Fox News' Howard Kurtz stopped for a moment on Thursday evening to acknowledge the hard reality for the generally Donald Trump-supportive network: the president's personally-influenced Justice Department indictment of former FBI Director James Comey flies in the face of all standards of how federal prosecutors are supposed to operate, or in fact would have been tolerated in any prior administration.

Comey, who was initially fired near the beginning of Trump's first term in office for refusing to intervene to shut down the Russia investigation, was indicted earlier in the day in Virginia, following Trump's demands for it to happen. The charges, of false statements and obstruction, appear to be based on a discrepancy between his and his deputy's accounts in Senate questioning several years ago, which was already investigated by the inspector general and determined likely not to have been a lie.

But Trump insisted on the prosecution anyway, and took a victory lap on his Truth Social platform after it was filed, writing, "JUSTICE IN AMERICA! One of the worst human beings this Country has ever been exposed to is James Comey, the former Corrupt Head of the FBI."

None of this is normal, Kurtz pointed out to his fellows on Fox News' "Special Report with Bret Baier."

"Let's not mince words here — I say this as a former Justice Department reporter," said Kurtz. "This was completely and totally orchestrated by President Trump. He says he's leaving it to Justice, but he very much out in the open — remember, he fired his own appointee as U.S. attorney in that part of Virginia, because he didn't think there was enough evidence to bring this case. Brought in a White House aide, his former defense lawyer, whose job was to get this done, and apparently that has worked."

"I think we've become inured to this, but in previous administrations, any hint of contact with a criminal case would be a scandal on its own," he added. "And so President Trump, by the way he pulled the strings, has gotten his way with this initial indictment."