How Kash Patel and Pam Bondi became Slaves to Stephen Miller
When Pam Bondi and Kash Patel had Jim Comey charged two weeks ago, they may have signed their own arrest warrants.
The media focus, since the indictment, has been on the ominous chilling effect this would have on Trump’s opponents — though as always, journalists ignored the politicized prosecutions that have gone before.
The damage done to rule of law by replacing career prosecutors with Trump defense attorneys for the sole purpose of charging a political target is enormous. No doubt about it.
But charging former FBI Director Jim Comey on flimsy false statements charges crosses a rubicon in a different way, one that may be just as disastrous for American democracy.
Charging made it easy to charge top law enforcement officials — any former law enforcement officers — whom Trump ousted for political reasons.
Indeed, almost immediately after the Comey indictment, Kash turned towards manufacturing the very same basis — alleged lies to Congress — to charge Chris Wray, his immediate predecessor.
Kash released after action reports from January 6 to HJC which in turn shared them, complete with warnings that the documents were not for external dissemination, with John Solomon, who turned complaints including a heavy handed focus from the US Attorney’s office on misdemeanors into a story about “274 agents deployed to the Capitol in plainclothes and with guns after the violence started but with no clear safety gear,” which in turn led to conspiracy theories about “Fedsurrection,” which Donald Trump blew up in a lie-ridden post on Truth Social that explicitly drew a connection between Comey and Chris Wray.
Even when Kash tried to tamp down the conspiracy theories he had sown and his boss had accelerated, he still included several lies: that Wray lied, that this was about crowd control, that running to the scene of a terrorist attack in progress would violate FBI rules.
The FBI responded on Saturday to a report that 274 plainclothes agents were at the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, clarifying the role of bureau personnel while still blasting former Director Christopher Wray.
While the agents were on hand, they were sent in after the riot had begun to try to control the unruly crowd, officials told Fox News Digital. That is not the proper role of FBI agents, and Wray was not forthcoming about what happened when he testified numerous times on Capitol Hill, Director Kash Patel said.
“Agents were sent into a crowd control mission after the riot was declared by Metro Police – something that goes against FBI standards,” Patel told Fox News Digital. “This was the failure of a corrupt leadership that lied to Congress and to the American people about what really happened.”
And so Kash, in a desperate bid to feed conspiracies like those that got him where he is, colluded (heh) in the framing of charges against a second FBI Director.
He did so, as Pam Bondi did, under a great deal of pressure to deliver.
The pressure against Bondi erupted in public, in the post Trump sent addressing her directly.
Two things suggest the text was meant to be private. It had far fewer lies than Trump’s public posts. And he also alluded to the pressure he was under — the 30 statements and posts complaining about “all talk, no action” — a testament to the impatience of his own mob. Other reports describe the pressure applied to Bondi in private.
The pressure on Kash — and its source — has been just as real. The lawsuit filed by top FBI agents describes how Stephen Miller demanded politicization at FBI to match that Emil Bove was pursuing at DOJ.
On or about January 27, 2025, Bove requested that Driscoll and Kissane “stay behind” following their daily morning briefing. At that “stay behind” meeting, Bove stated that he was receiving pressure from White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller to see “symmetrical action at the FBI as had been happening at DOJ.” Bove made clear that he and Miller wanted to see personnel action like reassignment, removals, and terminations at the FBI, similar to the firings and reassignments of senior attorneys at DOJ that had occurred since January 20, 2025.
It tracks how Patel and Dan Bongino attempted to protect the plaintiffs (both, of course, desperately want to be accepted within the fraternity of FBI officers), even defending Steve Jensen on Maria Bartiromo’s show.
125. Both Patel and Bongino lamented to Jensen that they were spending “a lot of political capital” to keep him in the ADIC position, a position that Jensen had not sought in the first place.
[snip]
I want the American public to realize what we did. That man was in a position where he literally fought back against the machine who was saying, “we want to politicize this event, we want to politicize this event.” And at the end of the day, remember, Maria, there’s a chain of command here. So you can fight back your chain of command to a certain degree before they fire you. And Steven Jensen and other folks were promoted because they embody what the American public demands of FBI agents.
The whole time, FBI’s leaders were terrified the White House would learn Jensen still had power.
143. Approximately two days into his leave, on July 16, 2025, at approximately 7:20 a.m., Jensen received a call from Bongino. Bongino began the call by sternly telling Jensen that he had to “use better judgment,” explaining that the SAC of the Philadelphia Field Office had sent out an email to various other SACs about the SAC Advisory Committee indicating that Jensen would assume the vice chair position that had been left vacant by the recent departure of the Richmond SAC. The SAC Advisory Committee is an organizational structure within the FBI that SACs from across the country rely on to channel communication and concerns to FBI leadership. It is not a formal organization and is, in effect, an additional duty for those who volunteer for the position. The Philadelphia SAC had asked Jensen to fill the vacancy left by the Richmond SAC and, apparently, Bongino had learned of an email announcing this.
