The former FBI director James Comey declared himself innocent on Wednesday of both positions in a federal accusation, and his lawyers said they will seek that the case be dismissed by the vindictive and selective prosecution.
A Federal Grand Jury accused Comment on September 25, a few days after President Donald Trump publicly demanded the Attorney General Pam Bondi and the law of the Department of Justice “now” against Comey and other political opponents.
Comey is accused of a position of false statements and a position of obstruction of a Congress procedure, related to its testimony before the Senate Judicial Committee in 2020.
The plea was presented by his lawyer Patrick Fitzgerald, who requested a jury trial.
The judge read the charges and said they have a fine of up to five years in prison with a fine of $ 250,000.
He asked if Comey understood the charges, and he replied: “I do it, your honor.”
A trial date for January 5 was established.
The judge asked how long the government anticipated that the trial lasted, and the government said 2-3 days.
The judge said he was prepared to advance with a quick trial. The Government said the case was “complicated”, but it did not seem to object to the date of the trial in court.
“This does not seem to be a complicated case,” said the judge.
Fitzgerald agreed, saying: “We see this as a simple case.”
Comey has been a long time for Trump’s criticism about his research on Russian interference in the 2016 elections. Trump on Monday, speaking with journalists at the Oval office, Comey called a “dirty police” and said it was a “simple case.”
But Matter Comey has launched the United States Prosecutor’s Office for Eastern District of Virginia to agitation, according to Fuentes. The previous American prosecutor, Erik Siebert, resigned from the pressure of the Trump administration to present criminal charges against Comment and New York Attorney General Letitia James. Trump said he fired Siebert.
The former director of the Federal Research Office, James Comey, speaks with the members of the media in the Rayburn Chamber Office building in Capitol Hill, on December 7, 2018 in Washington, DC.
Alex Wong/Getty Images
Trump then selected Halligan, a White House assistant and his former defense lawyer, to replace Siebert and direct the office. Halligan presented the Comey case to the Grand Jury, despite the fact that prosecutors and investigators allegedly determined that there were not enough evidence to accuse him, ABC News reported at that time.
Comey’s lawyers told the judge on Wednesday that they plan to present a motion that questions the legality of Haligan’s appointment, but will be heard by a different judge appointed by the main judge of the fourth court of appeals of the United States circuit.
The judge on Wednesday instructed the government to respond to those motions before November 3 and ordered the defense to respond before November 10. The judge said he wants the case to be reported completely on November 19 and said that the hearings will be planned for November 19 and December 9.
The oral arguments will be carried out on December 9 on the defense motion to dismiss due to the abuse of the grand jury, “scandalous government behavior” and other motions that Comey’s lawyers did not reveal.
Both the defense and the judge expressed some confusion about why the government said there would be a substantial amount of classified information involved in the case.
At one point, Fitzgerald said he believed that the government should have discovered the problem with the information classified before presenting the case. It seems that the “car has put before the horse,” said Fitzgerald.
The judge said there should be no reason why the case moves due to classified information.
“We will go through the fastest Cipa process he has seen in his life,” he joked, referring to the litigation that occurs around cases that involve classified information.
The judge also said: “I will not stop this case” about the government’s obligations to produce defense discovery.
Comey was in court on Wednesday since he was accused last month, where he joined within Alexandria, Virginia, the Fitzgerald Court Chamber and lawyers David Kelley and Jessica Carmichael.
Lindsey Halligan, Donald Trump’s lawyer, celebrates ceremonial proclamations to be signed by Donald Trump (not in the photo) in the Oval Office of the White House, on March 6, 2025 in Washington, DC.
To the Drago/Getty Images
The government was represented by Halligan and Nathaniel “Tyler” Lemons, a prosecutor from the Eastern District of North Carolina. Before the reading of charges on Wednesday, the Department of Justice added two US assistant lawyers. UU. Outside the State to work in the case.
The wife of Comey and her daughter, Maureen Comment, were seen arriving at the Alexandria Palace of Justice before the procedure.
Comey has denied any irregularity and has said that awaits a trial.
Alexandra Hutzler, Alexander Mallin, Peter Charalambous and Ely Brown contributed to this report.
