{"id":209803,"date":"2025-10-08T19:23:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T19:23:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/209803\/"},"modified":"2025-10-08T19:23:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T19:23:07","slug":"comey-makes-first-court-appearance-in-criminal-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/209803\/","title":{"rendered":"Comey makes first court appearance in criminal case"},"content":{"rendered":"

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) \u2014 James Comey<\/a> pleaded not guilty Wednesday in a criminal case that has highlighted the Justice Department\u2019s efforts to target adversaries<\/a> of President Donald Trump, with lawyers for the former FBI director saying they plan to argue the prosecution is politically motivated and should be dismissed.<\/p>\n

The arraignment lasted less than half an hour, but it was nonetheless loaded with historical significance given that the case has amplified concerns the Justice Department is being weaponized<\/a> in pursuit of the Republican president\u2019s political enemies and is operating at the behest of an administration determined to seek retribution.<\/p>\n

Comey\u2019s not guilty plea to allegations that he lied to Congress five years ago kick-starts a process of legal wrangling that could culminate in a trial months from now at the federal courthouse in Alexandria, Virginia, just outside of Washington. Defense lawyers said they intend to ask that the case be thrown out before trial on grounds that it constitutes a vindictive prosecution and also plan to challenge the legitimacy of the appointment of the prosecutor who filed the charges just days after Trump hastily appointed her to her position.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the honor of my life to represent Mr. Comey in this matter,\u201d one of Comey\u2019s lawyers, Patrick Fitzgerald, a longtime friend who served with him in President George W. Bush\u2019s Justice Department, said in court on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The indictment<\/a> two weeks ago followed an extraordinary chain of events that saw the Trump administration effectively force out the prosecutor who had been overseeing the Comey investigation and replace him with Lindsey Halligan<\/a>, a White House aide who previously served as one of the president\u2019s former lawyers but had never served as a federal prosecutor. The president also publicly implored<\/a> Attorney General Pam Bondi to take action against Comey and other perceived adversaries. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n AP AUDIO: Comey pleads not guilty as lawyers signal intent to argue the case is politically motivated\n <\/p>\n

AP correspondent Mike Pesoli reports on a former FBI director\u2019s court case.<\/p>\n

Less than a week after being appointed, Halligan rushed to file charges<\/a> before a legal deadline lapsed despite warnings from other lawyers in the office that the evidence was insufficient for an indictment. She sat at the prosecution table Wednesday. <\/p>\n

In a sign of the unusual nature of the case, the two prosecutors who have signed on to handle it are both based in North Carolina as opposed to the elite Eastern District of Virginia, which Halligan now leads.<\/p>\n

What the indictment says<\/p>\n

The two-count indictment alleges that Comey misled the Senate Judiciary Committee<\/a> on Sept. 30, 2020, when he was asked whether he had authorized any associate to serve as an anonymous source to the news media related to investigations of either Trump or 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. Comey replied that he stood by earlier testimony that he had not given such authorization.<\/p>\n

The two-count indictment charging him with making a false statement and obstructing a congressional proceeding does not identify the associate or say what information may have been discussed with the media, making it challenging to assess the strength of the evidence or to even fully parse the allegations.<\/p>\n

Comey has denied any wrongdoing and has said he\u2019s looking forward to a trial, which the judge set for Jan. 5, though that date will be subject to change.<\/p>\n

Though an indictment is typically just the start of a protracted court process, the Justice Department has trumpeted the development<\/a> itself as something of a win, regardless of the outcome. Trump administration officials are likely to point to any conviction as proof the case was well-justified, but an acquittal or even dismissal may also be held up as further support for their long-running contention the criminal justice system is stacked against them.<\/p>\n

The judge was nominated by Biden<\/p>\n

The judge randomly assigned to the case, Michael Nachmanoff<\/a>, was nominated to the bench by President Joe Biden\u2019s Democratic administration and is a former federal defender in Virginia. Known for methodical preparation and a cool temperament, the judge and his background have already drawn Trump\u2019s attention, with the president deriding him as a \u201cCrooked Joe Biden appointed Judge.\u201d<\/p>\n

