the far right and the far left. I’ve said with Israel and that, I mean, you could have a problem with the war in Gaza. You could have a problem with the way that they have done things. But that… If you justify what happened on October 7th as some sort of justifiable defense or whatever you may think it may be, where babies were kidnapped and murdered, where people were kidnapped and murdered who were at a music festival, all those things happen and you’ve somehow come up with your own version of that narrative, you are so far gone. Especially when you start saying it in the name of liberalism or in the name of Christianity. But that is where we are. And not to end this on some sort of darker tone, But we do have a couple other calls coming in. We have two and a half minutes. I’m going to try to jump to them real quick. Let’s keep it short. Kyle, Colorado, line five, go ahead.
SPEAKER 06 :
Hi, my name is Kyle. Um, I obviously you guys are, you know, Hey, um, so the one thing I’ve just noticed with all of this is that the left has just kept going and going and going every, every time they get power, they just keep taking and taking and taking the right. For some reason, every single time they get power, they do nothing. They sit on their hands. And with this whole James Comey thing, he knows what he did. He is a hundred percent like on the level. He knows what he’s doing. And same with every one of these Democrats. They know what they’re doing. They’re smart. They’re not dumb. We keep treating them like, oh, well, they may have made a mistake or they maybe just didn’t think about it. No, they know. They know 100% what they’re doing and we’re just letting them do this.
SPEAKER 07 :
Kyle, I appreciate it and I agree. The only reason I’m cutting you off is because I want to try to get one more call. Let’s go to Marion in Texas with kind of an opposite but similar point of view. Marion, go ahead. We’ve only got about a minute left.
SPEAKER 03 :
Okay, I’ll make it quick. Comey’s being charged with the wrong charges. This guy did so much bad stuff. He eventually set up the Mueller report, which went after Trump. He put out classified information to the newspaper. Not directly, but by going through a friend. Then when that friend put the charges on him, he came and took credit for it. He’s done nothing but horrible stuff, and he needs to be held accountable. I don’t care how they do it, but I think they’ve got better charges than what that seashell thing is.
SPEAKER 07 :
I don’t necessarily disagree that there’ve been a lot that James Comey has done in the past. It is weird that this is what got us here, but you know what? Let’s see what happens. Thanks for calling. I am. We got one minute. Hey, you’re like 20 seconds. Let’s go to forest in California. Who’s an ACLJ champion. Only reason I’m putting you on the air is because you are a champion. Go ahead.
SPEAKER 10 :
These people are saying that 86 means to get rid of it. One thing since the late 70s, which is to kill. My question is, instead of him saying, quote, I will kill the president, quote, which is a threat, what about if he’s calling for other people to kill the president, quote, kill him or you should kill him, quote, unquote.
SPEAKER 07 :
What I feel like, and I’m only cutting you off because thank you for being a champion. I do feel like there is some social responsibility for what you post and who you also are inspiring. You may not be that person. who feels that way but when you have such a large following that’s not to say that’s not going to inspire the wrong people now how can you be a held criminal liable for that i don’t know about that i’m not a lawyer but maybe it could be something that can at least be discussed in as much as you can interpret it to not be a call for violence to the president united states i certainly believe you can say it is a call for violence to the president united states or for anyone for that matter That’s going to wrap up today’s show. Again, this is the last 24 hours. We’re kicking off right now. Our faith under fire. Double the Difference Drive. Be a part of it today. We’ll talk to you tomorrow.