144. During this phone call, Bongino warned him that if the White House learned that Jensen was on an advisory committee, it would be “problem” for Jensen.
After months of refusing to fire the Agents, Kash ultimately did, in August, explaining that his own job depended on doing so.
Patel explained that there was nothing he or Driscoll could do to stop these or any other firings, because “the FBI tried to put the President in jail and he hasn’t forgotten it.” Driscoll indicated his belief that Patel’s reference to his superiors meant DOJ and the White House, and Patel did not deny it.
More recently, a story about Signal texts sent between a top Pete Hegseth aide and Stephen Miller’s included the commentary of the latter, Miller deputy Anthony Salisbury, describing that Kash’s firing of FBI agents who had taken a knee to deescalate during the George Floyd protests was “how Kash survives.”
In a separate exchange, Salisbury celebrated FBI Director Kash Patel’s decision to fire several agents who were photographed kneeling during a 2020 protest. He suggested Trump would approve of the action, then insulted Patel.
“This is how Kash survives,” Salisbury wrote. “He will do this stuff for the man but day to day giant douche canoe.”
To survive, Kash the giant douche canoe has to “do this stuff for the man.”
The pressure on Kash is particularly intense. The indictment of Comey, Kash’s more aggressive purges, his effort to perp walk Comey — they all come in the wake of the installation of former Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey as babysitter for Kash and Dan Bongino, a constant threat that he would be fired.
[A]llies of President Trump and Patel’s harshest critics have begun to circulate word that contingency plans for Patel’s ouster are forming. They also claim his hopeful successor, Andrew Bailey, made clear that he would not leave his post as Missouri’s AG – or abandon his aspirations to run for state governor – only to serve as Patel’s number two.
Under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998, Bailey, who starts at the bureau on September 15, would be eligible to fill the FBI director post – should it become vacant – after he has been employed by the FBI for at least 90 days.
Multiple sources close to Trump acknowledged the president was not thrilled with some past episodes of Patel’s performance – including a public feud with AG Bondi over the administration’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case. One senior White House official involved in personnel decisions also framed Patel’s botched communications during the manhunt for Charlie Kirk’s assassin as something Patel likely wished he could do differently, if he could do it all over again. Trump did not call for any action to be taken in response to it, the person said.
Patel’s purported off-ramp, which the White House denies, would not involve his firing but a reassignment to another administration role, according to multiple people who described it.
Sure, the plan now is to make Kash an ambassador to some faraway country once Bailey can become Director in December, as if he were Don Jr’s inconvenient ex. But the only thing that keeps Kash from becoming what Comey and Wray are — FBI Directors that Trump chose to put or retain at the Bureau but then fell out of favor and so were ousted — is his continued ability to feed the insatiable viciousness of Trump, the Wormtongue who increasingly controls access to him Stephen Miller, and Trump’s rabid mob.
And when that moment comes, it will be child’s play for the next guy to prove his loyalty by charging Kash and/or Bondi, citing the precedent of Comey (and Wray, if he’s indicted by then).
I’ve already noted that, by charging Comey, Kash provided evidence that this statement to Mazie Hirono was false.
Senator Hirono (02:18:49):
Do you plan to investigate James Comey, who’s on your list?
Kash Patel (02:18:54):
I have no intentions of going backwards-
Kash has been doing Trump’s dirty work for so long there are a slew of other potential charges, starting with both January 6 and the stolen documents case.
The same is true of Pam Bondi, who got her start with Trump by taking campaign donations and then shuttering an investigation into Trump’s fraudulent university.
But like Kash, her slavering performance in front of Senate Judiciary Committee also provided fodder for charges on the same standard as Comey. Not only did she tell gratuitous lies — such as that Alex Padilla had stormed Kristi Noem’s press conference — but she made more material statements, such as that the decisions on the Tom Homan bribery investigation (which she seemed to attribute to Todd Blanche, who was confirmed a month after she was) predated her confirmation.
That’s is the thing about corruption. It is the price of admission and the reward for loyalty.
But it also a double-edged sword when you fall out of favor.
I don’t know whether Kash and Bondi are kidding themselves about what a bad precedent this is for their own future. I don’t know whether they believe their past loyalty — something Comey and Wray never performed — will exempt them from the treatment to which they’re subjecting Comey. But the thing about irrational, increasingly unfit authoritarians guarded by an even more ruthless henchman is that demands for loyalty only keep going up.
