Megyn Kelly Says Donald Trump Should Stop Going After Political Opponents

Megyn Kelly said Friday that the Justice Department's pursuit of former FBI Director James Comey is "absolutely targeted" over his criticism of President Donald Trump, and that Trump "should stop doing it."

She said it on The Megyn Kelly Show four days before the midterms. On the same day, a federal judge heard Comey's bid to throw out the third criminal case the administration has brought against him.

Her break is narrow. In the same exchange, Kelly said some Democrats needed to be hauled in so that "they felt the pain" after the Biden years. She also called the federal investigation of Representative Ilhan Omar legitimate.

Megyn Kelly on James Comey and 'Lawfare'

Kelly's guest was Mike Solana, founder of the tech outlet Pirate Wires. Kelly would not use the Omar case. She pointed to Comey instead.

"Don't build your house on the Alana Omar case. Cause that one's just like, many administrations have looked, there is there there," she said. "But I will grant you that if you look at like what's being done to James Comey, it's absolutely targeted based on his criticism of Donald Trump and how partisan he is."

She then described the cycle she believes started it: the prosecutions of Trump and his allies under President Joe Biden, which she called lawfare, justified some payback, but only for real crimes. Supporters of those prosecutions point out that the Manhattan case against Trump came through a grand jury indictment, and that a jury there convicted him on all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in May 2024.

"We did need a couple on team blue to be hauled in there. Not fake crimes, but if they'd committed crimes, you know, the willingness to look the other way should evaporate so that they felt the pain and would never do this again," Kelly said.

"But like it's gotten out of control now. And I think like Trump should stop doing it and the Democrats should leave civilians alone." — Megyn Kelly

Where the Cases Against Trump Critics Stand

The record shows three successive cases against Comey. A judge dismissed the first Comey indictment after finding that the prosecutor who brought it, Lindsey Halligan, was serving unlawfully. A second case followed in North Carolina, where Comey was indicted over an Instagram photo of seashells arranged as "8647."

The third case was filed on October 5 and unsealed Monday. It charges Comey with transmitting national defense information in 2016. On Friday, U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden heard Comey's motion to dismiss. The motion argues the case was filed as an information instead of a grand jury indictment and so missed the 10-year deadline. "Ham sandwiches are harder to indict these days," McFadden said.

The same ruling that dismissed Comey's first case also threw out the charges against New York Attorney General Letitia James; a grand jury then declined to indict her again in December 2025.

Omar has not been charged. Federal investigators are probing an alleged immigration fraud scheme involving her and her family, and she has denied the allegations.

| Case | What Kelly said | Documented status |
|---|---|---|
On Thursday, Kara Swisher, the tech journalist and podcaster, named targets.

"Big Balls" is the nickname of Edward Coristine, a former staffer at Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency.

Kelly also attacked Senator Elissa Slotkin, a Michigan Democrat. "She wants to threaten them with jail if they work for Team Trump," Kelly said. At a University of Chicago event on October 13, Slotkin said, "I want that deterrence message." She later called Sen. Mike Lee's criticism "manufactured outrage," saying: "I don't care if it's just freedom of speech. I care if you're breaking the law."

What Happens Next

Comey's motion to dismiss the third case is before McFadden, and the second case remains pending in North Carolina.

Kelly's closing line was aimed at Democrats: "the Democrats should leave civilians alone. Don't touch big balls."