September 28, 2025 - The Brooklyn Times - bklyntimes.com

#FBI #Comey: #Indictment vs #Conviction
Trump, Comey, and the Ham Sandwich g.co/gemini/share/5eaca5030e…
Comey Indicted: A Legal Proverb and a Political Grudge Match

The recent indictment of former FBI Director James Comey has brought a long-simmering feud with President Donald Trump to a boil, simultaneously resurrecting a classic legal adage about the ease of securing an indictment—the proverbial “ham and cheese sandwich.”

On Thursday, September 25, 2025, a federal grand jury indicted James Comey on charges of making a false statement to Congress and obstruction of a congressional proceeding.1 The charges stem from testimony regarding his handling of the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election. This dramatic development marks a new chapter in the turbulent relationship between the two men, which began with Comey’s leadership of the FBI during the 2016 campaign and his subsequent firing by then-President Trump in 2017.

The indictment has once again highlighted the vast difference between an indictment and a conviction, a distinction famously captured by the legal aphorism that a grand jury would “indict a ham sandwich” if a prosecutor asked them to. This phrase, attributed to former New York Chief Judge Sol Wachtler in 1985, underscores the relatively low bar for securing an indictment.2

An indictment is a formal accusation by a grand jury that there is enough evidence to justify a trial. The grand jury’s role is not to determine guilt or innocence but merely to decide if there is probable cause to believe a crime has been committed. The proceedings are conducted in secret and are largely controlled by the prosecution, with the defense having little to no opportunity to present its case.

A conviction, on the other hand, is a finding of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt by a petit jury after a full public trial. This requires a much higher standard of proof and involves the presentation of evidence and arguments from both the prosecution and the defense, the cross-examination of witnesses, and the unanimous agreement of the jurors.

The “ham and cheese sandwich” analogy, therefore, serves as a cynical but often accurate commentary on the power of prosecutors in the grand jury process. It suggests that securing an indictment is more a reflection of the prosecutor’s will than the strength of the evidence.

In the context of the Trump-Comey saga, the indictment of Comey can be seen through this lens. Supporters of the former FBI Director and critics of the current administration will likely argue that the indictment is politically motivated, a fulfillment of a long-stated desire by President Donald Trump to see his perceived political enemies prosecuted. They may view it as a prime example of a prosecutor leading a grand jury to indict a figurative “ham and cheese sandwich.”

Conversely, those who have long criticized Comey’s actions, particularly his public statements regarding the Hillary Clinton email investigation and his role in the early stages of the Russia probe, may see the indictment as a necessary step toward accountability. For them, the indictment represents a legitimate finding of probable cause that a crime was committed.

The legal battle to come will ultimately determine whether the indictment of James Comey is a precursor to a conviction or simply a political act that proves the “ham sandwich” proverb true once more. The trial will move beyond the one-sided presentation of a grand jury and into the adversarial arena of a courtroom, where the much higher burden of proof will be required to turn an indictment into a conviction.
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GS
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— Michael Novakhov (@mikenov) Sep 28, 2025