Going after former FBI Director James Comey for leaking information could backfire on President Donald Trump, experts said Friday after Trump's personal attorney is said to be preparing to lodge a formal complaint.
Trump and his defenders have seized on a portion of Comey's Thursday testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee in which he said he allowed a friend to share a memo with the press about his conversation with Trump, hoping it would trigger the appointment of a special prosecutor.
Legal experts told NBC News it's impossible to find any obvious violation in Comey's behavior, instead arguing the threat by Trump's attorney Marc Kasowitz is more of a meritless attempt to bully Comey.
Stephen Gillers, an ethics expert at New York University Law School, said "in no circumstance would the Judiciary Committee have jurisdiction to impose a penalty."