Former FBI chief James Comey pleads not guilty in case pushed by Trump

Comey's lawyer, Patrick Fitzgerald, entered a not guilty plea before District Judge Michael Nachmanoff during his arraignment in a packed federal courtroom in Alexandria, Virginia.

Fitzgerald also said he intended to file a motion seeking to have the case dismissed on the grounds it is a vindictive and selective prosecution.

Comey spoke briefly, replying "I do, your honor" when asked by the judge if he understood the charges against him.

The judge scheduled a trial date of January 5.

Comey's indictment stems from sworn testimony he gave to the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2020 on the probe he led into whether Russia interfered in the 2016 US presidential election.

He is accused of falsely stating that he had not authorized another FBI employee to be an anonymous source in news reports.

He faces up to five years in prison if convicted.

Comey was appointed to head the FBI by president Barack Obama in 2013 and was fired by Trump in 2017 amid the probe into whether any members of the Trump presidential campaign had colluded with Moscow to sway the 2016 vote.

The charges against Comey came just days after Trump publicly urged Attorney General Pam Bondi to take action against the former FBI director and others he sees as enemies -- a stunning departure from the principle that the Justice Department must be free from White House pressure.

The 79-year-old Trump -- the first convicted felon to serve as US president -- hailed the indictment, calling Comey "one of the worst human beings this country has ever been exposed to."

- 'Costs to standing up' to Trump -

Since taking office in January, Trump has taken a number of punitive measures against perceived enemies, purging government officials he deemed to be disloyal, targeting law firms involved in past cases against him and pulling federal funding from universities.

Carl Tobias, a University of Richmond law professor, said Comey's legal argument that he is the victim of a vindictive prosecution could be bolstered by Trump's actions.

"Vindictive or selective prosecution arguments are difficult to win, but Trump's many posts and other public statements may convince this judge," Tobias told AFP.

Comey is the first Trump critic to be indicted but the president has also called for the prosecution of New York Attorney General Letitia James, Democratic Senator Adam Schiff and his own former National Security Advisor, John Bolton.

Comey's indictment came after the US attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Erik Siebert, stepped down after reportedly telling Justice Department leaders there was insufficient evidence to charge him.

Trump replaced Siebert with Lindsey Halligan, one of his former personal lawyers, who brought the case to a grand jury and secured an indictment.

Fitzgerald, Comey's lawyer, told the judge during the arraignment that he planned to file a motion challenging Halligan's appointment as illegal.

Comey has proclaimed his innocence and said "my family and I have known for years that there are costs to standing up to Donald Trump."

Comey's daughter Maurene was summarily fired in July as a prosecutor in Manhattan and has sued the Justice Department over her dismissal.

Trump was the target of several investigations after leaving the White House in 2021.

The FBI raided his Mar-a-Lago home in 2022 as part of a probe into mishandling of classified documents.

Trump was also charged by Special Counsel Jack Smith with plotting to overturn the results of the 2020 election -- culminating with the January 6, 2021 assault on Congress by his supporters.

Neither case came to trial, and Smith -- in line with a Justice Department policy of not prosecuting a sitting president -- dropped them both after Trump won the November 2024 vote.

cl/dw