Alexandria, Virginie (AP) – James Comey pleaded not guilty Wednesday in a criminal case which underlined the efforts of the Ministry of Justice to target the opponents of President Donald Trump, with lawyers of the former FBI director saying that they were planning to argue that the prosecution is politically motivated and should be dismissed.
The indictment lasted less than half an hour, but it was nevertheless responsible for historical importance since the case has amplified the concerns that the Ministry of Justice is armed in the pursuit of the political enemies of the Republican President and operates at the request of a determined administration to request a punishment.
The plea not guilty of Comey to the allegations according to which he lied at the Congress five years ago, launched a legal argument process which could lead to a trial in a few months at the Federal Justice of Alexandria, Virginia, just outside Washington. Defense lawyers said they intended to request that the case be expelled before the trial on the grounds that it constitutes a vindictive prosecution and plans to challenge the legitimacy of the appointment of the prosecutor who deposited the accusations only a few days after Trump has managed him to his post.
“It is the honor of my life to represent Mr. Comey in this case,” one of the lawyers of Comey, Patrick Fitzgerald, a longtime friend who served with him at the Ministry of Justice of President George W. Bush on Wednesday.
The indictment two weeks ago followed a chain of extraordinary events that saw Trump publicly implore the Attorney General Pam Bondi to take measures against Comey and other adversaries perceived from the president. Trump also replaced the veteran lawyer who supervised the investigation by Lindsey Halligan, an assistant from the White House who had never been previously federal prosecutor but who had been one of his personal lawyers.
Halligan rushed to file a complaint before a legal deadline, despite warnings from other office lawyers that evidence was insufficient for an indictment. She seized the accusation table but did not address the judge.
In a sign of the unusual nature of the case, the two prosecutors who signed to manage it are both based in North Carolina as opposed to the Elite District of Virginia, which Halligan now leads.
What the indictment says
The indictment to two counts alleged that Comey misleads the Senate’s legal committee on September 30, 2020 when asked if he had authorized an associate to serve as an anonymous source for the information media linked to the investigations on Trump or the 2016 Democratic presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton.
Comey denied any reprehensible act and declared that he was impatiently awaiting a trial, which the judge set for January 5, although this date was likely to change.
The act of indictment with two counts responsible him for making a false declaration and obstruction to a convention procedure does not identify the partner or does not say what information could be discussed with the media, which makes it difficult to assess the force of evidence or even to fully analyze the allegations.
Although an accusation act is generally only the beginning of an prolonged legal process, the Ministry of Justice deceived the development itself as a victory, whatever the result. Managers of the Trump administration are likely to highlight any conviction as proof that the case has been well justified, but an acquittal or even a dismissal can also be supported as additional support for their long -standing assertion that the criminal justice system is stacked against them.
The judge was appointed by Biden
The random judge attributed to the case, Michael Nachmanoff, was appointed to the bench by the democratic administration of President Joe Biden and is a former federal -in -chief defender. Known for his methodical preparation and a cool temperament, the judge and his history have already drawn the attention of Trump, the president leviating him as a judge appointed by Joe Biden. “”
He reported on Wednesday before the court that he intended to push the case to the trial and would not allow unnecessary delays.
Several members of the family of Comey were in court for his accusation, including his daughter Maurene, who was dismissed by the Ministry of Justice earlier this year of his post as a federal prosecutor in Manhattan, as well as Troy Edwards Jr., a son of Comey’s Who after Comey was charged to deposit his job.
Comey is not the only Trump enemy under investigation. Others include the New York Prosecutor General Letitia James and Senator Adam Schiff from California. The lawyers of James and Schiff, both Democrats, call on the investigations without merit.
The heavy relationship of Trump and Comey
The indictment was the last chapter of a relationship for a long time between Trump and Comey.
Trump came to power in January 2017 while Comey, appointed to the FBI director by President Barack Obama, four years earlier, supervised an investigation into the links between Russia and the Trump’s presidential campaign in 2016.
The dynamics were loaded at the start, with Comey Briefing Trump of weeks before taking up his duties on the existence of non -corroborated and sexually Salaces gossip in a opposition research file compiled by a former British spy.
In their first private interactions, Comey will later reveal Trump, asked his FBI director to promise his loyalty to him and leave an FBI investigation into the first national security advisor to his administration, Michael Flynn. Comey said Trump also asked him to announce that Trump himself was not under investigation in the broader investigation into the Russian elections, which Comey did not do.
Comey was suddenly dismissed in May 2017, Trump later saying that he thought of “this Russian thing” when he decided to end it. The dismissal was the subject of an investigation by the Special Council of the Ministry of Justice, Robert Mueller, as an act of potential obstruction to justice.
Comey in 2018 published a dissertation, “higher loyalty”, which painted Trump in a deeply unflattering way, comparing it to a mafia donation and characterizing it as contrary to ethics and “not attached to the truth”.
Trump, for his part, continued to let off steam in Comey while the investigation in Russia led by Mueller dominated the big titles for the next two years and followed his first administration. On social networks, he said on several occasions that Comey should face accusations of “betrayal” – an accusation that Comey rejected as “stupid lies” – and called it a “slime lie”.
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Tucker reported Washington.
