His new jeopardy is only one facet of the unfolding national disaster instigated by his own actions in October 2016. It was a choice that violated legal ethics and Justice Department rules, and has permanently damaged the institutions of law he claimed to be protecting. Within days of her appointment, and just before the statute of limitations expired, Halligan delivered the two-page indictment of Comey. In that tissue-thin bill of particulars, the Trump Justice Department charges Comey with lying to a Senate committee about a press leak from the FBI's top echelons. Subsequent investigations forced McCabe to admit responsibility for that leak, which violated FBI and Justice Department rules, especially in the months before an election.