Combover

 Ben Wittes had some interesting observations from Comey’s arraignment hearing:

I have three observations about yesterday’s transcript, before The Situation shifts from Comey to James—and thence to whomever the next indictee might prove to be.

The first is that there is a notable gap between prosecution and defense lawyers who showed up to yesterday’s hearing in what we might call pride of service. On the prosecution side, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia could not find a single lawyer who had worked for the office prior to late September to stand up in court and say, “My name is X and I represent the United States.”

Not one.

The acting U.S. attorney, of course, had been fired because he wouldn’t bring this case. And no career official from the office was at the prosecution table either. Instead, there were two assistant U.S. attorneys from North Carolina, whose familiarity with the case was so limited that they stressed they were only just starting to get their hands around it and its discovery.

On the other side, by contrast, Comey’s lead defense counsel introduced himself as follows: “Your Honor. Pat Fitzgerald, and it’s the honor of my life to represent Mr. Comey in this matter.”

This is a bit of an inversion of the normal understanding of the roles of criminal lawyers.

To borrow a phrase, “No sh*t, Sherlock.”

To be brought in from outside the district is already a sign that something out of the ordinary is going on. But when the situation is that no local AUSA would sign onto this, it says to me that Lemons is looking to prove his MAGA loyalty, not serve the interests of justice.

Lemons made his choice, and it is looking more and more as if he chose . . . poorly.