James Comey pleads not guilty to charges stemming from 2020 testimony

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Former FBI Director James Comey has pleaded not guilty to charges linked to his 2020 congressional testimony about the bureau’s investigation into Russian ties to President Trump’s 2016 campaign.

A trial has been set for Jan. 5. It is expected to last two to three days.

“My client is anxious to get to a speedy trial,” Comey’s attorney, Patrick Fitzgerald, told the judge. 

Comey appeared Wednesday morning before U.S. District Judge Michael Nachmanoff for his arraignment in federal court in Alexandria, Va., where no cameras or other electronics were allowed inside the courthouse to document the high-profile hearing. 

Fitzgerald entered Comey’s plea. He told the judge when he introduced himself that “it’s the honor of my life to represent Mr. Comey in this matter.” 

At 6’8″, Comey towered over his attorneys as he stood beside them in court Wednesday, often nodding along as the judge addressed them. He stared ahead for most of the hearing, sometimes clasping his hands in front of his waist and other times letting them fall to his side.

When prosecutors entered the room, Comey’s attorneys shook hands with them. But Comey himself did not get up from his seat.

Members of Comey’s family were also in attendance, including his daughter Maurene, a federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York whom Trump fired in July, and Troy A. Edwards Jr., the ex-FBI director’s son-in-law who resigned from his position as a senior national security prosecutor soon after Comey was indicted.

The two-count indictment against Comey followed a pressure campaign by Trump, who has incessantly vowed retribution against his foes and is increasingly urging his Justice Department to prosecute them.

Comey is accused of falsely claiming during a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee that he did not authorize a leak to news media about the FBI’s investigation into Hillary Clinton and the Trump-Russia probe.

The brief exchange with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) centered on testimony Comey gave the committee years earlier, in 2017, when he said he never authorized anyone to be an anonymous source in news reports.  

The senator homed in on conflicting accounts between Comey and his former deputy, Andrew McCabe, regarding a leak to the Wall Street Journal about the Clinton investigation just days before the 2016 election.  

“What Mr. McCabe is saying and what you testified to this committee cannot both be true,” Cruz pressed during the 2020 hearing. “One or the other is false. Who’s telling the truth?” 

The former FBI director replied, “I can only speak to my testimony. I stand by the testimony you summarized.” 

The terse charging papers against Comey assert his testimony was false because he “then and there knew” he had authorized an unidentified “Person 3” to serve as an anonymous source in news reports about the probe.

It’s not clear who “Person 3” is, though some news reports have identified it to be Columbia Law School professor Daniel Richman — who previously confirmed leaking a memo he received from Comey about interactions the then-director had with Trump.

Comey faces counts of false statements to Congress and obstruction of a congressional proceeding. Each felony carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison. 

Erik Siebert, the U.S. attorney who oversaw the investigation into Comey in the Eastern District of Virginia, resigned amid pressure to seek an indictment despite having determined there was not enough evidence to do so.

Trump tapped Lindsey Halligan, a former White House aide with no prior prosecuting experience, to take over the post. She was the only prosecutor on the case until Tuesday, when two Justice Department attorneys from North Carolina entered their appearance. 

Halligan and the prosecutors, Nathaniel Tyler Lemons and Gabriel Diaz, all attended the Wednesday hearing. Lemons primarily addressed the judge. 

Both prosecutors and the defense sought a trial date outside the speedy trial clock, which would have run out in December. Asked by the judge, Lemons said it’s because the case is “complex.”

“I will tell you — I’m a little skeptical of that,” Nachmanoff said. “This does not appear to me to be a complex case.” 

The judge said he was “prepared” to set a December trial date but settled for the defense’s suggestion of January because both parties sought more time. 

Lemons indicated to the judge that a “significant” amount of classified information is involved in the prosecution but said the government planned to try to declassify much of it. 

Nachmanoff ordered the government to move security clearances along for the defense, saying DOJ must do “everything in its power” to let them see those papers.

“There should be no reason this case gets off course because of some classified information,” the judge said.

Prosecutors did not seek to detain Comey ahead of trial. 

Fitzgerald, Comey’s attorney, said the defense planned to file two tranches of motions ahead of trial, including a motion alleging vindictive prosecution at Trump’s direction.

The defense also intends to challenge the lawfulness of Halligan’s appointment, which he said would go in hand with the vindictive prosecution challenge.

Comey’s attorneys might also file motions alleging grand jury abuse and outrageous government conduct, Fitzgerald said, though he is “a little less certain” about the second tranche of filings.

Nachmanoff set oral arguments on the first set of motions for Nov. 19 and for Dec. 9 on the second set. A different, out of district judge would hear any challenge to Halligan’s appointment, the judge said.

Charges were ultimately brought just days before the five-year statute of limitations in the case was set to expire. A grand jury declined to indict on a third charge pursued by prosecutors. 

Comey’s not guilty plea does not come as a surprise. Hours after the charges against him were announced, he professed his innocence and called for a trial in a video posted to social media.  

“My heart is broken for the Department of Justice, but I have great confidence in the federal judicial system,” he said at the time. 

Comey entered the courtroom about 15 minutes before the proceeding began.

He sat with his attorneys, fidgeting at times and clasping his hands under his chin.

The former FBI director has become an outspoken Trump critic since he was fired from the president’s first administration in 2017, while the probe into Russian ties to Trump’s campaign was still ongoing.  

Trump called Comey a “dirty cop” after the indictment was made public. The president has long decried the Russia probe as a “hoax” and “witch hunt.” 

Maurene Comey has tied her firing to her father’s long-standing feud with the president in a lawsuit challenging her dismissal.  

Updated at 11:23 a.m. EDT