Former FBI director Comey pleads not responsible to federal fees : NPR

Former FBI Director James Comey has pleaded not responsible to fees of false statements and obstructing a congressional continuing.

Comey entered his plea by way of his lawyer Pat Fitzgerald throughout his arraignment in federal court docket on Wednesday in Alexandria, Va. The choose on the case set a trial date of Jan. 5, 2026, and Comey is about to be launched with no situations.

“It is the respect of my life to symbolize Jim Comey on this matter,” Fitzgerald stated on the courthouse, the place Comey’s household additionally attended the arraignment.

The previous FBI director, who has lengthy been certainly one of President Trump’s most vocal critics, was indicted final month on two counts stemming from his testimony earlier than the Senate Judiciary Committee in September 2020. The Justice Division secured the indictment simply days after Trump demanded a quicker tempo from prosecutors of their investigation towards Comey.

The highest federal prosecutor in Northern Virginia, Erik Siebert, had solid doubt on the energy of the proof towards Comey.

The Trump administration then changed Siebert with Lindsey Halligan, a White Home aide who beforehand served as a private lawyer for Trump. Halligan, who secured the grand jury indictment towards Comey, is bringing in prosecutors from North Carolina to help on the case.

Comey’s legal professionals stated they plan to file two batches of motions to dismiss the case, centering on accusations of a vindictive or selective prosecution, and that Halligan was unlawfully appointed.

They could additionally embody allegations of “outrageous conduct” and issues with the grand jury course of that indicted Comey final month.

Trump has lengthy railed towards Comey, blaming the previous FBI chief for the appointment of a particular prosecutor who probed contacts between Russia and Trump’s 2016 marketing campaign by way of a lot of the president’s first time period in workplace.