He signaled in court Wednesday that he intended to push the case forward and would not permit unnecessary delays.<\/p>\n

Several Comey family members were in court for his arraignment, including his daughter Maurene, who was fired by the Justice Department<\/a> earlier this year from her position as a federal prosecutor in Manhattan, as well as Troy Edwards Jr., a son-in-law of Comey\u2019s who minutes after Comey was indicted resigned his job<\/a> as a prosecutor in the Eastern District of Virginia \u2014 the office that filed the charges.<\/p>\n

Comey is not the only Trump foe under investigation. Others include New York Attorney General Letitia James and Sen. Adam Schiff of California. Lawyers for James and Schiff<\/a>, both Democrats, call the investigations meritless.<\/p>\n

Trump and Comey\u2019s fraught relationship<\/p>\n

The indictment was the latest chapter in a long-broken relationship between Trump and Comey.<\/p>\n

Trump arrived in office in January 2017 as Comey, appointed to the FBI director job by President Barack Obama about four years earlier, was overseeing an investigation into ties between Russia and Trump\u2019s 2016 presidential campaign.<\/p>\n

The dynamic was fraught from the start, with Comey briefing Trump weeks before he took office<\/a> on the existence of uncorroborated and sexually salacious gossip in a dossier of opposition research compiled by a former British spy.<\/p>\n

During their subsequent private interactions, Comey would later reveal, Trump asked his FBI director to pledge his loyalty<\/a> to him and to drop an FBI investigation into his administration\u2019s first national security adviser, Michael Flynn<\/a>. Comey said Trump also asked him to announce that Trump himself was not under investigation as part of the broader inquiry into Russian election interference, something Comey did not do.<\/p>\n

Comey was abruptly fired<\/a> in May 2017, with Trump later saying he was thinking about \u201cthis Russia thing\u201d when he decided to terminate him. The firing was investigated by Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller<\/a> as an act of potential obstruction of justice.<\/p>\n

Comey in 2018 published a memoir, \u201cA Higher Loyalty,\u201d that painted Trump in deeply unflattering ways<\/a>, likening him to a mafia don and characterizing him as unethical and \u201cuntethered to truth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump, for his part, continued to angrily vent at Comey as the Russia investigation led by Mueller dominated headlines for the next two years and shadowed his first administration. On social media, he repeatedly claimed Comey should face charges for \u201ctreason\u201d \u2014 an accusation Comey dismissed as \u201cdumb lies\u201d \u2014 and called him an \u201cuntruthful slime ball.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Tucker reported from Washington.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) \u2014 James Comey pleaded not guilty Wednesday in a criminal case that has highlighted the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":209804,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[64443,23,1927,8833,2302,3505,12,793,12805,27423,3073,94487,3319,2221,49710,102404,107573,119549,3,2256,3131,120016,111,57339,1206,2226,120017,10585,28387,21,19,22,20,25,24,5148,800],"class_list":["post-209803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-adam-schiff","tag-america","tag-ap-top-news","tag-barack-obama","tag-courts","tag-district-of-columbia","tag-donald-trump","tag-general-news","tag-george-w-bush","tag-hillary-clinton","tag-indictments","tag-james-comey","tag-joe-biden","tag-legal-proceedings","tag-letitia-james","tag-lindsey-halligan","tag-michael-flynn","tag-michael-nachmanoff","tag-news","tag-north-carolina","tag-pam-bondi","tag-patrick-fitzgerald","tag-politics","tag-robert-mueller","tag-russia","tag-trials","tag-troy-edwards-jr","tag-u-s-department-of-justice","tag-u-s-federal-bureau-of-investigation","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-virginia","tag-washington-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209803\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/209804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}