Ah, but look on the bright side, Kash, Bondi!
Disfavored Trump aides have not — yet — started falling out of windows, like they do in Vladimir Putin’s Russia!
Update: Here’s how a WSJ story on the politicization of DOJ ends.
Privately, Trump has acknowledged that he believes Blanche is a solid lawyer and Bondi appears great on TV, but has continued to complain to aides about the pace of the cases, even after the Comey indictment. Aides have reminded him about work in progress.
“She’s moving too slow,” Trump has said about Bondi, according to administration officials.
Indeed-
I was hoping one of the senators yesterday would end by asking Bondi to say what crime her department charged Comey with: lying to the senate
Missed opportunity.
Excellent yt synopsis. I especially appreciate your personal interjections.
Anna Bower was at the Courthouse today:
[Bower posted earlier that Maurene Comey was there waiting in line to get in.]
https://bsky.app/profile/annabower.bsky.social/post/3m2ou5xyfds2y
October 8, 2025 at 10:30 AM
Also, there’s this:
Central witness undermines case against James Comey, prosecutors concluded: Sources Ex-FBI Director James Comey pleaded not guilty to federal charges Wednesday. https://abcnews.go.com/US/central-witness-undermines-case-james-comey-prosecutors-concluded/story?id=126311648
Katherine Faulders, Alexander Mallin, and Peter Charalambous
October 8, 2025, 10:36 AM
Per Bower, Defense counsel Patrick Fitzgerald promises pretrial motions to include, by 10/12/25 [oral arguments set for 11/19/25]:
1] motions to dismiss for selective and vindictive prosecution
2] a motion challenging the legality of Halligan’s appointment as US attorney
and by 10/20/25 [oral arguments set for 12/9/25]
3] a motion regarding abuse of grand jury process and
4] an “outrageous government conduct” motion.
That first round of oral argument is going to make for some interesting Thanksgiving-gathering conversation the following week.
PatFitz should also demand subpoenas to depose witnesses, especially Bondi, Patel, Bongino, Bailey (this was charged while he was minding Patel / Bongino), Miller, Loomer (who has no official capacity AFAIK that could invoke immunity) and of course Convict-1. IMHO these should be taped and put on pay-per-view to finance future defenses for nuisance prosecutions. The content should be quite sufficient for attention.
This will also serve the purpose of forcing their stories into boxes under oath with limited wriggle room to dodge the consequences later. Convict-1 already knows this from E. Jean Carroll.
I like how you think.
Except the pay per view.
No. Free and widely available. What am I missing? Oh, the defenses. I’m still gonna say free for view.
Bower corrected herself:
Thank you for the Update!
The judge in the EDVA released Comey on his own recognizance. No arrest, no perp walk. More reason for Donny to be pissed at Patel and Bondi.
Lindsey Halligan had to be accompanied by special outside counsel, because no one in “her” office would work with her. They asked for an eight month-delay, until July 2026, hardly a speedy trial, because they knew nothing about the case. Prosecutors normally acquire that information before going to a grand jury. I don’t imagine that pleased the court.
The EDVA rocket docket will run roughshod over Lindsey the Insurance Lawyer. She has no idea how totally outmatched she is.
Here’s the Guardian’s report. The feds wanted to push the trial from January to October. Sad.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/08/james-comey-court-indictment
HAHAHAHAHA!
Even that delay would backfire, since that would have unpleasant details about how the GOP rules coming out right before the election.
The bondage of Bondi. This slave belongs in prison.
As I was reading this I kept thinking about Putin, the FSB, and the Russian military. Since the invasion of Ukraine, the FSB has had 17 Russian generals indicted all (or most all) on corruption charges. Yes, the price of admission and the sword that hangs over you.
In that regard, Snyder just dropped a brilliant analytical bombshell that delineates the close resemblance in form between Miller’s and Stalin’s aggregation and execution of power. It’s uncanny.
https://open.substack.com/pub/snyder/p/stalinism-and-stephen-miller-video?
It’s not long, but very densely coherent.
Subscribing to him is important.
Read Snyder if you wish but I can’t support calls to subscribe to him because he’s on Substack — a Nazi bar platform. Subscribing ensures that platform, home to literal Nazis it normalizes by promoting Nazi content, will have personally identifying data about the subscriber including their reading habits.
One difference: in Russia, the entire government is corrupt, top to bottom, including the military.
So are you saying that the US is a work in progress?
‘Kash the giant douche canoe’, a true classic worthy of a rugger. Don’t hold it in EW, you’ll get ulcers and nobody wants that.
There’s gotta be a song in there somewhere, to the tune of “Puff the Magic Dragon”.
Kash, the giant douche canoe, ran the FBI…
and shit-posted on lots of feeds
about things that are make-believe.
and so on.
