CNN’s Elie Honig Says Comey Indictment Is ‘Fatally Flawed,’ Doesn’t See ‘Realistic’ Chance of Conviction

CNN Senior Legal Analyst Elie Honig panned the Department of Justice’s indictment of James Comey, saying there is no “realistic” chance of a conviction in the case.

Comey, the former FBI director fired by President Donald Trump in 2017, was indicted in the Eastern District of North Carolina on Tuesday over an Instagram post. In May of last year, Comey posted an image of seashells on a beach arranged to say “86 47.”

“Cool shell formation on my beach walk,” Comey wrote.

Conservatives expressed outrage and claimed that Comey was issuing a threat to kill the 47th president.  In slang, “86” typically means to refuse service to someone or to throw a person out of an establishment.

The former FBI director was charged with making a threat against the president and transmitting a threat across state lines.

On Tuesday’s edition of The Lead, Honig explained why he thinks the case is likely to flop.

“I think this indictment is deeply flawed,” he said. “I think it’s probably fatally flawed.”

Honig went on to say the case will hinge on whether Comey’s use of “86” was really a call for the president to be killed.

“And I think if you look at this communication, these seashells, it’s just way too ambiguous,” he continued. “What does ’86’ mean? Yes, there have been instances in pop culture and elsewhere where people have used ’86’ to mean kill. But there have been plenty of other instances – apparently far more instances – where it simply means to remove or to cross off a list. And that ambiguity is going to be a major problem for prosecutors, because, I will tell you, ambiguity is always the enemy of the prosecutors because you have to prove your case, not just by 51% or 75%. You have to prove your case beyond a reasonable doubt. And I don’t see any realistic way prosecutors are gonna be able to do that here.”

In September, a grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia indicted Comey for allegedly lying to Congress and obstructing a congressional investigation in 2020. But in November, a judge tossed the charges after ruling that the U.S. Attorney for the District, who had signed the indictment, was illegally appointed.

Watch above via CNN.

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