Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., on Sunday said he has “no faith” in the U.S. judicial system under President Donald Trump and accused the president of undermining democracy by going after political foes like former FBI Director James Comey.
“I have no faith in Donald Trump’s judicial system,” Schumer told NBC News’ “Meet the Press.” “He has turned this judicial system to be his own political, political fighter, [to] do what he wants, politically, so that he tells them to go after people he doesn’t like. He tells them to exonerate people that he likes.”
As an example, Schumer pointed to Comey, who was indicted last week on charges of making a false statement and obstruction of a congressional proceeding just days after the president said that Attorney General Pam Bondi should prosecute him. Trump also called for the Justice Department to investigate other political foes, including New York Attorney General Letitia James and Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.
“When he says he doesn’t like Comey, look what happened there,” Schumer told “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker.
The minority leader pointed to the personnel changes in the U.S. Attorney’s office in Virginia, where former acting U.S. Attorney Erik Siebert resigned his post earlier this month after pressure from the Trump administration to prosecute Comey for allegedly lying to Congress.
New acting U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan, who served on Trump’s defense team in an unrelated case before he took office for a second term, sought an indictment against Comey just days after she was appointed. NBC News reported that Halliganpresented the case to a grand jury alone after career prosecutors in her office informed her that they believed probable cause did not exist to secure an indictment against Comey.
Comey has maintained that he did nothing wrong, saying in a video posted to Instagram after the indictment that, “I’m innocent, so let’s have a trial and keep the faith.”
Meanwhile, the president celebrated news of the indictment last week, writing in a post on Truth Social that the case was an example of “JUSTICE IN AMERICA!”
“One of the worst human beings this Country has ever been exposed to is James Comey,” he added.
“Trump’s done so many bad things to undermine our democracy, to undermine our norms. This is one of the very worst,” Schumer said on Sunday.
Vice President JD Vance, in a separate interview on Fox News’ “Fox News Sunday,” denied that Comey’s indictment was politically motivated, saying it was “preposterous” to suggest that.
“We’re always going to let the law drive this stuff and the facts of the case and not political motivations,” Vance said.
He added later in the interview that, “the idea that this is driven by politics, I think is preposterous when you actually read the details of the indictment and the obvious fact that James Comey did lie under oath to Congress multiple times.”
Vance also told Fox News that there are “certainly going to be more indictments coming over the next three and a half years of the Trump administration.”
Schumer on Sunday also spoke about Trump’s Saturday announcement that he was directing the Defense Department to send troops into Portland, calling it “indefensible.”
“What we’ve always had in America is when there are problems, domestic problems, in terms of safety, in terms of violence, it’s the local police departments, the local sheriffs, the State Sheriffs, who handle the problem,” the minority leader said.
He added that past presidents would have opted to call Oregon’s governor to offer help and support with crime issues, and that Trump departed from previous norms.
“The governor of Oregon said, ‘We don’t need you.’ And yet he comes in and brings in these troops. This is so against the American way. We … do not have our military do local law enforcement,” Schumer added.