Nov. 19 (UPI) — Former FBI Director James Comey is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday to argue that his indictment is selective prosecution because President Donald Trump ordered it as revenge.
The hearing will be in Alexandria, Va., before U.S. District Judge Michael S. Nachmanoff.
Comey is facing charges of making a false statement and obstruction from a testimony he gave before Congress in 2020. On Monday, a judge in the case said that “government misconduct” by prosecutor U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan could disqualify the case and ordered the prosecution to hand over all documents from the secret grand jury proceedings.
In September, Trump demanded Comey’s prosecution before the statute of limitations ran out, but Attorney General Pam Bondi struggled to find someone to prosecute.
On Wednesday, Comey’s attorneys will argue that the Department of Justice has become politicized by Trump’s demands to prosecute his foes, which include Comey, former National Security adviser John Bolton and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
Last month, Comey’s team filed a document arguing that the prosecution was a violation of the First Amendment because Comey, as a private citizen after being fired from his position at the FBI, continued to criticize Trump.
“The indictment in this case arises from multiple glaring constitutional violations and an egregious abuse of power by the federal government. The United States Constitution entitles individuals to speak out against the government and, in turn, forbids the government from retaliating against individuals for their protected speech. And bedrock principles of due process and equal protection have long ensured that government officials may not use courts to punish and imprison their perceived personal and political enemies. But that is exactly what happened here.”
The team also argued that the case was without merit because no prosecutors wanted to take the case. But the Department of Justice appointed Halligan because Trump explicitly demanded it.
“None of the unbiased and evenhanded prosecutors who have assessed the case against Mr. Comey participated in seeking this indictment or appeared in this litigation. This prosecution was brought only because the President directed it — in an express message to the Attorney General [Bondi] — in order to seek retribution against Mr. Comey.”
Before Trump’s mandate, three different teams at the Justice Department had ruled out criminal charges.
