The post that named three critics: the president's own words directing prosecution

Comey was indicted days later and James weeks later; both indictments were later voided by a federal court as products of an unlawfully appointed prosecutor

On September 20, 2025, Trump posted to Truth Social, addressed to his own attorney general by name: 'What about Comey, Adam 'Shifty' Schiff, Leticia???... They're all guilty as hell, but nothing is going to be done... We can't delay any longer, it's killing our reputation and credibility.' The post named three individual critics and called, in the same breath, for their prosecution.

An administration official later told NBC News that Trump had intended the message privately for Bondi and it was posted publicly by mistake, a detail that bears on the president's intended audience but not on the post's actual, public effect: it was read by the public, quoted extensively in the press, and preceded by days the indictment of Comey (WLE-01) and, weeks later, the indictment of James (WLE-02); the Schiff investigation (WLE-06) was also underway in this period.

Two of the three named targets had taken official action against Trump personally: Comey, as FBI director, was overseeing the investigation into whether Trump's 2016 campaign had conspired with Russia, and Letitia James won a civil fraud judgment against Trump and the Trump Organization for overstating the value of his real estate holdings. Whether the post legally constitutes 'direction' to prosecute, as opposed to public commentary a president is entitled to make, is contested; what is not contested is the post's content, timing, and the indictments that followed it.

Documented

The post itself is undisputed; whether it constitutes unlawful direction versus protected commentary is contested

2025-09-20