The Safest Place to Be Is On Trump's Enemies' List
More Revenge Investigations by Trump's DOJ: This Time It's John Brennan and James Comey
by Glenn Kirschner
Jul 10, 2025
Donald Trump is forever populating his enemies list: Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, Adam Schiff, Leticia James, Alvin Bragg, Jack Smith, Miles Taylor, Chris Krebs, John Brennan, and Comey, and of course, the OG of Trump's enemies list, Hillary Clinton.
Importantly, not a single one of these people has ever actually been prosecuted or charged with any crime.
This video lays out the five reasons why Brennan and Comey are very unlikely to ever be prosecuted.
Transcript
Well, friends, there he goes again.
Donald Trump adds a couple more names to
his enemies list with his Department of
Justice apparently now gearing up to
criminally investigate
former CIA director John Brennan and
former FBI director James Comey.
Let's talk about that because justice
matters.
[Music]
Hey all, Glen Kersner here. So friends,
another day, another new low for Donald
Trump and his Department of Justice.
We're going to start with the new
reporting, but then we're going to talk
about the many reasons why neither John
Brennan nor James Comey nor any of the
many other public servants and former
public servants on Donald Trump's
enemies list will likely ever be
prosecuted.
or put less delicately, let's talk about
why this latest punk move by Trump, this
is likely to go exactly
nowhere.
But here's the new reporting. This from
NBC News
headline, Trump administration targets
Comey and Brennan with new
investigation.
And that article begins, "The Trump
administration has put two repeated
targets of President Donald Trump under
criminal investigation, although details
of what exactly they are being
investigated for or how far the Justice
Department intends on taking the probes
are unclear.
The two targets are former CIA director
John Brennan and former FBI director
James Comey, whom Trump fired in his
first term, according to a statement
that a Justice Department spokesperson
provided to reporters.
Okay, friends, can I ask you to put a
pin in that? that the Department of
Justice apparently issued a statement
that yes, there's a criminal
investigation that we're conducting and
the targets of that investigation are
John Brennan and James Comey.
This quote from former CIA director John
Brennan. Quote, "It is hard to believe
that here we are 8 and a half years
after the 2016 presidential election.
We're still going over this ground that
has been, I think, fairly well and
exhaustively plowed, Brennan said. He
went on to reiterate what he had
previously told NBC News that he has not
been contacted by the Justice Department
or the CIA about the investigation.
But he said, quote, I think this is
unfortunately a very sad and tragic
example of the continued politization of
the intelligence community, of the
national security process. And quite
frankly, I'm really shocked that, you
know, individuals are willing to
sacrifice their reputations, their
credibility, their decency to continue
to do Donald Trump's bidding on
something that clearly is just
politically based.
And friends, here comes the first of
several reasons exposing why this
newlyannounced investigation of Brennan
and Comey is stone cold
Because it's all been investigated
before.
The article continues,
"A special counsel appointed by then
Attorney General William Bill Bar spent
years investigating how the 2017
intelligence assessment was put
together, requiring many CIA officials
to hire lawyers."
that special counsel John Durham also
used a grand jury to scrutinize the
actions of Brennan Comey and many who
worked for them over how the FBI and the
CIA handled investigations into Russia's
effort to interfere in the 2016
election. But Durham did not charge the
two former leaders or accuse them of any
wrongdoing.
His sole charge against a public
official came against a low-level FBI
lawyer who had lied on a warrant
application.
Okay, friends, there's a lot to unpack
there. So, let's do this one by the
numbers.
One,
remember during the first Trump
administration
when Bill Barr appointed a special
counsel, John Durham, to do what?
investigate the investigators.
Donald Trump didn't like the fact that
he had been investigated for all things
Trump Russia, right? Connections between
the Trump campaign and Russia or that he
was investigated for his own conduct
that looked like uh he was obstructing
justice. All of which was documented in
volume two of the Mueller report. Donald
Trump didn't like it one bit. So he had
Bill Barr appoint a special counsel,
John Durham, to investigate the origins
of the Trump Russia investigation.
Investigate the investigators.
And John Durham, to his credit, did an
extensive and exhaustive investigation,
used the grand jury subpoena power to
investigate potential crimes, including
of Brennan and Comey. And guess what?
Neither Brennan nor Comey apparently
committed any crimes because they
weren't indicted. They weren't tried.
They weren't prosecuted. Nothing.
So all of this has been done before. In
fact, by Trump and company, this kind of
an investigation has been done before.
So friends, you know who would make an
excellent witness for the defense if
Brennan or Comey was ever indicted and
taken to trial?
John Durham.
For the defense, not for the
prosecution.
