James Comey has pleaded not guilty to charges that he lied to Congress—and his lawyers say he will seek to dismiss the case as a presidential revenge plot run by an unqualified Trump ally.
Comey appeared in court on Wednesday vowing to fight the charges against him and requested a trial by jury on January 5, just as the midterm election year kicks off.
His attorney, Patrick Fitzgerald, entered the plea on his behalf and signaled he will file a pre-trial motion seeking to quash the case for selective and vindictive prosecution, based on Donald Trump’s public demand that Comey be charged.
Another motion will be also filed challenging the legality of prosecutor Lindsay Halligan, the former beauty pageant contestant installed to take on the case after her predecessor refused to bring on an indictment.
Comey has been a longtime adversary of the president, who blames the former FBI director for helping to trigger special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
After years of seeking revenge against him, Trump last month appointed Halligan, his former personal lawyer, as the top federal prosecutor in Virginia’s eastern district to bring charges against him.
However, this came after her predecessor Erik Siebert was pushed out for refusing to charge Comey on the basis that there was not enough evidence.
Trump’s frustrations spilled over last month when he posted a note to Attorney General Pam Bondi on his Truth Social platform complaining about Siebert and demanding an indictment.
“We can’t delay any longer, it’s killing our reputation and credibility,” he wrote.
“They impeached me twice, and indicted me (5 times!), OVER NOTHING. JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!”
The extraordinary post – along with other statements Trump has made targeting the FBI director – will now be used by Comey’s defense team to kill the case.
The charges relate to Comey’s testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee in September 2020.
During that testimony, Comey was questioned about a leak of sensitive information to the media in 2017.
Prosecutors allege Comey falsely stated that he never authorized an anonymous source within the FBI to speak to the media about an investigation.
Comey, however, insists he is innocent.
“My family and I have known for years that there are costs for standing up to Donald Trump, but we couldn’t imagine ourselves living any other way,” he said in a video posted to social media last month.
“We will not live on our knees and you shouldn’t either.”
The former FBI director is not the only member of the Comey family to have been punished by the president.
Earlier this year, his daughter Maureen Comey, who was the prosecutor in the case against sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, was dismissed from her job as assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.
She is now suing the Trump administration, arguing that she was given no reason for the sacking.
Maureen Comey and other members of the Comey family appeared in court on Wednesday to support the the former FBI director, who faces up to five years in prison if convicted.
However, many legal experts believe the case will be difficult to prove – including supporters of the president.
“I don’t believe they have a case bill based on what we’ve seen in the indictment and what we know from the public reporting, but now we’re going to find out,” former U.S. attorney Andrew McCabe told Fox News.
The arraignment on Wednesday took place before Judge Nachmanoff, a Biden appointee Trump has previously attacked as a partisan hack.
The former FBI director pleaded not guilty to two charges: making a false statement and obstruction of a congressional proceeding.
Fitzgerald argued the Justice Department’s rush to charge Comey had left them unclear about the specifics of the counts against him.
“We still have not been told who Person 3 and Person 1 are,” Mr. Fitzgerald said. He later added: “We still haven’t been told precisely what is in count 1 or count 2.”
The case against Comey has also been plagued with other hurdles.
Earlier on Wednesday, for instance, ABC News reported that testimony from a key witness, Daniel Richman, would likely be “problematic” and potentially undermine the entire case for prosecutors.
Richman is the law professor whom prosecutors claim Comey authorized to leak information to the media, but he is expected to contradict this.
Halligan also reportedly struggled earlier to find staff within her office willing to present the charges. This resulted in the Justice Department having to find prosecutors from other states to help her.
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