Former FBI Director James Comey — the same bureaucratic grandstander who spent years playing politics with federal law enforcement — now says he may try to cash in on President Donald Trump’s new $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization” compensation fund.
During a Monday appearance on CNN with host Jake Tapper, Comey mocked the newly announced fund — which was created after Trump dropped his eye-popping $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS — before joking that he himself might deserve a payout.
“I first thought it was a piece from The Onion because it can’t be serious,” Comey said. “It appears that they’re serious. It’s to compensate people who’ve been targeted by the Justice Department for, they say, personal, political or ideological reasons. So I’m guessing I’ll be in line. I hope I’ll be ahead of those who savagely beat police officers and sacked the Capitol.”
‘I first thought it was a piece from The Onion because it can’t be serious. It appears that they’re serious… I’m guessing I’ll be in line. I hope I’ll be ahead of those who savagely beat police officers and sacked the Capitol.’ Former FBI Director and Trump foe James Comey on… pic.twitter.com/fzii6rHl2k
— The Lead CNN (@TheLeadCNN) May 18, 2026
That last line sounded tailor-made for the CNN crowd, but it also carried a heavy dose of irony coming from the ex-FBI chief who became a central character in years of Russia-collusion drama, surveillance controversies and endless Washington lawfare.
When Tapper pressed him on whether he’d actually apply for compensation, Comey didn’t exactly slam the door shut.
“Well, I’ll talk to my lawyers, but it certainly sounds intended for someone like me,” he replied.
Tapper quickly jumped in with a protective disclaimer: “I don’t think that that’s how it’s intended. But I understand what you’re saying.”
The exchange comes as Comey finds himself back in legal hot water under Trump’s Justice Department. Last month, prosecutors hit the former FBI boss with a second indictment tied to an Instagram photo showing seashells arranged into the numbers “86 47” — a post DOJ officials argue could be interpreted as a threat against Trump, the 47th president.
Critics across the political spectrum, including several legal analysts, have questioned whether the case would hold up in court. Even some Trump allies privately concede the prosecution could face steep First Amendment hurdles.
But for conservatives who spent years watching federal agencies investigate Trump, raid allies and aggressively pursue January 6 defendants, Comey’s sudden interest in “anti-weaponization” protections lands with all the subtlety of a brick through a newsroom window.
The former FBI director was already facing legal troubles before the beach-photo controversy erupted. In September 2025, Comey was indicted on allegations he lied under oath to Congress and obstructed justice. That case collapsed just two months later after a judge ruled interim prosecutor Lindsey Halligan was not lawfully serving as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.
So now the man once viewed by Democrats as a resistance hero — and by Republicans as the poster child for politicized federal power — is floating the possibility of joining the very class of “victims” Trump says the system has abused.
Washington irony doesn’t get much richer than that.
