EDITORIAL: Ultimately, Comey case will rise or fall on the evidence

Nine years ago, progressives wanted James Comey strung up in the public square. Today, he’s their cause celebre. How times change.

In 2016, Democrats lambasted the then-FBI director for going public days before the presidential election with potentially damaging details on the probe into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server. Many partisans later accused him of costing Ms. Clinton the election.

Nearly a decade later, the Justice Department under President Donald Trump has pushed two felony charges against Mr. Comey alleging that he lied to Congress in 2020 when he testified about leaks regarding the Russian collusion hoax that dominated the president’s first term. Democrats are now aghast, rushing to defend Mr. Comey.

But their efforts to rehab his reputation depend on historical revisionism.

The FBI has been politicized virtually since its founding (think: J. Edgar Hoover). Mr. Comey continued in that tradition. Let’s not forget that he initiated the Russia investigation based in large part on the nonsense in the Steele dossier — a primary source of which had ties to Russian intelligence.

The ensuing special counsel probe by Robert Mueller found scant evidence that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia. But the damage had been done.

It’s also worth remembering that FBI agents under Mr. Comey lied to the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in an effort to secure permission to wiretap Trump campaign adviser Carter Page as part of the Russia probe. The agency was forced to apologize after an inspector general report revealed that the agents withheld information “that was inconsistent with, or undercut, the assertions contained in the (search warrant) applications.”

Mr. Comey’s indictment doesn’t provide great detail but stems from testimony he gave to Congress five years ago. During the testimony, CNN reports, Mr. Comey “doubled down to the Senate that he had not been authorizing leaks to the press when he was FBI director atop sensitive 2016 investigations.”

Only a handful of people — including former Trump attorney Michael Cohen — have been convicted of lying to Congress. Mr. Comey maintains his innocence and said he welcomes a trial. The case will rise or fall on the evidence.

Despite what’s implied in the vocal criticism of the charges, Mr. Comey wasn’t indicted by Mr. Trump. He was charged because a majority of those serving on a grand jury in Alexandria, Virginia, believed there was probable cause for an indictment. A federal judge oversaw the grand jury proceedings, another check on abuse.

In defending their relentless campaign to jail Mr. Trump — and even to keep him off the 2024 ballot — Democrats insisted that “no man is above the law.” That adage also applies to Mr. Comey.