James Comey is set to plead not guilty Wednesday morning when he’s arraigned on a two-count federal indictment in a Virginia courtroom outside Washington. Beyond that simple procedural step, open questions remain in the criminal case against the former FBI director that President Donald Trump demanded and has now received.
Heading into Comey’s arraignment on charges of lying to and obstructing Congress, here are three big ones, whose answers could help us understand the shape this case will take and whether it will exist as a case for much longer.
Will Comey seek a speedy trial?
He reacted to his indictment last month by proclaiming his innocence and stating: “Let’s have a trial.”
Criminal defendants aren’t always eager to rush to trial. But we could soon learn how serious Comey and his lawyers are about getting his case to a jury. Federal law gives the government 70 days to bring cases to trial, though delays are common.
This could be a case in which pushing to trial gives the defense an advantage. Comey’s experienced lawyers are defending the case brought by Lindsey Halligan, a former Trump personal lawyer who lacked prosecutorial experience and was nonetheless installed by the administration to lead the Eastern District of Virginia’s U.S. Attorney’s Office. There was an opening in the Eastern District after an experienced prosecutor who previously led the office was forced out after he bucked Trump-backed pressure to bring a case against Comey. In one of many shocking aspects of the case, Halligan presented it herself to the grand jury after experienced prosecutors in the office objected.
Will Comey seek to dismiss the case as vindictive?
The former lawman seems to have a decent argument that his case, which centers on congressional testimony he gave in 2020, should be dismissed on the grounds of vindictive prosecution.
To be sure, his lawyers can press that claim and others while still retaining his right to a trial. But we’ll see how the defense seeks to prioritize any such motions to dismiss if Comey also wants a speedy trial.
How’s the prosecution team shaping up?
Which prosecutors show up for an arraignment isn’t usually the stuff of intrigue. But here we’ve had the solo handling of a high-profile matter by an inexperienced Trump lawyer, who was installed for the apparent purpose of securing an indictment against a Trump target, over the objection of experienced prosecutors.
On that note, Halligan’s name was alone on the government side of the docket until Tuesday, when two federal prosecutors from North Carolina, Gabriel J. Diaz and Nathaniel T. Lemons, appeared alongside her.
Comey is represented by experienced attorneys Patrick Fitzgerald and Jessica Carmichael.
How the case unfolds will be partly up to the jurist assigned to the matter, U.S. District Judge Michael Nachmanoff, a Biden appointee. Trump wrote on social media that Comey “is a Dirty Cop, and always has been, but he was just assigned a Crooked Joe Biden appointed Judge, so he’s off to a very good start.”
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