Savage Librarian, this is your cue …
Imagine being called a giant douche canoe by someone who works for Stephen Miller.
This administration foregrounds Sméagols, so poisoned by the pursuit of power that they are visibly losing their moorings–not just in reason (hardly valued by MAGA) but also in control of their self-presentation. They come across on TV as flummoxed and flailing phonies: Ka$h Patel putting the toad back in toadie, Pam Bondi shrieking like a scripted banshee at any senator with the temerity to ask her a question. Stephen Miller retains a tenuous hold on the role of Gollum, with the gilt-thin veneer of control that permits him to scheme. Trump? Trump is a creature of another opus, the one he believes himself to be inscribing into history but that in fact we are all editing day by day by day.
And then there is Anthony Salisbury. His name (just that) sent me looking. Naughty Anthony (“Tony” to his friends) has a penchant for letting operational details (“Op Sec” to studs) slip public, whether via his participation in a Signal chat–yes, THAT one–or by text-musing about sending the 82nd Airborne into US cities with Cuddle Buddy Pete. Multiple bystanders got photos of the texts. Salisbury’s previous job? DHS Investigations. (This may explain why HSI does no ‘vestigating these days.)
I suspect Tony Loose Lips was brought inside by Miller NOT because of his keen intelligence, and not even because of insults like “douche canoe.” I believe what truly appealed to the White House about Mr. Salisbury was his last name. Admit it: Can’t you imagine the hero of a British romance with that name? Emphasis on *British*–because never in our history has an administration wallowed in such adolescent Anglophilia. Trump with the King! And in 80 years no US government has veered closer to the brand of Teutonically tinged Anglophilia that flared here in the 1930s, and flared monstrously brighter across the pond.
It’s not ancestor worship. It’s hate. Dressed up as Downton Abbey.
Yes, they long for hereditary aristocracy where you can’t rise above your father’s station in life and if you’re a woman or an immigrant, you can’t rise at all. They’d never admit it, but they’re painfully aware that they’d never succeed in a true meritocracy and they never did until Trump came down the escalator and blew up our democracy. Miller, Homan, Johnson, Patel, Bondi and the rest are living examples of the banality of evil — not that it’s ordinary or commonplace, but that it’s mediocrity, curdled into rot by malignant envy of those who more intelligent and more talented. And Trump, of course, is their patron saint.
Miller definitely isn’t Gollum. Marcy has it right that he’s more like Grima Wormtongue, but that implies that he corrupted Trump and/or that Trump might have good in him if he shakes off Miller. Trump is no Theoden.
Prediction: Comey’s team will file an absolutely damning motion to dismiss based on vindictive prosecution. The NC prosecutors that DOJ brought in to be the responsible adults on this case will have no good responses to the arguments, and will either clown themselves and/or actively underbus Halligan in the process. And the case will be dismissed on the grounds that Halligan was improperly appointed, because that’s a factual matter that can be decided without discovery. (Disclaimer: IANAL.)
Nathaniel “Tyler” Lemons and Gabriel J. Diaz, two federal prosecutors from the Eastern District of North Carolina
I suspect the more attractive ground for dismissal is that Halligan was not legally appointed. I’m almost certain that Marcy reported on this but here is a link to Ed Whelan’s exposition. https://www.rawstory.com/ed-whelan/ Whelan of course is a conservative (maybe better said ‘reactionary’).
And if the appointment was illegal, and the indictment void, then there is an argument that the statute of limitations has run. Meaning there are no subsequent do overs.
I imagine the administration would be delighted at this outcome; they could blame an activist judge and never have to produce their evidence in court.
“activist” judge. Good point. But, what does that term mean any more? Is Trump an activist President?
on the one hand, I would be content for this show trial to get a “spanner in the works,” but on the other hand must admit that if it proceeds, discovery could be fruitful, very fruitful.
It’s odd that Bondi told some obvious lies but refused to answer the question about Trump pics in the Epstein files. Was that a message to Miller and the Trump mob?
I’d say fork tongued, rather than worm tongued, but that is a stylistic quibble.
It’s not stylistic. Wormtongue means more than merely reptilian or duplicitous.
Gangstress Bondi. Submissive to Trump, covering for him, answering to him. Home girl gang member plays AG.
I think her outbursts, like those we saw in front of the Senate Committee, may be her way of dealing with fear. Even if she hasn’t had a sit-down conversation with herself (it is, after all, likely that she is not very capable of inner reflection), I suspect a dawning realization that she’s only a few comments and/or a few actions away from her head being on a pike. She knows how Trump deals with those who “betray” him.
Which judge recently said, paraphrased, “If plaintiff had filed motion for contempt I could have given it.”