Former FBI Director James Comey is set to make his first court appearance Wednesday in a Justice Department criminal case accusing him of having lied to Congress five years ago.
The arraignment is expected to be brief, but the moment is nonetheless loaded with historical significance given that the case has amplified concerns that the Justice Department is being weaponized in pursuit of President Donald Trump's political enemies and operating at the behest of the White House.
Comey is expected to plead not guilty at the federal courthouse in Alexandria, Virginia, kickstarting a process of legal wrangling in which defense lawyers will almost certainly move to get the indictment dismissed before trial, possibly by arguing that the case amounts to a selective or vindictive prosecution.
The indictment two weeks ago followed an extraordinary chain of events that saw Trump publicly implore Attorney General Pam Bondi to take action against Comey and other perceived adversaries. The president also replaced the veteran attorney who had been overseeing the investigation with Lindsey Halligan, a White House aide who had never previously served as a federal prosecutor. Halligan rushed to file charges before a legal deadline lapsed despite warnings from other lawyers in the office that the evidence was insufficient for an indictment.
The two-count indictment alleges that Comey made a false statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Sept. 30, 2020, by denying he had authorized an associate to serve as an anonymous source to the news media, and that he obstructed a congressional proceeding. Comey has denied any wrongdoing and has said he was looking forward to a trial. The indictment does not identify the associate or say what information may have been discussed with the media, making it challenging to assess the strength of the evidence or to even fully parse the allegations.
Though an indictment is typically just the start of a protracted court process, the Justice Department has trumpeted the development itself as something of a win, regardless of the outcome. Trump administration officials are likely to point to any conviction as proof the case was well-justified, but an acquittal or even dismissal may also be held up as further support for their long-running contention that the criminal justice system is stacked against them.
The judge randomly assigned to the case, Michael Nachmanoff, is a Biden administration appointee and former chief federal defender. Known for methodical preparation and a cool temperament, the judge and his background have already drawn the president's attention, with Trump deriding him as a "Crooked Joe Biden appointed Judge."
The indictment was the latest chapter in a long-broken relationship between Trump and Comey.
Trump arrived in office in January 2017 as Comey, appointed to the FBI director job by President Barack Obama four years earlier, was overseeing an investigation into ties between Russia and Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.
The dynamic was fraught from the start, with Comey briefing Trump weeks before he took office on the existence of uncorroborated and sexually salacious gossip in a dossier of opposition research compiled by a former British spy.
In their first several private interactions, Comey would later reveal, Trump asked his FBI director to pledge his loyalty to him and to drop an FBI investigation into his administration's first national security adviser, Michael Flynn. Trump also asked Comey to publicly reveal that Trump himself was not under investigation as part of the broader inquiry into Russian election interference, something Comey opted not to do.
Comey was abruptly fired in May 2017 while at an event in Los Angeles, with Trump later saying that he was thinking about "this Russia thing" when he decided to terminate him. The firing was investigated by Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller as an act of potential obstruction of justice.
Comey in 2018 published a memoir, "A Higher Loyalty," that painted Trump in deeply unflattering ways, likening him to a mafia don and characterizing him as unethical and "untethered to truth."
Trump, for his part, continued to angrily vent at Comey as the Russia investigation led by Mueller dominated headlines for the next two years and shadowed his first administration. On social media, he repeatedly claimed that Comey should face charges for "treason" — an accusation Comey dismissed as "dumb lies" — and called him an "untruthful slime ball."