Topline
Former FBI Director James Comey is set to be arraigned at a Virginia federal courthouse Wednesday, the first in a potential string of Trump rivals who may have to face criminal charges, even as increasing reports undercut the strength of the government’s case against him.
Comey will be arraigned at 10 a.m. EST in the Eastern District of Virginia, after he was indicted on two counts of false statements to Congress and obstruction.
Comey is expected to plead not guilty to the charges, after the former FBI chief released a video defiantly opposing the case against him and saying his “heart is broken for the Department of Justice, but I have great confidence in the federal judicial system. And I’m innocent. So let’s have a trial.”
The case against Comey is based on statements he made to Congress in September 2020, when he testified he stood behind previous comments to Congress, in which he denied “ever authoriz[ing] someone else at the FBI to be an anonymous source” to the press.
It’s still unclear from the indictment what alleged leak the indictment is based on, but multiple reports suggest the charges are based on allegations that Comey authorized Columbia University professor Daniel Richman, who worked as an advisor to the FBI, to leak information to the press about investigations into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Those allegations have already been on shaky ground, as a previous government investigation found there wasn’t “sufficient evidence” to suggest Richman or Comey did anything unlawful, and ABC News reports Richman has told the FBI that Comey instructed him not to speak with the media on multiple occasions, with prosecutors believing the central witness would be “problematic” for their case if it goes to trial.
Comey’s arraignment Wednesday is expected to be relatively brief, and it’s unclear whether the former FBI will speak at all in court or to the media. He is not expected to be taken into custody, and while he is expected to have a mugshot taken, it’s unclear if it will be released publicly. Comey could face up to five years in prison if convicted on the charges against him.
The court docket in Comey’s case suggests U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan, a former personal attorney to President Donald Trump, was not able to secure any support from other prosecutors in her office, the Eastern District of Virginia, for the case against Comey. The lawyer was the only prosecutor to sign the indictment against Comey, which legal experts have said is unusual, and two prosecutors from other districts publicly signed onto the case Tuesday. Trump installed Halligan as U.S. attorney after her predecessor Erik Siebert was ousted amid reports that he did not believe there was sufficient evidence to charge Comey or New York Attorney General Letitia James, another longtime Trump foe. Investigators at the Eastern District of Virginia reportedly presented Halligan with reports that there was insufficient evidence to bring charges against Comey, but Halligan—who has no prosecutorial experience—brought the charges anyway.
Comey has not mounted any formal argument in court or made filings that suggest how he’ll argue against the government’s charges. Legal experts widely believe the ex-FBI chief will first try to have the charges thrown out by arguing he’s the target of a “selective” or “vindictive” prosecution, meaning he was unfairly targeted without proper evidence. While such arguments are typically very hard to prove, legal experts told Politico Comey may have a good shot, given Trump’s repeated public comments suggesting he wants Comey to be prosecuted, including publicly urging Attorney General Pam Bondi to bring charges against the former FBI head and other Trump enemies only days before Comey was indicted. “Comey could become the poster child for selective prosecution,” one former prosecutor in the Eastern District of Virginia told Politico.