Comey Trial Date Set for January 5th in Case Stemming from Trump Request
Former FBI Director James Comey pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to federal criminal charges that President Donald Trump had previously requested be brought against him. U.S. District judge Michael Nachmanoff scheduled the trial to begin on January 5th in Alexandria, Virginia.
Comey’s attorney, Patrick Fitzgerald, and prosecutors anticipate the trial will last between two and three days. The charges stem from accusations that Comey made a false statement and obstructed a congressional proceeding during testimony before a Senate committee in 2020.
The case is being handled by two federal prosecutors from North Carolina,a detail observers note suggests difficulty for interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Lindsey Halligan, in securing prosecutors from her own office. Halligan was appointed by Trump following the resignation of her predecessor, Erik siebert, reportedly due to Siebert’s reluctance to pursue a grand jury indictment of Comey.
Fitzgerald informed Judge Nachmanoff on Wednesday that Halligan’s appointment was “unlawful,” according to NBC News.He also stated his intention to file motions alleging “abuse” of the grand jury and “outrageous government conduct” related to the indictment.
Both Nachmanoff and Fitzgerald challenged the prosecution’s assertion that the case would be complex and involve a significant amount of classified details. ”We view this as a simple case,” Fitzgerald stated, as reported by NBC. Nachmanoff echoed this sentiment, saying, ”This does not appear to me to be an overly complicated case.”
The judge cautioned prosecutors against delaying the proceedings due to slow evidence disclosure, emphasizing the prosecution’s obligation to promptly provide finding materials to the defence.He warned,”The government is going to be under an enormous amount of pressure to figure out what actions need to be done here.”
Following his indictment in late september, Comey released an Instagram video stating, “I am not afraid.” He continued, “My family and I have known for years that there are costs to standing up to Donald trump…But we couldn’t imagine ourselves living any other way. We will not live on our knees and you shouldn’t either.”
The charges relate to Comey’s testimony on September 30, 2020, before the Senate Judiciary Committee, where he denied authorizing someone else at the FBI to be an anonymous source in news reports concerning a probe into Hillary clinton’s emails during the 2016 presidential campaign.