Bill O’Reilly is a best-selling author and regularly appears on . His latest book, Confronting Evil, is in stores now.

John Edgar Hoover, the founder of the FBI, engaged in various illegal activities such as unauthorized wiretaps and blackmail. As detailed in “Confronting the Presidents,” he, along with his Georgetown neighbor Lyndon Johnson, committed corruption at a high level and largely escaped consequences.

Former FBI Director James Comey does not reach the same level of misconduct. However, he harmed the Bureau by distorting facts to achieve a political goal. Essentially, this is what the Trump administration aims to demonstrate to the American public.

Let’s examine some hard evidence.

The grand jury indictment against James Comey focuses on his sworn testimony before a Senate committee, where he claimed he did not engage in unauthorized leaks to the media. This denial is being questioned.

That may seem like a small beef, but it reflects the larger corruption involved in the bogus “Russian Collusion” situation that Comey oversaw.

President Trump and his Justice Department assert that Comey used the FBI’s Russia investigation to influence the 2016 election in favor of Hillary Clinton. If this is true, it represents significant election subversion. You might recall that anti-Trump media widely circulated stories with anonymous sources suggesting Putin aided the Trump campaign.

Those stories were wrong. No apologies from the press.

Investigating the whole sordid mess, Special Counsel John Durham issued a report in 2023 that damns James Comey.

“The FBI’s failure to critically analyze information that contradicted the narrative of a Trump/Russia collusive relationship demonstrated throughout Crossfire Hurricane (the Bureau’s investigation) is extremely concerning.”

Durham goes on to say the FBI failed to uphold the law, which is true.

But Comey’s apparent deceit did not lead to a criminal referral. So, he retired on full pension.

President Trump views this as a major injustice, and now the alleged perjury charge serves as retaliation. However, the initial federal prosecutor on the case, Erik Siebert, chose not to pursue it. Consequently, Trump dismissed him, replacing him with Lindsey Halligan, a new pro-Trump prosecutor. She is convinced that there is compelling criminal evidence against the former director.

The judge assigned to the case, Michael Nachmanoff, was appointed by President Biden, so that may help Comey. Nachmanoff could throw the case out, citing President Trump’s public anti-Comey statements or another technicality.

Of course, that would be immediately appealed.

In addition, there is a karma play in all this because James Comey engineered a “lying to a federal agent” case against former Trump advisor General Michael Flynn. The cliché “What goes around, comes around” might apply here.

The media coverage of the Comey indictment is largely dishonest, but what else is new. The Associated Press and others are portraying Trump as a revenge-crazed tyrant selectively trying to destroy Mr. Comey for venal purposes. Nothing else to see here.

Yes, there is payback in this case by Mr. Trump. But it may be righteous because using the FBI to influence a presidential election is ultra-dangerous.

Going forward, it all comes down to how the folks process the situation. I think James Comey is getting exactly what he deserves. He may beat the rap, and that’s fine if a jury acquits. We respect due process. But I know the man corrupted a federal agency, thereby harming America.

Considering that, it is indeed “justice” to see him sweat.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and not necessarily of .