FILE - Former FBI director James Comey speaks during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Capitol Hill, in Washington, June 8, 2017. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

By The Canadian Press

Comey pleads not guilty as lawyers signal intent to argue the case is politically motivated

Oct 8, 2025 | 7:49 AM

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — James Comey pleaded not guilty on Wednesday in a criminal case that has highlighted the Justice Department’s efforts to target adversaries of President Donald Trump, with lawyers for the former FBI director saying that they plan to argue the prosecution is politically motivated and should be dismissed.

The arraignment lasted less than half an hour. But it was nonetheless loaded with historical significance given that the case has amplified concerns the Justice Department is being weaponized in pursuit of Trump’s political enemies and is operating at the behest of a White House determined to seek retribution for perceived wrongs against the Republican president.

Comey’s not guilty plea to allegations that he lied to Congress five years ago kick-starts a process of legal wrangling at the federal courthouse in Alexandria, Virginia, just outside Washington. Defense lawyers said they intend to ask that the case be thrown out before trial on the grounds that it amounts to a vindictive prosecution and to challenge the appointment of the prosecutor who brought it after being hastily named to the post days earlier by Trump.

“It’s the honor of my life to represent Mr. Comey in this matter,” one of Comey’s lawyers, Patrick Fitzgerald, a longtime friend who served with him in President George W. Bush’s Justice Department, said in court on Wednesday.

The indictment two weeks ago followed an extraordinary chain of events that saw Trump publicly implore Attorney General Pam Bondi to take action against Comey and other perceived adversaries. The president also replaced the veteran attorney who had been overseeing the investigation with Lindsey Halligan, a White House aide who had never previously served as a federal prosecutor but had been one of Trump’s personal lawyers. Halligan rushed to file charges before a legal deadline lapsed despite warnings from other lawyers in the office that the evidence was insufficient for an indictment.

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Halligan sat at the prosecution table but did not address the judge. The two prosecutors who have signed on to handle the case are both based in North Carolina.

What the indictment says

The two-count indictment alleges that Comey made a false statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Sept. 30, 2020, by denying he had authorized an associate to serve as an anonymous source to the news media and that he obstructed a congressional proceeding. Comey has denied any wrongdoing and has said he’s looking forward to a trial, which the judge set for Jan. 5, though that date will be subject to change. The indictment does not identify the associate or say what information may have been discussed with the media, making it challenging to assess the strength of the evidence or to even fully parse the allegations.

Though an indictment is typically just the start of a protracted court process, the Justice Department has trumpeted the development itself as something of a win, regardless of the outcome. Trump administration officials are likely to point to any conviction as proof the case was well-justified, but an acquittal or even dismissal may also be held up as further support for their long-running contention the criminal justice system is stacked against them.

The judge was nominated by Biden

The judge randomly assigned to the case, Michael Nachmanoff, was nominated to the bench by President Joe Biden’s Democratic administration and is a former chief federal defender. Known for methodical preparation and a cool temperament, the judge and his background have already drawn Trump’s attention, with the president deriding him as a “Crooked Joe Biden appointed Judge.”

Besides Comey, the Justice Department is also investigating other foes of the president, including New York Attorney General Letitia James and Sen. Adam Schiff of California. Lawyers for James and Schiff, both Democrats, call the investigations meritless.

Several Comey family members arrived in court Wednesday morning ahead of his arraignment, including his daughter Maurene, who was fired by the Justice Department earlier this year from her position as a federal prosecutor in Manhattan, as well as Troy Edwards Jr., a son-in-law of Comey’s who minutes after Comey was indicted resigned his job as a prosecutor in the Eastern District of Virginia — the office that filed the charges.

Trump and Comey’s fraught relationship

The indictment was the latest chapter in a long-broken relationship between Trump and Comey.

Trump arrived in office in January 2017 as Comey, appointed to the FBI director job by President Barack Obama four years earlier, was overseeing an investigation into ties between Russia and Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.

The dynamic was fraught from the start, with Comey briefing Trump weeks before he took office on the existence of uncorroborated and sexually salacious gossip in a dossier of opposition research compiled by a former British spy.

In their first several private interactions, Comey would later reveal, Trump asked his FBI director to pledge his loyalty to him and to drop an FBI investigation into his administration’s first national security adviser, Michael Flynn. Comey said Trump also asked him to announce that Trump himself was not under investigation as part of the broader inquiry into Russian election interference, something Comey did not do.

Comey was abruptly fired in May 2017 while at an event in Los Angeles, with Trump later saying he was thinking about “this Russia thing” when he decided to terminate him. The firing was investigated by Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller as an act of potential obstruction of justice.

Comey in 2018 published a memoir, “A Higher Loyalty,” that painted Trump in deeply unflattering ways, likening him to a mafia don and characterizing him as unethical and “untethered to truth.”

Trump, for his part, continued to angrily vent at Comey as the Russia investigation led by Mueller dominated headlines for the next two years and shadowed his first administration. On social media, he repeatedly claimed Comey should face charges for “treason” — an accusation Comey dismissed as “dumb lies” — and called him an “untruthful slime ball.”

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Tucker reported from Washington.

Eric Tucker, Alanna Durkin Richer And Michael Kunzelman, The Associated Press