Former FBI Director James Comey appeared in a suburban Virginia federal court docket Wednesday to face what analysts referred to as flimsy expenses of mendacity to Congress after President Donald Trump demanded the prosecution of his longtime critic.
A federal choose set a Jan. 5 trial date after the nation’s onetime high regulation enforcement official pleaded not responsible to 2 felony counts throughout a quick listening to within the controversial case that was filed solely after Trump ousted his hand-picked U.S. lawyer who had declined to pursue the fees.
“Our view was the prosecution was brought at the direction of President Trump,” mentioned Comey protection lawyer Pat Fitzgerald, a former high federal prosecutor.
Comey, who has sparred with Trump for years, was charged over his contested testimony at a 2020 listening to through which he denied authorizing media leaks of FBI investigations. He was freed with out bond.
Authorized analysts say the case towards Comey is weak and prosecutors solely acted as a result of Trump demanded retribution towards the person he bitterly blames for launching the probe into Russia marketing campaign meddling that roiled his first time period within the White Home.
President Donald Trump (L) solutions questions whereas childhood most cancers survivors and their households collect within the Oval Workplace on the White Home on September 30, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photograph by Win McNamee/Getty Pictures)
Comey’s authorized workforce mentioned he plans to boost claims of prosecutorial misconduct, malicious and selective prosecution. It’s going to additionally problem Halligan’s appointment.
Choose Michael Nachmanoff, who was appointed to the bench by ex-President Joe Biden, set an awfully speedy schedule for the trial, which prosecutors mentioned they count on to take simply two or three days.
The indictment final month solely got here after Trump publicly urged Lawyer Normal Pam Bondi to take motion towards Comey and different perceived enemies, a surprising break with the longstanding precept that the felony justice system shouldn’t be used to settle political scores.
A particular counsel appointed by Trump in his first time period discovered no wrongdoing by Comey after an exhaustive probe into the Russia marketing campaign interference probe that stretched on for years.
When a veteran Virginia federal prosecutor additionally refused to pursue the case, Trump changed him with Lindsey Halligan, a White Home aide who had by no means beforehand served as a federal prosecutor. Halligan rushed to file expenses earlier than a authorized deadline lapsed regardless of warnings from different attorneys within the workplace that the proof was inadequate for an indictment.
The 2-count indictment says Comey made a false assertion to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Sept. 30, 2020, when he denied authorizing an affiliate to function an nameless supply and obstructed a congressional continuing. A federal grand jury reportedly took the weird step of refusing handy up an indictment on a 3rd depend sought by prosecutors.
The indictment doesn’t determine the affiliate however printed stories say it’s Daniel Richman, a Columbia professor and FBI marketing consultant.
Comey was joined in court docket by his daughter Maurene, who was fired from her place as a senior federal prosecutor in Manhattan in what critics say was retaliation for being associated to James Comey.
The case marks the newest twist within the poisonous relationship between Trump and James Comey.
Trump fired Comey amid disputes over the Russia probe. The firing was investigated by Justice Division particular counsel Robert Mueller as an act of potential obstruction of justice, however no expenses have been ever filed towards Trump.
In a 2018 memoir, Comey in contrast Trump to a mafia boss and characterizing him as unethical and “untethered to truth.”
Comey confronted questioning by federal brokers final spring after he posted a picture of seashore shells organized within the numbers “86 47,” which some critics say might be a menace towards Trump, who’s the forty seventh president.
Initially Revealed: October 8, 2025 at 11:06 AM EDT
