James Comey pleaded not guilty Wednesday to criminal charges that were demanded by President Donald Trump and secured by one of his former personal lawyers, who has never prosecuted a case before. The administration installed Lindsey Halligan to lead the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia after the previous head, Erik Siebert, was forced out after he resisted charging Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, another political opponent Trump wants charged.
The federal indictment on which the former FBI director was arraigned in a Virginia courtroom outside Washington on Wednesday is the product of a grand jury presentation Halligan made herself last month — over the objection of career prosecutors — as the statute of limitations window was closing. Further suggesting that her new colleagues think the case lacks merit is that Halligan was the only lawyer for the government listed on the docket until Tuesday, when two federal prosecutors from North Carolina entered their appearances alongside her.
Grand jurors rejected one of the three counts Halligan presented but approved two others: one for allegedly lying to Congress and another for allegedly obstructing Congress.
Halligan’s theory of the case isn’t entirely clear from the indictment, which is somewhat vague and limited. But it centers on Comey’s September 2020 congressional testimony over whether he authorized anyone at the bureau to be an anonymous source in news reports related to an FBI investigation. The indictment accuses him of falsely stating that he hadn’t granted such authorization.
Comey headed the FBI when Trump took office in his first term and his 2016 campaign’s potential ties to Russia were under investigation. Trump fired Comey in 2017 after Comey said he refused to pledge loyalty to the president.
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