Comey Pleads Not Guilty

A stoic former FBI Director James Comey pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a federal charge of lying to Congress five years ago, as the Justice Department kicked off its first-ever prosecution of a former bureau chief.

Comey, 64, also denied a charge of obstruction of justice tied to the long-running probe into alleged collusion between President Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and Russian officials. His trial was set for Jan. 5, 2026.

The former FBI director, clad in a dark blue suit, stared straight ahead toward US District Judge Michael Nachmanoff during the 30-minute hearing at the Albert V. Bryan Courthouse. Comey’s lawyer, former Chicago US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, entered the not guilty plea on his client’s behalf.

Comey only spoke to say “I do, your honor,” when Nachmanoff asked if he understood the charges.

“My client is anxious to get to a speedy trial,” Fitzgerald said.

Both Fitzgerald and prosecutor Nathaniel “Tyler” Lemons asked for a slightly delayed trial schedule, with Lemons citing a “large” amount of evidence in the case and claiming: “We’re just getting our hands around the discovery as well.”

Nachmanoff — an appointee of former President Joe Biden — agreed to the slight postponement but added he was “a little skeptical” about Lemons’ characterization.

The judge said the case wasn’t “overly complicated” and had a “discrete set of facts.”

But Lemons argued there was a “significant amount of classified information,” while Comey’s defense team acknowledged only one of their attorneys — Jessica Carmichael — currently has a clearance to look at those documents.

In response, Nachmanoff promised to “go through the fastest [classified document review] process you’ve seen in your lives,” Nachmanoff said.

Fitzgerald said he had “hoped that a trial can be avoided,” and said he planned to file motions to get the case thrown out on the grounds of vindictive prosecution and for the alleged unlawful appointment of the prosecutor on the case, Eastern District of Virginia US Attorney Lindsey Halligan.

Comey will remain free on his own recognizance as the prosecution didn’t seek detention or bond. His family — including daughter Maurene, who was forced out of the Manhattan US attorney’s office in July — looked on from the gallery.

Maurene Comey’s husband, Troy Edwards, was also in attendance after having resigned as a federal prosecutor in the Eastern District of Virginia moments after his father-in-law’s indictment was announced.

The two-page indictment handed up by a federal grand jury last month accuses Comey of lying during a Sept. 30, 2020, Senate Judiciary Committee hearing when he claimed he didn’t approve leaks to the media about the Trump probe and an unrelated investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Comey faces up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 if convicted on both counts. The grand jury declined to indict the former FBI boss on a second count of making a false statement.

The prosecution is the first brought by the Justice Department against one of Trump’s political foes. The DOJ is currently probing other Trump enemies, including Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), and John Bolton, the president’s former national security adviser.

The case against Comey was brought by Halligan, Trump’s former personal lawyer, who just last month was made the US attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia after Trump ousted predecessor Erik Siebert because of his hesitation in bringing cases against Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

Halligan, whose background is in insurance law, has not previously worked as a prosecutor. The indictment was handed up by a grand jury just days before the five-year statute of limitations was set to expire in connection to Comey’s Congressional testimony.

Comey has admitted to leaking information to the press in the past, including in 2017 when he told the Senate Intelligence Committee that he asked his “good friend” and Columbia University law professor, Daniel Richman, to leak memos for him about Trump allegedly instructing that an investigation into Michael Flynn be dropped.

The indictment references a “PERSON 3” — believed by some to be Richman — whom Comey “had authorized … to serve as an anonymous source in news reports” regarding the FBI’s investigation.

Trump fired Comey during his first term in office in the middle of the Russia probe, and Special Counsel Robert Mueller took over, ultimately finding there wasn’t enough proof to show a criminal conspiracy.

After the indictment was filed, Comey lamented online that his “heart is broken for the Department of Justice.”

“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,” he said in a video posted on Substack soon after. “We will not live on our knees, and you shouldn’t either.

“My heart is broken for the Department of Justice, but I have great confidence in the federal judicial system, and I’m innocent, so let’s have a trial and keep the faith.”