When Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz (who was handpicked by Attorney General William Barr) cleared former FBI Director James Comey of having committed any wrongdoing today in the matter of leaking classified information, it once again brought the issue of contemporaneous memos Comey made of his interactions with President Donald Trump to the forefront.

You may recall that Comey wrote those memos regarding meetings he had with Trump in which the president reportedly asked him to drop the investigation into Michael Flynn, the former national security adviser, who was fired after three weeks on the job due his connections to Russia and Turkey. Flynn accepted money from both countries and then neglected to disclose that on security forms he filed.

Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) said Thursday on MSNBC that the Comey memos will now become key evidence for indictments against Trump when he leaves office. Murphy told host Andrea Mitchell:

“My perspective is simple. Thank goodness that James Comey kept records of these conversations with the president of the United States. These are conversations related to obstruction of justice by the president that may end up being part of criminal proceedings after the president leaves office and are of interest to all Americans who want to make sure that the highest levels of government are being held accountable. So I think that we’re better off as a nation for James Comey having kept these memos. I think they’ll be important well after the administration wraps up.”

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) says Comey memos could be used as evidence in a future Trump criminal trial. pic.twitter.com/b7kqKTRxu0

— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) August 29, 2019

Numerous investigations are ongoing in both New York and Washington, D.C. into Trump, the Trump Organization, and the three eldest Trump children. They can be indicted tomorrow in any of these state cases, and they may well be.

But it’s instructive to note that when Trump is out of office, a new Justice Department under a Democratic president can start work on getting indictments against Trump and others involved on various federal crimes.

While Trump may like to think he got the best of Comey when he dismissed him, it now seems that Comey will soon have a chance to exact revenge on the man who fired him. How’s that for perfect irony?