Okay, friends. Two. You know who else
would make an excellent witness for the
defense if Brennan were ever prosecuted?
if Comey were ever prosecuted.
Your honor, the defense calls to the
witness stand
Marco Rubio.
That's right, friends. Donald Trump's
current Secretary of State, Marco Rubio,
would make a devastating defense witness
if DOJ was ever foolish enough to try to
prosecute Brennan or Comey. Why? Well,
because Marco Rubio was the acting
chairman of the Senate Intelligence
Committee when that committee also
exhaustively investigated the origins of
the Trump Russia probe.
And do you know what Marco Rubio said on
behalf of a bipartisan committee about
the results of their exhaustive
investigation?
report of the Select Committee on
Intelligence, United States Senate on
Russian active measures, campaigns and
interference in the 2016 US election.
Volume four, review of the intelligence
community assessment. this quote from
Marco Rubio. Every witness interviewed
by the committee stated that he or she
saw no attempts or pressure to
politicize the findings.
So when DOJ tries to prove that John
Brennan or James Comey pressured people
during the Trump Russia investigation or
tried to politicize the investigation's
findings and conclusions,
Marco Rubio would have to testify to his
own statement
that every witness interviewed by the
committee stated that he or she saw no
attempts
or pressure to politicize the findings.
Okay, friends. Reason number three there
likely will never be a prosecution of
Brennan or Comey is because of the
statute of limitations.
Five years. Prosecutors typically have
five years from the time a crime is
committed to bring a federal charge.
Hypothetically speaking, if anything was
done back during the Trump Russia
investigation that could have been
criminal, well, those crimes have timed
out, right? The deadline has passed. The
statute of limitations would require a
judge to dismiss any indictment brought
for crimes that were more than 5 years
old. So that's a legal technical reason
that even if they had done something
wrong back then, they couldn't be
prosecuted today. Reason number four is
a little thing we call vindictive
prosecution.
I mean friends, this is Donald Trump
demanding a conviction in search of a
crime. Do you remember a few minutes ago
when I asked you to put a pin in some of
the reporting we were reading? The DOJ
actually said the two targets are former
CIA director John Brennan and former FBI
Director James Comey, according to a
statement that a Justice Department
spokesperson provided to reporters.
Friends, as a 30-year federal
prosecutor, 24 of those years at the
Department of Justice, we don't do that.
We don't comment on or announce, "Hey,
everybody, listen up. new criminal
investigation.
And well, let me tell you who the
targets are. We've already decided who
the wrongdoers will be, even though we
haven't conducted the investigation yet.
We're going after Brennan and Comey. If
that is not marquee evidence tending to
prove a vindictive prosecution, I don't
know what is.
In the event Pam Bondi can find lawyers
who are excited about the prospect of
losing their law license for bringing a
vindictive prosecution like that.
I suspect a federal judge would
figuratively speaking cramm it down the
throat of the Department of Justice and
the DOJ lawyers who exercise the bad
judgment to go into court and support a
vindictive prosecution.
Reason number five,
how many people are on Donald Trump's
enemies list? How many people has he
said he wants to prosecute?
Well, let's see. There's Liz Cheney,
Adam Kinzinger, Adam Schiff, Leticia
James, Alvin Bragg, Jack Smith, Miles
Taylor, Christopher Krebs, and now John
Brennan, and James Comey.
And friends, who is the original OG on
Donald Trump's enemies list? Let's see.
What was that three-word mantra that he
used to have? His supporters at his hate
rallies chant endlessly. It was um Oh,
yeah.
Lock her up.
Right. There's the OG on Donald Trump's
enemies list, Hillary Clinton.
So, friends, of those people I just
listed, how many have been indicted,
criminally charged, prosecuted, by my
count? Exactly
zero.
You know, maybe the safest place to be
if you don't want to be criminally
prosecuted
is on Donald Trump's enemies list.
You know, it's clear that these people
have not been indicted or prosecuted or
tried is because they committed no
crimes. Not that that matters to Donald
Trump. I mean, the reason he has his
Department of Justice announce in
violation of every ethical rule,
everything we stand for at the
Department of Justice announced that,
"Hey, hey, we're criminally
investigating two more people." And let
me tell you who the targets are, Brennan
and Comey, is for the intimidation
value. That's what that's for. Not
because there's any prospect of a
successful prosecution. None of these
people that Donald Trump has been
railing against for years, a decade or
more, none of them have been prosecuted.
And I suspect, given the five reasons we
just discussed, none of them ever will
be. And you know why?
Because justice
matters.
Friends, as always, please stay safe.
Please stay tuned and I look forward to
talking with you all again tomorrow.
[Music]