Former FBI director James Comey pleads not guilty to federal charges

Former FBI director James Comey pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to criminal charges in a case his lawyer described as a vindictive prosecution directed by U.S. President Donald Trump, whose first White House campaign was investigated by Comey.

Throughout Trump's political career, he has threatened to jail his rivals, beginning with chants of "lock her up" during his successful 2016 run against Democrat Hillary Clinton. Since returning to the White House, he has urged the Justice Department to take on perceived political enemies.

Comey is the first to be charged, but Trump has also targeted New York state Attorney General Letitia James, former national security adviser John Bolton, Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook, and, as of Wednesday, the Democratic governor of Illinois and mayor of Chicago.

Comey pleaded not guilty to charges of making false statements and obstructing a congressional investigation, which were brought by Trump's former personal attorney, Lindsey Halligan, who was installed last month as a federal prosecutor. Trump forced out her predecessor over his reticence to prosecute Comey and James.

Comey, 64, spoke briefly in court, indicating he understood his legal rights, while his family looked on from the gallery's front row. He made no other public statements on Wednesday, after responding to the charges last month with a defiant video on social media in which he said, "We will not live on our knees."

Comey's lawyer, Patrick Fitzgerald, entered the plea on Comey's behalf during a roughly 25-minute court hearing and indicated that he planned a barrage of legal challenges to the prosecution.

"Our view is that this prosecution was brought at the direction of President Trump," Fitzgerald said in court.

Indictment did not detail evidence against Comey

U.S. District Judge Michael Nachmanoff of the Eastern District of Virginia scheduled Comey's trial to begin on Jan. 5.

An indictment approved by a grand jury late last month accuses Comey of authorizing an FBI employee to disclose information about a federal probe. The indictment does not identify the investigation, but it appears to relate to Democrat Hillary Clinton, U.S. President Donald Trump's rival in the 2016 election. It does not detail the evidence against Comey.

The false statement allegation stems from a Sept. 30, 2020, congressional hearing, with charges brought just under the wire of a five-year statute of limitations. At that hearing, Comey told a Republican senator that he stood behind prior testimony that he did not authorize anyone to serve as an anonymous source in news reports about FBI investigations.

PHOTOS | Former FBI director appears in court:

Trump targets two more Democrats

The U.S. Justice Department for the half-century since the Watergate scandal that felled former president Richard Nixon had kept an arm's-length distance from the White House, intended to ensure that politics did not influence charging decisions. Trump has changed that, after alleging that the multiple prosecutions he faced in his four years out of power were politically motivated.

On Tuesday, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said she wouldn't reveal whether she discussed the prosecution of Comey with Trump, responding to questions from Democrats at a Senate judiciary committee hearing.

In a public social media post on Sept. 20, Trump beseeched Bondi to investigate three people whom he sees as political enemies, including Comey. It's not clear if Trump intended for the post to be public or meant it to be a private message.

Hours before the hearing, Trump called for jailing Chicago's mayor and Illinois' governor, both Democrats, as his administration prepared to deploy National Guard troops during stepped-up immigration enforcement in the city.

Comey team plans motion to dismiss charges

Halligan, who has no prosecutorial experience and previously worked as an insurance lawyer before her affiliations with Trump, presented the evidence in the case to the grand jury.

In a highly unusual move, the government dispatched two federal prosecutors from a different office and state, in Raleigh, N.C., to handle the case.

Prosecutor Nathaniel Lemons said the case involved a "significant amount" of classified information, drawing a warning from the judge that the sensitive nature of the evidence would not set the case "off track" and delay a trial.

Fitzgerald told the judge he planned to file several legal motions to dismiss the case before a trial, including filings arguing the prosecution was vindictive, that it was tainted by "outrageous government conduct" and that Halligan was unlawfully appointed as U.S. attorney.

WATCH | Comey indictment by grand jury pleases Trump:In an apparent escalation of U.S. President Donald Trump’s attacks on his political enemies, former FBI director James Comey has now been indicted on criminal charges. For The National, CBC’s Lyndsay Duncombe lays out a timeline of how it got to this point.

Separately, Maurene Comey, James Comey's daughter, was among dozens of Justice Department and FBI officials let go by the Trump administration this year after working as a federal prosecutor in Manhattan. Maurene Comey has sued the administration, alleging an unlawful dismissal.

James Comey, like all FBI directors before or since, was a registered Republican. When he was president, Democrat Barack Obama appointed him to the role, and Trump in his 2016 presidential campaign praised Comey for having the "guts" to reopen an investigation into rival Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server years earlier, when she was secretary of state. 

That late-campaign announcement angered Democrats, who, along with some election analysts, cited it as a key factor in Trump's win in 2016.

However, in May 2017, Trump fired Comey with six years left in a traditional 10-year term for director. The relationship soured after a series of incidents: Comey was tasked with sharing with the president-elect unverified intelligence on Trump that included salacious allegations; resisted pressure from Trump to not investigate national security adviser Michael Flynn; and informed Congress and a live television audience that the FBI had for several months been investigating contacts between the Trump campaign and Russian individuals.

Comey's handling of the Clinton email investigation was cited in documents outlining his firing. But Trump soon admitted "this Russian thing" was a cloud over his presidency that he sought to eliminate — though a two-year special counsel probe resulted instead. 

Despite the firing and the rancour from Trump, Comey told CBC News in early 2021, after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, that then-president Joe Biden should consider issuing a pardon to Trump for any potential criminal charges, after Trump supporters stormed the Capitol to protest Biden's certification as president.

That didn't happen, and Trump faced a pair of criminal indictments related to his actions protesting his 2020 election loss. The cases were closed after his remarkable comeback was capped by a win in the 2024 presidential election.

Former federal officials criticize charges

Earlier this year, Comey was interviewed by the U.S. Secret Service. Comey said he was asked about an Instagram post he published and then deleted. Right-wing podcast hosts and pundits seized on the post, alleging it was an incitement to violence against Trump, which Comey has denied. 

LISTEN | Former U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade on the charges:

As It Happens6:32James Comey's indictment a 'very dangerous' moment for U.S. democracy, says former district attorney

Barbara McQuade tells As It Happens host Nil Köksal that the indictment of former FBI director James Comey is a sign that the people working for U.S. President Donald Trump are acting more out of loyalty in his second term than the first — with increasingly worrying results.

Prosecutions for lying to Congress are rare but not unheard of, and defendants in recent cases have included Trump ally Roger Stone, as well as Michael Cohen, Trump's former lawyer.

In terms of similar indictments for persons of Comey's former stature, Caspar Weinberger was indicted for lying to Congress and obstruction in 1992 related to the Iran-Contra scandal. The former defence secretary for Ronald Reagan was subsequently pardoned by Reagan's successor, George H. W. Bush.

In recent days, more than 1,000 Justice Department alumni from Republican and Democratic administrations recently signed a letter decrying the case against Comey as "an unprecedented assault on the rule of law."

Fitzgerald himself is a former federal attorney who worked on high-profile terrorism and organized crime cases, as well as prosecutions of media baron Conrad Black and former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich.